Workshop: Reading Kuzushiji

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Paula

The Japan Committee of the University of Chicago invites applications for the 2014 Summer Workshop: Reading Kuzushiji taking place June 16-21.  The workshop will meet each day from 9-4.   It is open to students and faculty with a working knowledge of classical Japanese and hentaigana. The language of instruction will be Japanese.

This year, we will be reading both print and manuscript materials from the Edo period.  Our instructor will be Professor Aratake Kenichiro of Tohoku University’s Center for Northeast Asian Studies.  Professor Aratake, who received his Ph.D from Kansai University in 2004, is a social historian whose research focuses on urban history and the development of trade routes and market economies.

For more information and to apply, please consult the workshop website:http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/kuzushiji/

Please follow this link to apply. The deadline for applications is April 15.

Posted in announcements, culture, graduate school, study tools, summer program | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Announcement: Conquering Demons: The “Kirishitan,” Japan, and the World in Early Modern Japanese Literature

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Paula

Conquering DemonsJan C. Leuchtenberger

Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, No. 75
Copyright 2013, xii + 240 pages, 7 illustrations, 4 tables
Hardback: ISBN 978-1-929280-77-3 ($65.00)
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-929280-78-0 ($25.00)

Published by the Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan
https://www.cjspubs.lsa.umich.edu/books/list/mono75.php

Conquering Demons examines the origins and influence of three popular anti-Kirishitan (anti-Christian) works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These sensational fictional accounts of a near conquest of Japan by a kind of mythical Kirishitan, who used money and magic to gain converts in their attempt to take over Japan, are studied in the context of the publication trends of the time they were produced, as well as of the cultural and political attitudes toward Christianity that prevailed when they were written.

The book also analyzes the representations of Japan and the Kirishitan that appear in these texts in the context of contemporary discourses on the world and Japan’s place in it. New maps and information brought by the missionaries and traders to Japan reflected a world that looked very different from the traditional Sino-centric one. These anti-Kirishitan popular narratives meet the challenge of this new world by expelling it and reasserting the conventional three-realms world order, in which Japan plays an influential role. This is done most obviously in the expulsion of the Kirishitan that is narrated in the texts, but it is also achieved on another level by the representation of the Kirishitan as uncouth and very common villains.

Conquering Demons features a new look at anti-Kirishitan works from a literary perspective, examining them in the context of developments in the publishing industry and in the broader discourses on Japan and its many Others in the world. It should be of interest most broadly to scholars and teachers of Japanese history and literature, but also to those dealing with questions of identity and Othering, issues of “mapping” Japan and the world, and the role of manuscript culture in Edo-period literature. The translations provide an entertaining and relatively rare look at some Japanese representations of Westerners and would be useful in undergraduate classes on Japanese history, culture, and literature.

Jan C. Leuchtenberger is Associate Professor of Japanese and Director of the Asian Studies Program at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Her research interests include representations of Japan and the West in early modern Japanese discourses and the earliest representations of Japan in Europe.

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Call for Papers: New Journal: Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas (ADVA)

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]Call for Submissions

We are pleased to announce the launch of Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas, a new international peer-reviewed journal that features multidisciplinary scholarship on intersections between visual culture studies and the study of Asian diasporas across the Americas. Perspectives on and from North, Central and South America, as well as the Pacific Islands and the Caribbean will be presented to encourage the hemispheric transnational study of multiple Americas with diverse indigenous and diasporic populations.

The broad conceptualization of the Americas as a complex system of continual movement, migratory flows and cultural exchange, and Asian diaspora as an analytical tool, enables the critical examination of the historically under-represented intersections between and within, Asian Canadian Studies, Asian American Studies, Asian Latin American Studies, Asian Caribbean Studies, and Pacific Island Studies. It encourages submission of transnational and transhistorical as well as site-based scholarly critique and investigation on visual cultures that engage with historical, material, cultural and political contextualizations within current discussions on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, dis/ability and class as well as aesthetics, ethics, epistemologies, and technologies of visuality. Transcultural areas of investigation in the humanities, including Asian-Indigenous collaborations, historical formulations of Afro-Asian connections, and studies on transnational subjects of mixed ra
ce heritage are welcome.

Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas explores visual culture in all its multifaceted forms, including, but not limited to, visual arts, craft, cinema, film, performing arts, public art, architecture, design, fashion, media, sound, food, networked practices, and popular culture. It recognizes the ways in which diverse systems of visualities, inclusive of sensorial, embodied experience, have shaped and embedded meanings within culturally specific, socio-political and ideological contexts. The journal provides an intellectual forum for researchers and educators to showcase, engage and be in dialogue with this growing multidisciplinary area of investigation within the humanities

Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas (ADVA) will be published by Brill (www.brill.com ) in affiliation with the Asian/Pacific/American Institute, New York University (New York) and the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University (Montreal).

To read more about ADVA, including our aims and scope and editorial and advisory board membership, and submission guidelines, please visit our Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Asian-Diasporic-Visual-Cultures-and-the-Americas/646111668789406 . Please send queries or submissions to: ADVAedit@gmail.com .

The first issue is planned for Spring 2015.

Deadline for submissions for the first issue: June 1, 2014

Posted in announcements, graduate school | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Fun Link Friday: Japanese Railway Tourism Posters from the 1930s

Posted on March 21, 2014 by LM

The nephew of an antique-shop owner discovered a collection of gorgeous Japan Rail tourism posters from the ’30s. Now restored, all 15 posters will be auctioned off on Heritage on March 22. The design is reminiscent both of hanga and US WPA tourism posters.

Via Collector's Weekly

“Hakusan, Ready to be Climbed.” 24.75 x 36.5 inches. Nagoya Rail Agency. Translation: “Hiking Season from July 10th to September 5th.” Via Collectors Weekly. Prior to WWII, it was common for horizontal writing to read from right to left.

If someone would like to snag that Hakusan one for me, I wouldn’t be opposed.

Collectors Weekly, via Gizmodo. Heritage auction here.

Posted in fun links | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Deadline extended: The Noh Training Project

Posted on March 20, 2014 by Paula

The Noh Training Project based in Bloomsburg, PA is extending its early registration deadline until March 31st. Please see our website http://www.nohtrainingproject.org/ for details.

This year, the Noh Training Project is celebrating its 20th anniversary culminating in torchlight performances of the classical noh plays Takasago and Hagoromo in the Bloomsburg Town Park on August 1st and 2nd.

Dates for NTP 2014 are July 13 thru August 3.

The Noh Training Project is a summer three-week intensive, performance-based training in the dance, chant, music and performance history of Japanese classical noh drama. The Noh Training Project offers the most intensive and extensive noh training available in the United States.

One of the oldest continually performed theatre forms in the world, noh combines dance, chant, music, and mask in a powerful and stately performance experience requiring intense inner concentration and physical discipline. Actors, directors, dancers, musicians, and academics interested in a non-Western performance experience are encouraged to apply.

 

Posted in announcements, culture, graduate school | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Job Opening Asian Art History, Teaching Fellow (full-time, one year)

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution:   Augustana College, Rock Island, IL, Art History
Location:   Illinois, United States
Position:   Non-Tenure Track Faculty; Asian Art History Full-time Fellow Teaching Position

Art History -Augustana College invites applications for a Teaching Fellowship in Art History.  This is a full-time, one-year position.  A PhD in hand is desired, but ABD candidates will be considered. Teaching and research specialization are open, but ideally the candidate will complement the specialization of faculty in the department.  Expertise in Asian art history is preferred.  Teaching responsibilities will include sections of the art history survey required for art history and studio art majors, a course in non-western art, a 300-level Asian art history class as well as a 300-level Special Topics course (Japanese art history course preferred) in the candidates area of specialization.  The teaching load is 7 courses for the year on a 10-week trimester calendar. Strong candidates will be able to demonstrate a desire to teach and mentor undergraduates, and support the mission of the Department of Art History and the College.   Question should be directed to the chair of the department, Dr. Catherine Goebel atcatherinegoebel@augustana.edu.

Augustana College is a selective liberal arts college of 2,500 students, most of whom live on a wooded
115-acre campus.  Rock Island, Illinois is one of the Illinois-Iowa Quad Cities along the Mississippi River, a diverse metropolitan area with 400,000 residents.  Augustana College is an equal opportunity employer and actively encourages applications from women and persons of diverse ethnic backgrounds.  We do not discriminate based on age, race, color, ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability or creed.  Details about Augustana, our expectation of the faculty, the selection process and the Quad Cities all are available at the Faculty Search website:  http://www.augustanafaculty.org/.To apply, send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, copy of graduate transcripts, statement of teaching philosophy, evidence of teaching effectiveness, writing sample, and three confidential letters of recommendation to:

Search #118-14

Art History Committee , C/O Margaret Farrar, Associate Dean,

Augustana College,

639  38th Street, Rock Island, IL  61201

or
by email to sherrydocherty@augustana.edu .

Applications review will begin following the application deadline of April 2, 2014.

Contact:
catherinegoebel@augustana.edu
Website: http://www.augustana.edu

Posted in announcements, job openings, jobs | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Announcement: Regionalizing Culture: the political economy of Japaneses popular culture in Asia

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Paula

Regionalizing“Regionalizing Culture: the political economy of Japaneses popular culture in Asia”

(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press).

ISBN: 978-0-8248-3694-9 (Cloth $42.00)
http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9036-9780824836948.aspx

This ambitious work provides a comprehensive, empirically grounded study of the production, circulation, and reception of Japanese popular culture in Asia. While many studies typically employ an interactive approach that focuses on the “meaning” of popular culture from an anthropological or cultural studies point of view, Regionalizing Culture emphasizes that the consumption side and contextual meaning of popular culture are not the only salient factors in accounting for its proliferation. The production side and organizational aspects are also important. In addition to presenting individual case studies, the book offers a big-picture view of the dramatic changes that have taken place in popular culture production and circulation in Asia over the past two decades.

The author has gleaned information from primary sources in Japanese, English, and other languages; research visits to Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Seoul; as well as insights of people with firsthand knowledge from within the cultural industries. From this broad range of source, he develops an integrative political economic approach to popular culture. Regionalizing Culture offers a dialectical look at the organization of cultural production, primarily at the structure and control of cultural industries, interconnections between companies and production networks, and relations between the business sector and the state. It traces the rise of Japan as a popular culture powerhouse and the expansion of its cultural industries into Asian markets. It looks as well at the creation of markets for Japanese cultural commodities since the late 1980s, the industrial and normative impact that Japanese cultural industries have on the structure of the local cultural industries, and the wider implications these processes have for the Asian region.

The growing popularity and importance of Japan’s popular culture will make this book a basic text for scholars and students of popular culture as well as for those interested in political economy, media and communication studies, Japanese-Asian relations, Asian studies, and international relations.

Table of Contents:

Preface ix

Introduction: Popular Culture and Regionalization xv

Chapter 1 The Political Economy of Popular Culture 1
Chapter 2 Popular Culture and the East Asian Region 18
Chapter 3 Japan’s Popular Culture Powerhouse 51
Chapter 4 The Creation of a Regional Market 90
Chapter 5 Japan’s Regional Model 125
Chapter 6 Conclusion: Japanese Popular Culture and the Making of East Asia 161
Notes 185
References 197
Index 221

“In this highly original book Nissim Otmazgin offers a compelling analysis of the regionalization of the Japanese popular culture industries and its effect on regionalization processes in East Asia. He situates his provocative analysis at the intersection of the organizational characteristics of Japan’s popular culture industries and the bottom-up process of regionalization of commodified culture in East Asia. The book thus brings into sharp focus phenomena that are typically viewed in a blur or simply neglected. Deeply accomplished, this admirable book should command the attention of all serious students of popular culture and of East Asia.”

—Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, Cornell University

“This highly informative book provides a comprehensive examination of the successful deployment of Japanese popular culture throughout East Asia. Surveying a broad spectrum of cultural products, including games, animation, and TV drama, it argues both that there is a Japanese model to popular cultural production and that that model of cultural commodification has contributed to the regionalization of East Asia. The use of extensive interviews with diverse stakeholders, including both industry personnel and audience, provides a fresh approach to the subject that will satisfy a growing interest in Japanese popular culture in university curriculum.”
—Lisa Leung, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Posted in announcements, culture | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Job Opening: Office Manager, UNU-IAS Operating Unit Ishikawa [Kanazawa]

Posted on March 15, 2014 by LM

job opening - 5Institution: United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies Operating Unit Ishikawa/Kanazawa (OUIK)
Location: Kanazawa, Ishikawa pref., Japan
Application deadline: March 20, 2014
Education requirements: BA required, MA preferred
Languages needed: English, Japanese
Employment type: Full time
Start date: April 16, 2014


The United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies Operating Unit Ishikawa/Kanazawa (OUIK) was established in April 2008 with strong support by local governments of Ishikawa Prefecture and Kanazawa City in Japan. OUIK has provided local and regional input into UNU’s sustainable development and international cooperation efforts in collaboration with other organizations, including UN agencies, academic institutes and local partners by implementing research on sustainable utilization of biodiversity and ecosystem services. OUIK also aims at developing communication and networks with local stakeholders through public outreach and capacity building, while sharing information about international trends.

Job description

  • Under the overall supervision of the UNU-IAS Director and direct supervision of the Director of UNU-IAS Operating Unit Ishikawa/Kanazawa (OUIK), the Office Manager will be responsible for the following duties:
  • Assume responsibilities for the OUIK as the main programme manager; oversee and guide the day to day management and operation of the programme activities, such as liaising with Ishikawa Prefecture and Kanazawa City government officials, programme outreach, event coordination and logistics, writing, editing and other tasks;
  • Assist the Director of OUIK to build coherence and cooperation within the OUIK, as well as to establish links with other academic institutions, scholars and stakeholders at the local level and beyond;
  • Assume greater responsibilities in public outreach, promoting the OUIK’s activities and work to relevant audiences, including local stakeholders and community, academic institutions, foundations, the private sector and the general public;
  • Provide, where appropriate and within the ability of the Office Manager, research and research-assistant contributions to projects and further develop areas of specialization to the benefit of the OUIK; and
  • Perform other duties at the request of the Director of OUIK.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

  • A Bachelor’s degree (a Masters’ degree would be preferable) in relevant fields of environmental studies or public policy, or comparable work experience;
  • Excellent communication skills with proficiency in both oral and written English and Japanese;
  • Computer/web literacy is a must;
  • Five (5) years work experience on programme activities is desirable; programme management experience is an asset;
  • Knowledge and working experience of organization of conferences, logistical and financial arrangements desirable;
  • A good team player with strong inter-personal skills, demonstrated by the ability to work in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity; and
  • Excellent analytical skills as well as demonstrated ability to multi-task and to manage own workload and schedule to deliver timely results.

For full details, see posting on Idealist.org.

Posted in announcements, job openings, jobs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Job Opening: Japan/Modern East Asian History, Visiting Assistant Professor

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution:   University of Pittsburgh, History
Location:   Pennsylvania, United States
Position:   Visiting Assistant Professor; 1 year visiting, Japan/Modern East Asia

Japan. The University of Pittsburgh seeks applicants for a one-year visiting appointment at the rank of assistant professor, beginning fall 2014, pending budgetary approval. Ph.D. should be completed by August 1, 2014. The successful candidate for this position will teach an introductory course on modern East Asia (since 1800) and upper-level undergraduate courses on Japan. Expected teaching load is four courses per year. Send a letter of application, summary of the dissertation, CV, teaching portfolio (statement of teaching philosophy, sample syllabi and assignments, and course evaluations if available) and three letters of recommendation to Professor George Reid Andrews, Chair, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Applications must be postmarked by March 31, 2014. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity employer. Women and members of under-represented minority groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Contact:
Professor George Reid Andrews, Chair
Department of History,
3702 Posvar Hall
University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Website: http://history.pitt.edu

Posted in announcements, job openings, jobs | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Job Opening: East Asian History, Assistant Professor (limited one year)

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution:   Rhode Island College, History
Location:   Rhode Island, United States
Position:   Full-time, one-year limited term position at the rank of Assistant Professor, East Asian History

The Department of History at Rhode Island College invites applications for a full-time, one-year limited term position at the rank of Assistant Professor for Fall 2014 to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in East Asian History and the Departments General Education offering in Asian History:  Asia and the World.

Required qualifications:  ABD in East Asian History; college level teaching experience; evidence of teaching effectiveness; and an active research agenda.

Preferred qualifications: Ph.D. in History with specialization in East Asian History.

The position is open until filled.

Important:  For full job description and application procedures*, see our web site: https://employment.ric.edu/

*Candidates must apply online, using Rhode Island Colleges PeopleAdmin Applicant Tracking system.

As an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity institution which values and is committed to expanding the diversity of its faculty and staff, the College invites members of protected classes, including minorities and persons with disabilities to identify themselves as such at the time of application.

www.ric.edu

Contact: For full job description and application procedures, see our

Website: https://employment.ric.edu/

Posted in announcements, job openings, jobs | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment