New Perspectives on Japan
Terasaki Center Junior Faculty Roundtable Series 2020-21
This new series brings together eminent scholars from around the world for focused and unscripted dialogue on a variety of topics related to Japanese Studies, broadly conceived. Given the myriad challenges faced by scholars in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the roundtables provide an occasion for scholars to come together for a series of critical reflections on the current state and post-pandemic future of scholarship related to Japan. Rather than replicating traditional presentation styles, this “born digital” format foregrounds the potential for digital platforms to create large-scale dialogue. Not only are all roundtables open to the public, but significant time is reserved at the end of each one for audience questions and engagement.
Roundtable 1
December 17, 2020 4:00PM - 5:30PM (PST)
Japanese Art History in a Global Context
As the discipline of art history increasingly embraces more global, inclusive, and transcultural models and methodologies, how will this change the field of Japanese art history? Likewise, what is (and has been) the role of Japanese art history in this disciplinary turn? This roundtable brings together scholars working across the full chronological span of the archipelago's history in order to discuss the future of Japanese art history in the context of the global.
Speakers:
Mimi Yiengpruksawan (Yale University)
Gennifer Weisenfeld (Duke University)
Gregory Levine (UC Berkeley)
Matthew McKelway (Columbia University)
Moderator:
Kristopher W. Kersey (Department of Art History)
Roundtable 2
January 26, 2021 4:00PM - 5:30PM (PST)
Locating Japan in Theater and Performance Studies Today
As Theater and Performance Studies in Anglophone academia reckon with generations of Euro-centricity and seek to diversify curricula and research paradigms, Japan--with its rich range of performance forms both traditional and contemporary, and its complex history--offers a compelling site from which to broaden these disciplines. What insights can be brought from Japanese Studies to Theater and Performance to help deepen understandings of Asia beyond passing references to Noh and Kabuki and, conversely, what insights might Performance Studies have to offer new studies on Japan? Bringing together scholars working on Japanese performance forms in both Theater and Asian Studies departments, we discuss the challenges and rewards of bridging research and teaching across disciplines, centuries, and cultures.
Speakers:
Reginald Jackson (University of Michigan)
Jessica Nakamura (UCSB)
Tara Rodman (UCI)
Moderator:
Michelle Liu Carriger (School of Theater, Film & Television)
Roundtable 3
March 29th, 2021, 5:00pm - 6:00pm (PDT) *note the start time has changed to 5pm
How Japan responded to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the health and economics of nations across the globe. However, not all countries were affected equally. Although Japan has seen the first case of the COVID-19 patient relatively early, the number of infections and deaths due to COVID-19 remains low compared to the US or European countries. Yet, the underlying reasons for such stark differences have not been fully understood. This roundtable brings together a group of experts who were deeply involved in how Japan responded to this pandemic, and share their insights as to what we can learn from Japan's experience.
Speakers:
Kiyoshi Kurokawa (Chairman, Health and Global Policy Institute)
Hiroshi Nishiura (Professor, Kyoto University)
Akira Muto (Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles)
Moderator:
Yusuke Tsugawa (Assistant Professor, UCLA)
Roundtable 4
April 26th, 2021, 5:00pm - 6:30pm (PDT)
Japan for (New) Media Studies
Japanese cinema once played a rather unusual and significant role in the transformation of film theory and criticism in the 1960s and 70s, shaping the nascent discipline of English-language academic film studies. In our current diverse and globalizing media environment, Japan continues to be a productive site of various forms of modern technological media practices and scholarly engagement with them. This roundtable brings together scholars working on television, radio, and related audiovisual cultures in the humanities tradition to share their insights on the ways in which Japan remains relevant and vital to today’s media studies.
Speakers:
Hannah Airriess (University of Indiana, Bloomington)
Alex Murphy (University of Chicago)
Yuki Nakayama (University of Michigan)
Hideto Tsuboi (International Research Center for Japanese Studies)
Alexander Zahlten (Harvard University)
Moderator:
Junko Yamazaki (Asian Languages and Cultures)
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