Nippon Culture Day

IRASSHAI! Welcome to Nippon Culture Day!

We invite you to join us as we celebrate Culture Day on the UH-Manoa
campus.

The Japanese section of the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Hawaii at Manoa, will be holding its annual Nippon Culture Day on Thursday, November 1, 2007 at the East-West Center's Imin Center Wailana Rooms, from 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

The event coincides with BUNKA NO HI (Culture Day) in Japan. Culture Day is a national holiday held annually in Japan on November 3 for the purpose of promoting culture, the arts, and academic endeavour. Festivities typically include art exhibitions, parades, and award ceremonies for distinguished artists and scholars.

Nippon Culture Day will feature seven different hands-on workshops, which will be held simultaneously throughout the day. They include: art flower, shodo (calligraphy), ikebana (flower arrangement), omusubi making, advanced origami, Japanese-style gift wrapping, and Japanese tea ceremony. Most of the workshops will be led by faculty members within the Japanese section at UH-Manoa.

Students who are currently taking Japanese at UH-Manoa are given priority and can pre-register for any or all of the workshops, however, visitors may participate on a space-available basis and are welcome to observe any of the activities.

In addition to the workshops, Japanese bookstore Hakubundo and representatives from the UH-Manoa Study Abroad Center and the Consulate-General of Japan will be present. Door prizes donated by Hakubundo will be given away hourly.

This event is organized by the Japanese section of the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures with support from the Center for Japanese Studies and the Soshitsu Sen Way of Tea Center. Contact CJS if you have questions about parking.

Personal Adornment from China

EXCELLING THE WORK OF HEAVEN: PERSONAL ADORNMENT FROM CHINA will be open from October 28 - December 14, 2007 at the University of Hawai'i Art Gallery. It features nearly 700 exquisite objects of personal adornment made of silver, jade, kingfisher feathers, ivory, precious stones, and coral created predominantly during late imperial China (1368-1911) from the San Francisco-based Shyn collection, with special loans from the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
On Sunday, October 28: a special lecture by Terese Tse Bartholomew, curator of Himalayan art and Chinese decorative art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, at 1:00 p.m., followed by the opening reception from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

On Sundays beginning November 4, guided tours of the exhibition will be offered from 2:00-3:00 p.m. A catalogue of the exhibition will be available for purchase.

Middlebury Language School Fellowships

Kathryn Davis Fellowships for Peace:
Investing in the Study of Critical Languages

Summer 2008

The Monterey Institute is pleased to announce 25 full fellowships - including tuition, room, board, books, and travel - to attend Middlebury Language Schools, June - August 2008.

This intense study, equivalent to a full year of college-level language learning, will allow students to enhance language skills to meet enrollment prerequisites at the Monterey Institute for Fall 2008. To be eligible for the fellowships, candidates must be admitted to the Fall 2008 semester in either the Graduate School of International Policy Studies or the Fisher Graduate School of International Business at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.*

Languages of Study at Middlebury College’s Language Schools Fellowships:

* Arabic - beginning or intermediate
* Chinese (Mandarin) - intermediate
* Japanese - intermediate
* Russian - intermediate

AND

The Monterey Institute Fellowships are offered only for students admitted to one of the following master’s programs:

* International Business - MBA
* International Policy Studies
* International Environmental Policy
* International Trade Policy
* Public Administration in International Management - MPA

Qualifications

By the time of enrollment at the Monterey Institute in Fall 2008,
students must demonstrate language proficiency at the following levels:

* Arabic - Ready to begin studies at the second or third-year
college level.
* Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, Russian - Ready to begin studies at
the third-year college level.

Students who successfully complete their studies at Middlebury should meet the Monterey Institute entry requirements.

For the application and more information, please see the Kathryn Davis
Fellowships for Peace.

http://www.miis.edu/finaid/fellowships_for_peace.html

Application Deadline

All application materials must be postmarked by:
January 5, 2008 for Arabic
January 14, 2008 for Chinese, Japanese, or Russian

Monterey Institute of International Studies
Admissions Office
460 Pierce Street
Monterey, CA 93940 USA

831-647-4123
admit@miis.edu

About the Fellowships

These fellowships are made possible by a $1 million gift from Kathryn Davis to address today’s critical need for more effective language proficiency. Fellowship recipients will study Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or Russian through the Language Schools’ signature immersion model: "No English Spoken Here." This intense study, equivalent to a full year of college-level language learning, will allow students to
enhance language skills to meet enrollment prerequisites at the Monterey Institute for Fall 2008.

In establishing the "Fellowships for Peace," philanthropist Kathryn Davis challenged Middlebury College and its affiliate, the Monterey Institute, to use the institutions’ combined expertise in language acquisition, policy studies, and international business, to recruit and train future potential peacemakers. Announcing the program, Middlebury President Ronald Liebowitz stated, "Mrs. Davis wants to improve the prospects for peace in the 21st century...We thank her not only for her
generosity but also for her sense of immediacy and urgency in bringing new ideas and new voices to serve the peace-building process."

With this unusual offer of combined study, the Monterey Institute seeks individuals committed to rigorous language study, master’s-degree training, and professional skill development to address global issues of development, fair trade, international commerce, environmental preservation, nuclear nonproliferation, and other critical issues of our time. "Fellowships for Peace" recipients will be chosen on the basis of academic credentials, experience, and commitment to building a more peaceful world.

* (Students who are currently enrolled at the Monterey Institute should apply directly to Middlebury through their separate Kathryn Davis fellowship program).

UH SHAPS Graduate Student Conference

The 19th Annual University of Hawai'i at Manoa School of Pacific & Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference

Moving Tides: Rearticulating Space in Asia and the Pacific

Wednesday, March 12 - Friday, March 14, 2008
Korean Studies Center, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

The 2008 SHAPS Graduate Student Conference is an event open to students from ALL disciplines. Our aim is to provide a forum for graduate students from a broad range of specialties to discuss their latest innovative research relating to Asian and/or Pacific Islands Studies. UH-Manoa students and students from other colleges and universities -- local, mainland, and international -- are all encouraged to participate.

Call for submissions!
Seeking papers and presenters by graduate students in Asian and Pacific Studies.
Abstract submission deadline: Monday, January 28, 2008
Final paper submission deadline: Thursday, February 15, 2008
A limited number of stipends for student presenters coming from off-island will be available. These funds are earmarked for food and accommodation expenses for non-O'ahu students only (will not cover cost of air travel). Please check the website over the next few weeks for more information.
Top presenters in each area study will receive cash prizes!
Submit your abstract for consideration.

Call for volunteers!
Seeking UHM faculty and graduate students interested in previewing abstracts.

Travel Information
Indulge yourself in Asia-Pacific academia and then enjoy Spring Break in Hawai'i!
Register as an attendee to receive conference updates.

Conference Coordinators
Sugato Dutt (Geography)
Nichole La Torre (Asian Studies)
Marata Tamaira (Pacific Islands Studies)
James Viernes (Pacific Islands Studies)

"The Big Read Performance" - Joy Luck Club

via Hawaii Public Library System -

"A staged readers theatre style performance of Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" takes us on a journey from pre-World War II China to modern day United States through the words and lives of four mothers ("The Joy Luck Club") and their very westernized daughters. Join us as East meets West and cultures sometimes collide in this heartwarming tale of love and the constant need to adapt in order to keep that love alive."

The performance is going to be at four different Hawaii libraries this month, is sponsored by a ton of arts endowments (including the Manoa Outreach College) and looks way cool! Check here for dates, times, locations & performer info.

Call for Papers

Call for Papers For the Third Issue of
Indigenous Politics: Migration/Citizenship/Cyberspace (2008)
Guest Editors: Petrice Flowers, Jungmin Seo

Possible topics for the final issue might focus on the relations between race and space in conceiving the indigenous.

Historically, migration and diasporic communities have created indigenous/non-indigenous divides related, but not identical to race and ethnicity. How are these flows of people and ideas as well as the institutions to manage then, impeded or assisted by the state and other social, political, and economic institutions? What does improved knowledge and understanding of these flows contribute to how one defines an indigenous person or community? What role do global technologies play in linking migrant and diasporic communities to each other and to the homeland? Please see the attached call for papers for a more comprehensive explanation of this three-volume special series and for instructions for submitting abstracts.

Petrice R. Flowers, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Political Science
University of Hawaii at Manoa
2424 Maile Way
640 Saunders Hall
Honolulu, HI 96822
+1-808-956-8494 (phone)
+1-808-956-6877 (fax)

COLUMBIA EAST ASIA GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE

CALL FOR PAPERS:

GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE ON EAST ASIA Seventeenth Annual Graduate Student Conference on East Asia at Columbia University
Friday, February 8 to Saturday, February 9, 2008
Columbia University in the City of New York

Graduate students are invited to submit papers for the Seventeenth Annual Graduate Student Conference on East Asia. This two-day conference provides a forum for students from institutions around the world to meet and share ideas with their peers. Participants gain valuable experience in presenting their work for discussion with other graduate students and some Columbia faculty.

We welcome applications from graduate students engaged in research on all fields in East Asian Studies, including history, literature, political science, art history, religion, sociology, and anthropology. Proposals for both organized panels and individual papers are welcome.

PARTICIPATION:
Participants can take part in the conference as presenters and/or discussants.

Presenters deliver 15-minute (maximum) talks that summarize research in progress. We strongly encourage presenters to form their own thematically linked 3-person panels.

Discussants introduce the panelists and facilitate the 20-minute discussion session following the presentations.

__________________________________

APPLICATIONS (due December 10, 2007):

E-mail the conference organizers (cuasiagradcon@gmail.com) with the
following information:
*Your full name as you would like it to appear in the abstract booklet and conference schedule
*Contact info: telephone, e-mail, and mailing address
*Institution
*Major area of study (region and discipline)
*Title of your paper
*One-page (250 words max) abstract in print-ready format, including your name and institution. NOTE: we will not accept applications without abstracts
*If you have already formed a panel, the names of your fellow panel members
*Any audiovisual equipment you will need for your presentation.

Please note that resources may be limited, and presenters must bring their own laptops for computer presentations.
____________________________________

HOUSING:

Unfortunately, we cannot provide housing, but a list of local accommodations can be made available to participants upon request. The conference runs from Friday afternoon to late Saturday evening.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS:
Buyun Chen
Christopher Craig
Andy Liu
Jenny Wang Medina
Yurou Zhong

CONTACT INFORMATION:
cuasiagradcon [at] gmail.com
Graduate Student Conference on East Asia
Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures
407 Kent Hall, Mail Code 3907
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
FAX: 212-678-8629
Visit the website at http://columbia.edu/cu/ealac/gradconf

DEADLINES:
Applications and abstracts December 10, 2007
Submit applications via e-mail to cuasiagradcon@gmail.com
Presenters must also submit one-page (250 word maximum), print-ready abstracts including the author’s name, institutional affiliation and paper title.

Notification of acceptance: within one week of application deadline.

Final Papers (5-7 pages maximum): January 7, 2008.

PLEASE NOTE:
*Since presentations will be limited to 15 minutes, full-length research
papers or theses will not be accepted.
*In order to fund printing costs for abstracts and the Saturday banquet, we will ask that you pay a $5.00 fee upon your notification of acceptance to the conference. We encourage you to pay by check in advance but also will accept payment on the first day of the conference, February 8th.

Graduate Student Conference on East Asia
Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures
407 Kent Hall, Mail Code 3907
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027
FAX: 212-678-8629
Email: cuasiagradcon [at] gmail.com
Visit the website at:
http://www.columbia.edu/~abl2002/gradconf/index.htm

Do you need money to fund this thing? I know I do.

Here are some resources to help out with funding:

FastWeb has been around forever, and has some of the most annoying advertisements on earth (make sure to click "no thanks" on all the loan consolidation and credit card offers) but continues to be good at thoroughly searching for scholarships. It brought up some Hawai'i community scholarships available to those of us who live here - yes, even if your tuition bill says "nonresident". Various deadlines.

East West Center Scholarships and Fellowships - various fall deadlines

Finally, if you're a doctoral student, Hamilton Library has a nice collection of resources for research funding called the "Foundation Collection" near the reference desk on the first floor. If you're having trouble finding it just come up and ask someone at the desk.

"The Case Study of Chujohime"

CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES SEMINAR SERIES

The Crossing of Boundaries between the Religious and Social Constructions of Gender in Medieval Japanese Buddhist Narratives: The Case Study of Ch•ujohime

By Dr. Monika Dix
Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature
EALL, University of Hawai'i at Manoa

DATE: Thursday, October 25, 2007
TIME: 3:00 - 4:30PM
PLACE: Tokioka Room (Moore Hall 319)
The story of the legendary eighth-century young noblewoman, Chujohime, is one of the
extensive body of late medieval short stories - collectively called otogi zÿshi -which are preserved in written form from the Muromachi period (1392-1573) onward and are generally considered the earliest works of popular literature in Japan.

One of the key stories in the Chujohime legend is her journey to Hibariyama - a fantastic textual, physical, and spiritual transcendent travel which played a key role in the popularization of Ch•ujohime's legend and her cult from the fifteenth to seventeenth century.

This paper focuses on the significance of Chujohime's transcendent journey to Hibariyama and explores how it constitutes a crossing of boundaries between the religious and social constructions of gender in this Buddhist tale of female salvation, presenting Chujohime as religious outcast - not being able to attain enlightenment in her female body due to her sex - and as social outcast - transgressing the bounds of her role of filial daughter vis-à-vis her father.

Dr. Dix suggests that Chujohime's forced journey to Hibariyama - her exile - not only triggers her religious awakening (hosshin) but also indicates a constant renegotiation of gender-power imbalance between Pure Land Buddhist ideology and social customs which mutually influenced each other in casting transgressing women as religious outcasts in late medieval Japanese society.