East Asian Studies at Harvard University

Talk tomorrow by EALC faculty member David Atherton!
“Violence and Form in Early Modern Japanese Literature”
Friday, February 2, 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. EST
(in-person and online event)
Register for online viewing here: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEkdOChqjkoEt0pMcUBd9zGYYLSinm6F1GS #/registration
Speaker:
David Atherton, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Moderator:
Shigehisa Kuriyama, Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History and Director, Reischauer Institute, Harvard University

Beginning in Spring 2024, EAS is delighted to offer one Summer Research Travel Grant of up to $4,000 to support a concentrator, joint concentrator, or undergraduate Vietnamese Language Program student conducting research or undertaking a self-organized study abroad program in Vietnam (other underserved regions in East Asia will also be considered in the case of concentrators). We can’t wait to see what they’ll do with it! More info here: https://eas.fas.harvard.edu/travel-grants-eas-concentrators

Can’t wait to kick off our annual Halloween event, the East Asian Ghost Story Gathering! We’ll be enjoying spooky tales from Japan, Korea, China, and Vietnam—both traditional and contemporary urban legends. Oh, and lots of cider and Halloween candy! ;)

Another featured course as the registration deadline gets closer…!

GENED 1169: What is the Good China Story? (Aesthetics & Culture), taught by EALC Profs. Wai-Yee Li and David Wang.

“Why do stories have the power to bring China to the world and the world to China?

The course takes as its point of departure President Xi Jinping’s call in 2013 to “tell the good China story,” and in 2020 to “tell the good China story of combating coronavirus.” What is the good China story? Is this the story China should tell about itself to the world? Is this about cultural self-perception, understanding the world, cross-cultural communication, or simple propaganda? More importantly, how can we tell China stories from perspectives outside of China?

What seems beyond dispute is the power of stories to bring China to the world and the world to China. In exploring the “fictional turn” of contemporary Chinese cultural politics as it relates to the world, we will also trace its genealogy to earlier historical moments. Stories matter in China, not only in our times but also throughout history.

Narrative fiction is one of the most effective ways to engage with the Chinese past and the Chinese present. Instead of presenting China as a monolithic civilization, this course uses stories to understand “the world of China” and “China in the world” from ideological, ethnic, cultural, and geo-political perspectives. The course highlights the variety and vitality of stories from both modern and pre-modern periods. In genres ranging from religious allegory to science fiction, from moral fable to fantastic romance, from philosophical anecdote to political satire, Chinese stories have enlightened, intrigued, puzzled, and scandalized readers, reflecting and constructing ever-changing worldviews.”

It’s that wonderful and frustrating time of the year again—time to choose JUST FOUR (or five, if you’re really determined) courses for Fall semester! Today we’re spotlighting a new course taught by EALC visiting lecturer Dr. Youngeun Koo—KORHIST 119: Governing Bodies in 20th Century Korea. This course aims to examine the history of modern Korea through the lens of families, women, and children, highlighting how their bodies constituted crucial sites of politics across the colonial, postcolonial, and neo-liberal eras. What does it mean to read Korea’s modern transitions through people’s “bodies”? Through an exploration of governing practices and processes, this course will unveil the intricacies of political memberships in modern Korea, entangled along the intersecting lines of gender, race, class, disability, and sexuality.

"The Xiongnu, contemporaries of the peoples of ancient Egypt and Rome, dominated the Mongolian steppe from about 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. These horseback nomads proved innovative in warfare, but historians know little about the inner workings of their culture because the Xiongnu never developed a formal writing system. “Most of what we know comes from the Han Dynasty of Imperial China,” Warinner said. “They were major rivals of the Xiongnu, and they wrote about their wars and skirmishes along the border.”

In fact, the Great Wall was built as a barrier to mounted Xiongnu warriors.

Also detailed in historic documents are the Xiongnu’s powerful women. “That was another reason Imperial China didn’t like them,” Warinner quipped."

DNA shows poorly understood empire was multiethnic with strong female leadership Biomolecular archaeology reveals a fuller picture of the Xiongnu people, the world’s first nomadic empire.

Join us TODAY for Visitas! In addition to newly-admitted students, EAS invites current students interested in the concentration to an open class of the East Asian Studies Sophomore Tutorial, EASTD 97ab: Introduction to the Study of East Asia - Issues and Methods. This is a core class required of all EAS concentrators. Current students will be presenting their final projects!

Presentation topics include:

-Political Stability in Chinese dynasties - an LLM based approach to quantifying history

-VTubers: cultural influences on representation

-Guidebooks of what NOT to be: surviving in Edo through kibyoshi

-Double Concentration: Railways and Population of Tokyo

Other topics and programs: the Japanese coming of age ritual: shichigosan, the creation of Yenching Academy program at Peking (today's Beijing) university, newly discovered US-Japan postcards, and turning Tang-dynasty poems into a short film.
___________

After the class, head over to 9 Kirkland Pl. for an informal open house where you can get all your questions about the EAS concentration answered while enjoying coffee, tea, and East Asian snacks.

Class time: 1:30pm-2:45pm, 485 Broadway, Sackler Lecture Hall 004.

Open House time: 3pm-5pm, EAS Office, Room 102, 9 Kirkland Pl.

Harvard Visitas is next Monday, 4/24! In addition to admitted students, EAS invites current students interested in the concentration to an open class of the East Asian Studies Sophomore Tutorial, EASTD 97ab: Introduction to the Study of East Asia - Issues and Methods. This is a core class required of all EAS concentrators. Current students will be presenting their final projects on this day!

Presentation topics will include:

-Political Stability in Chinese dynasties - an LLM based approach to quantifying history

-VTubers: cultural influences on representation

-Guidebooks of what NOT to be: surviving in Edo through kibyoshi

-Double Concentration: Railways and Population of Tokyo

Other topics and programs: the Japanese coming of age ritual: shichigosan, the creation of Yenching Academy program at Peking (today's Beijing) university, newly discovered US-Japan postcards, and turning Tang-dynasty poems into a short film.
___________

After the class, head over to 9 Kirkland Pl. for an informal open house where you can get all your questions about the EAS concentration answered while enjoying coffee, tea, and East Asian snacks.

Class time: 1:30pm-2:45pm, 485 Broadway, Sackler Lecture Hall 004.

Open House time: 3pm-5pm, EAS Office, Room 102, 9 Kirkland Pl.

A stunning essay by our own Michael Szonyi, regarding the relationships between the everyday and the political, in Ming China where military conscription defined the lives of families for generations. Szonyi shows us by example that "the binary between compliance and resistance they imply remains a narrow conception of politics."

The junhu and the art of everyday politics in imperial China | Aeon Essays Imperial Chinese conscription shows how ordinary people exercise influential political skills, even in a repressive state

David Atherton, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages & Civilizations, sat down to speak to the Harvard Crimson on Edo-period writing and his experience, as a Harvard alumnus, returning as a professor.
“How can we find and contribute and generate interesting humanistic questions and different ways of thinking about things like literature and culture,” he says, “that are not bound by region at all?”
And finally, some sage advice for Harvard undergraduates: "It's okay to do less."

Fifteen Questions: David Atherton on Japanese Literature, Creativity, and Remembering to Breathe | Magazine | The Harvard Crimson The literary scholar sat down with Fifteen Minutes to discuss Edo-period writing and his experience returning to Harvard as a professor. “How can we find and contribute and generate interesting humanistic questions and different ways of thinking about things like literature and culture,” he says...

It’s that time of year again: course registration has opened! Today we’re spotlighting six courses: CHNSE 187 “Art and Violence in the Cultural Revolution” (a ‘bridge course’ with instruction in both Chinese and English) taught by Xiaofei Tian, EASTD 153 “Buddhism, Japanese Arts, and Culture” taught by Ryūichi Abe, VIETNAM Bb “Elementary Vietnamese” taught by Hoa Le, EASTD 198 “Political Parties of East Asia” taught by Daniel Koss, KORLIT 110 “Classical Korean Literature” taught by Si Nae Park, and GENED 1100 “The Two Koreas in the Modern World” taught by Carter Eckert. See more at ealc.fas.harvard.edu/featured-courses-spring-23.

Happy holidays from EAS!

Happy Holidays from EAS!

Please join us in enthusiastically welcoming Harvard's new president-elect, Claudine Gay! She'll be making history as the University's 30th president.

Claudine Gay details her own past at Harvard, plans for future New President-elect Claudine Gay is introduced to Harvard community.

Parting is such sweet sorrow! Yesterday was the last class meeting of Freshman Seminar 62Z: "Buddhist Enlightenment: Visions, Words, and Practice," taught by Prof. Ryūichi Abe. Fortunately they have these comfy East Asian Studies tees to commemorate the class!

Freshman Seminars are courses open exclusively to First-Years, offered by Harvard College departments to spark new students' curiosity for various disciplines. This year, EALC's "Buddhist Enlightenment" was one of over 100 such courses offered at Harvard.

Uyghur and Chaghatay language courses, taught by Gülnar Eziz, are among the hidden gems of Harvard's Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Since this Fall both are being offered at the introductory level (UYGHUR A: Elementary Uyghur and CHAGATAY A: Elementary Chaghatay), we asked an alum of the Chaghatay Language Program, Zakir Hussein Gul, to share his eventful journey with the language--which began in Dr. Eziz's introductory course.

What exactly is Chaghatay and why is it important, you say? Read on to find out!



"My background is in Islamic Studies. I studied Arabic and Persian at the undergraduate level in the U.K., and first encountered Chaghatāy then. What most intrigued me initially was the novelty of a language whose geographic currency was said to have once stretched from Eastern China to the west of Moscow and whose longevity wove a continuous thread beginning with Chinggis Khān's immediate successors and ending with the Soviets. If a lingua franca fitting such a description truly did exist, how could it be that so few of us had heard of it?

After cultivating my Arabic and Persian for a few years, I knew that I wanted to engage the Turkic languages so that I might have wider access to Islamicate primary sources. Chaghatāy was very much the proverbial road not taken in this regard, for three primary reasons. Firstly, the academic study of Ottoman Turkish (the 'other' classical/ formal Turkic register) has many a decade on Chaghatāy and is thus more established, whereas the study of the latter language is still in its nascent stages and has only begun to plant firm roots in the Western academy within the last twenty or so years. Building on from this, the study of Islamicate history within the Ottoman realm is likewise rich and well-ensconced whereas comparatively little has been done on, say, the intellectual history of that terribly exciting period known as the Timurid Renaissance, wherein polymaths such as 'Alī-Shīr Nawā'ī produced masterpieces of metaphysics, theology and philosophy (if not in poetic meter, then in sufficiently copious ornamental prose) in Chaghatāy. Who wouldn't want to access such texts?

Finally, it had until recently been the case that Chaghatāy could not be seriously engaged save through the mediation of another language such as modern Turkish, Russian or Chinese (beating around the bush, much?). All of this changed with Dr. Eric Schluessel's 2018 "An Introduction to Chaghatay: A Graded Textbook for Reading Central Asian Sources," which offered the thrilling prospect of immediate access, even without any foreknowledge of Arabic and Persian. Scandalous!

One could say that the stars were aligned perfectly to engage with Chaghatāy during my time at Harvard from 2019-2020: Dr. Schlussel's book was fresh off the press; Harvard had just hired its first dedicated preceptor in Chaghatāy and Uyghur, Dr. Gülnar Eziz; the first Chaghatāy class was to begin during my second semester. Alḥamdulillāh.

Out of all of my classmates during that first semester of learning Chaghatāy, I was the only one with previous acquaintance with the Perso-Arabic script. The other students were mostly approaching the language from the east, say, upon a foundation in Mandarin, Mongolic or other Qing dynasty languages. This meant that our classroom quickly became a microcosm unto Chaghatāy: in one given text, I would recognize the lunar month from the anno Hegirae, while someone else would point out the animal-year of the Chinese zodiac. I would argue that such-and-such a parable is an enumeration of an established Islamic sunna, while a third student would insist it was firmly rooted in Confucian (and perhaps huiru) ideals, and so forth. Partaking in such an interdisciplinary ‘bridge’ through the medium of a language that was itself a bridge between worlds was particularly exhilarating.

Both Dr. Eziz's tuition and the clear, engaging exercises in Dr. Schluessel's textbook allowed for everyone to gain a strong grasp on the writing system in a number of weeks. Within a few months we had all studied enough grammar and vocabulary to read, translate, transcribe–and altogether engage–handwritten primary sources in the original script. I cannot think of another language class in which such rapid progress from the ABCs to original texts can be achieved in the space of just one semester. What, then, is there to lose by diving into Chaghatāy?

This July, I successfully defended my thesis on a literary composition in the mirrors-for-princes genre written by a certain Kamālpāshāzāda—an early modern Ottoman jurist, poet, historian, theologian, Persophile linguist, madrasa professor, littérateur of emotive letters to Shāh Ṭahmāsb, eventual Shaykh al-Islām and overall Renaissance man of manifold hats—thus completing a two year MA in Persian Literature at the University of Tehran, Iran. As such, it might be said that my academic trajectory is moving further westward for the time being. Be that as it may, my gaze remains fixed east of Iran, and I do hope to pick up my study of such a humbling, immense and uncharted intellectual tradition in Chaghatāy soon.

And the plot forever thickens!"


(Many thanks to Zakir Hussein Gul for the text of this interview, and the accompanying photo of himself at a shrine in the north of Tehran)

To learn more about Uyghur and Chaghatay at Harvard, visit: https://ealc.fas.harvard.edu/languages

Course registration opens today, and East Asian Studies has some fascinating offerings. Here's a sampling--let your curiosity run wild!

A big congratulations to Annelisa Kingsbury-Lee, joint concentrator in Environmental & Public Policy and East Asian Studies, on receiving the 2022 Harvard STS (Science, Technology, and Society) Undergraduate Essay Prize, awarded by the Harvard Kennedy School!

Annelisa's winning essay, written during her Junior (current) year and titled “Ultrasupercritical Coal as Viral Technology: The Chinese Case,” contrasts two visions of nation building in the dissemination and use of ultrasupercritical coal (USC) technologies in China. It shows a tension between USC as part of a longstanding imaginary of coal as bringing about economic and political progress, and also of China as an “ecological civilization” impelled to reduce pollution and act as an “international environmental leader.” In showing how USC is positioned as a boundary object between these two imaginative visions of a once rising and future China, the paper is at once a trenchant criticism of influential theoretical approaches in STS (such as Thomas Hughes’s technological momentum) and an illustration of the contradictions inherent in these Chinese sociotechnical projects. As if these contributions were not enough, the paper also theorizes USC as a “viral technology,” or a technological system that “has mutated and spread to survive economic or political threats.”

According to the Harvard STS Fellows, this paper "possessed the hallmark characteristics of work done in the STS Program at Harvard. The paper combines a strong empirical research program with original theoretical insight, is engaged with not just one but multiple STS frameworks, and centrally takes on questions of politics and nation-building as they animate technological developments. The concerns it raises about energy and environment, public policy and climate change, as well as the future of sustainability in times of technological transformation make it a worthy emblem of STS work being done at Harvard College. The essay shows impressive insight, not to mention conceptual density (perhaps to the point of being itself ultrasupercritical), and to [our] knowledge bears the distinction of being the first Junior paper of its kind to win the STS Undergraduate Prize."

To learn more about the Undergraduate STS Essay Prize, visit: https://sts.hks.harvard.edu/research/undergraduate-sts-essay-prize-competition/ #:~:text=Harvard%20College%20senior%20Wyatt%20Hurt,Politics%20of%20Transboundary%20Water%20Governance.

Congratulations to the winners of the Taliesin Prize, including Christopher Gilmer-Hill '22, concentrator in Neuroscience with a secondary field in East Asian Studies! The Taliesin Prize, named for the early Brittonic poet, is awarded to three graduating seniors "who best exhibit a spirit of intellectual adventure in their curricular paths as Harvard undergraduates."

The Division of Arts & Humanities is delighted to announce the winners of the 2022 Taliesin Prize for Distinction in the Art of Learning:

Aditi Chitkara ’22 of Applied Mathematics, with a secondary in Art, Film, and Visual Studies

Christopher Gilmer-Hill ’22 of Neuroscience, with a secondary in East Asian Studies

Ana Luiza Nicolae ‘22 with a Special Concentration in Geography and Identity

These three seniors were selected by a faculty committee for being exemplary undergraduates who challenged themselves in creating innovative and rigorous intellectual pathways through Harvard’s curriculum. Their explorations took them off the well-trodden path where they faced risk but also reward in shaping their diverse undergraduate careers.

To learn more about the Taliesin Prize, visit https://students.artsandhumanities.fas.harvard.edu/taliesin-prize

At Commencement this Thursday, we'll be listening with rapt attention to these Class of 2022 orators--one of them EAS's own Benjamin Porteous! Porteous will deliver the Undergraduate Latin Salutatory, in which he'll honor a University Dining Services member with a legendary memory and a special place in the hearts of many undergrads.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/05/orators-focus-on-privilege-and-responsibility-kindness-and-courage/

Orators focus on privilege and responsibility, kindness and courage Three student orators will deliver speeches to celebrate the Class of 2022 on Commencement Day on May 26. A student orator will deliver the Latin Salutatory on Sunday, May 29, to honor the Classes of 2020 and 2021.

Congratulations to our EAS thesis writers, who presented their research findings last week! Check out this year's fascinating line-up of topics in the article below.

From Foreign Policy to Avant-Garde Fashion: Six EAS Thesis Writers Present at 2022 Hybrid Senior Thesis Colloquium Following two consecutive years of fully virtual thesis presentations, the 2022 East Asian Studies Senior Thesis Colloquium offered attendees a new way to engage with concentrators’ research: a hybrid format, with three different ‘venues’. Harvard affiliates could attend in person or virtually...

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

Can a robot have Buddha nature? What is Takashi Murakami's scary-cute pop art telling us about Buddhist philosophy? Can Buddhist training enhance athletic performance? How have sutras been used to deconstruct gender roles? And what are Noh plays really about? You'll consider these questions and many more in EASTD 153!


Course Spotlight
EASTD 153: Buddhism, Arts, and Japanese Culture
Taught by Professor Ryūichi Abé
This course is designed to enable students to analyze a wide range of Japanese cultural creations--including the traditional Noh theater, classical and modern Japanese paintings, and contemporary anime--by illustrating the influence of Buddhism both in their forms and at their depths. The first part of the course is a study of major Buddhist philosophy and its impact on Japanese literature. The second part observes Buddhist ritual practices and their significance for Japanese performing arts. The last part traces the development of Japanese Buddhist art, and considers the influence of Buddhism on diverse contemporary popular Japanese art media.

Two very different poems on the theme of impermanence. Are you or ?



SPRING 2022 COURSE SPOTLIGHT
JAPNLIT 170: Traditional Japanese Literature--From Mythology to (Early) Modernity
Taught by Professor David Atherton

Poetry written by gods, incestuous aristocratic romances, exorcist theater, samurai fantasy novels, fart literature: traditional Japanese literature has something for everyone, and it invites us to rethink our assumptions about what literature is and how creativity works. "Tradition" may sound musty and static. But together we will come to understand tradition as a process, constantly alive and in motion and full of possibilities--including possibilities for us, right here and right now. From the most ancient myths up to the 19th century arrival of Western-inflected modernity, we will explore together the relationships between high art and pulp fiction, the stage and the page, words and illustrations, manuscript and print, language and the sacred. We will probe the literary imagination of beauty, nature, desire, and heroism, and ask what Japanese literature can tell us about what it is to be human. We will ask what it means to "study" literature at all. Some of our explorations will be intellectual and analytical. But we will also fire up our creativity and learn by doing, with creative assignments and experiments that encourage us to climb into literary tradition and explore it from the inside out.

(This course fulfills the EAS Concentration's Historical Survey Course requirement.)

Course registration opens today! Whether you're a concentrator, or just looking to broaden your horizons with an elective, have a look at some of the spring semester courses on offer from the department of EALC! https://ealc.fas.harvard.edu/featured

A belated congratulations to EAS concentrator Justin Tseng on his election to Medford City Council! Justin, a first-generation Taiwanese American Harvard College Senior, is making history as the first Asian American to ever serve on the council, and is one of the youngest-ever council members at 21 years old. His vision for Medford is grounded in affordable housing, school funding, and racial justice.

Harvard Senior Makes Medford History in City Council Election | News | The Harvard Crimson Justin Y. Tseng ’22 was elected to Medford City Council on Tuesday, becoming the first Asian American to serve on the council.