OSU East Asian Studies Center

Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures’ Japanese majors Logan Conrad and Trevor Strahler, Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s welding engineering students Simran Singh and Jake Stickle, and four Osaka University students (two humanities students—Miharu Kawata and Ayane Shinohara—and two engineering students—Taishi Nishizaka and Reita Anan) participated in a week-long internship program, August 12-19, 2024, at Tipp City, OH’s OTC Daihen, a world leader in robotic arc welding technology. The group, led by Dr. Mihoko Katsumata of Osaka University’s Joining and Welding Institute (JWI), developed recommendations for OTC Daihen on the topic of “Obtaining and developing good human resources during labor scarcity.” The group, breaking into two teams, gave their final presentations at the OSU Welding Engineering Laboratory. The program, the 52nd among those Osaka University’s JWI has hosted around the world, seeks to develop global leaders through the emphasis on cross-cultural communication. At Ohio State, the program was sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Institute for Japanese Studies, and the Office of International Affair’s International Partnerships.

EASC Co-Sponsors Osaka University-Ohio State Coupling Internship with Department of Materials Science and Engineering Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures’ Japanese majors Logan Conrad and Trevor Strahler, Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s welding engineering students Simran Singh and Jake Stickle, and four Osaka University students (two humanities students—Miharu Kawata and Ayan...

Today is the last day to sign up for the EASC’s annual Fall Reception on August 26! We hope to see you there.

EASC Fall Reception 2024 The East Asian Studies Center is pleased to announce the date of our annual fall reception. Please join us in celebrating our collective accomplishments, introducing plans for the coming year, and meeting new members of the EAS community at Ohio State. Refreshments will be provided, and registration...

The East Asian Studies Center is pleased to host a visiting delegation of scholars from Central Asia, as part of the US-CARNet (US-Central Asia Research Network) project.

Join us this Thursday for an ICS target language lecture featuring guest speakers Professors Hui Qin (Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies) and Yan Jin (China University of Political Science and Law, Emeritus).

This lecture is free and open to the public.

ICS OCAPA Target Language Lecture: Hui Qin, "On the 'Low Human Rights Advantage': China, Globalization, and the 'New Cold War'" 关于“低人权优势”的争论：中国，全球化与“新冷战” This target language lecture will be presented in MandarinThe Institute for Chinese Studies and Ohio Chinese American Professional Association (OCAPA) present:

Check out EASC affiliate Professor Caroline Wagner’s recently published article in The Conversation:

China’s universities just grabbed 6 of the top 10 spots in one worldwide science ranking – without changing a thing Science rankings rely on papers in academic journals. Broadening the view to include many more open-access journals will upend the usual order – thanks to China’s vast number of publications.

Join us today for an ICS lecture with Professor James Lin of the University of Washington. See you there!

ICS Lecture: James Lin "In the Global Vanguard: Taiwan and Agrarian Development, 1949-1980s" The Institute for Chinese Studies presents:"In the Global Vanguard: Taiwan and Agrarian Development, 1949-1980s"James LinUniversity of Washington

https://oia.osu.edu/events/japanese-culture-collaboration/

Japanese Culture Collaboration Get ready for a night to learn all about Japan with Global Ambassadors, the Japanese Student Organization and Oshaberi-kai.

Happy spring break from EASC! Join us on Monday, March 25 for an ICS lecture with Professor James Lin of the University of Washington.

ICS Lecture: James Lin "In the Global Vanguard: Taiwan and Agrarian Development, 1949-1980s" The Institute for Chinese Studies presents:"In the Global Vanguard: Taiwan and Agrarian Development, 1949-1980s"James LinUniversity of Washington

This Friday, the Institute for Japanese will host their annual Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture. To register, learn more about our distinguished guest speaker Saori Katada of the University of Southern California, or donate to the Brad Richardson Memorial Fund, follow the link below.

IJS 2024 Brad Richardson Memorial Lecture: Saori Katada, "The Indo-Pacific as Japan’s 21st-Century Grand Strategy" The Institute for Japanese Studies and Brad Richardson Memorial Fund present:"The Indo-Pacific as Japan’s 21st-Century Grand Strategy"Saori KatadaUniversity of Southern Californiawith discussant Ji Young ChoiOhio Wesleyan University

Don’t forget! Join us (virtually) this evening at 4:00pm for an exciting IKS Lecture.

IKS Lecture: "K-Robots: Navigating the Cutting Edge of South Korea's Robot Industry" The Institute for Korean Studies presents:"K-Robots: Navigating the Cutting Edge of South Korea's Robot Industry"Inho LeePusan National University

Meet FLAS Fellow and former EASC intern Courtney Moore!

Student Story Courtney Moore | John Glenn Living, studying and working in D.C. has offered applicable skills and access to competitive jobs and meaningful connections.

https://easc.osu.edu/news/easc-welcomes-professor-max-woodworth-new-ics-director

Please join us on Monday, 1/8, for our first event(s) of the Spring 2024 semester!

At 9:30 am, we will kick off the semester with our Asian Futures Round Table. Ohio State scholars will share their recent research on concepts of futurity in the Asian context. Refreshments will be served.

https://easc.osu.edu/events/easc-asian-futures-round-table

At 2:00 pm, Joseph Jeon will present his paper "Migrant Crash." Dr. Jeon is Director of the Center for Critical Korean Studies and Professor of English at the University of California, Irvine, with appointments in Asian American Studies, Film and Media Studies, and Culture and Theory. He is the author of Racial Things, Racial Forms: Objecthood in Avant-Garde Asian American Poetry (Iowa, 2012); Vicious Circuits: Korea’s IMF Cinema and the End of the American Century (Stanford, 2019); and B**g Joon Ho: Global Entanglements (Illinois, forthcoming) His work has been published in Critical Inquiry, Representations, Cinema Journal, Journal of Asian American Studies, and positions.

https://easc.osu.edu/events/easc-lecture-joseph-jeon-migrant-crash

EASC Lecture: Joseph Jeon, "Migrant Crash" The East Asian Studies Center presents:"Migrant Crash"Joseph Jonghyun JeonUniversity of California, Irvine

FLAS Fellow Spotlight: Saori Wakita Saori Wakita is a PhD student who was awarded a FLAS fellowship to study Korean in summer 2023.

The Area Studies Free Little Library arrives January 19!

Area Studies Center Free Little Library Opening Join The Ohio State University's Area Studies Centers (Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, East Asian Studies Center, and the Middle East Studies Center) for the opening of the Area Studies Centers Free Little Library...

Marion Students Promote the Medical Legacy of Chinese Herbs

Kristin Rodgers and Amanda Respess examine herbs Marion students in Amanda Respess' class chose herbs to be housed in the Medical Heritage Center collection in Prior Hall.

Join us tomorrow at 3:30 pm for our penultimate EASC event of the semester!

“Sushi is the most famous traditional Japanese food and consists of sliced raw fish and rice. As can be expected from this case, Japan has a strong food culture that relies on rice as a staple food. However, it faced a rice shortage at the beginning of the 1890s. After that decade, Japan possessed neighboring regions and used its colonies as rice suppliers. Specifically, Korea, which was relegated to the Japanese colonies in 1910, shipped plenty of rice to Japan until the end of the Second World War in 1945. The Korean rice supply was integral to the Japanese food market during this period. The presenters, economic historians in Japan and Korea, have focused on this economic tie through rice circulation. They will investigate the changes in the Japanese and Korean rice trades and clarify the mutual relationship between these adjacent markets until the end of the 1930s.”

EASC Workshop: Food Distribution and Consumption in Modern East Asia and the Japanese Empire The East Asian Studies Center Presents: Food Distribution and Consumption in Modern East Asia and the Japanese Empire Myungsoo Kim EASC Visiting Scholar, Keimyung University Kiyotaka Maeda Keio University with moderator Mineharu Nakayama The Ohio State University and discussant Hajime Miyazaki The O...

Don’t forget to join us today at 3:30pm in Mendenhall Lab, where Professor Lin Zhang of the University of New Hampshire will present her talk "Entrepreneurial Labor and the China Paradigm: The Story of Rural E-Commerce.”

ICS Lecture: Lin Zhang, "Entrepreneurial Labor and the China Paradigm: The Story of Rural E-Commerce" The Institute for Chinese Studies Presents: "Entrepreneurial Labor and the China Paradigm: The Story of Rural E-Commerce" Lin ZhangUniversity of New Hampshire

Don’t forget to join us on Zoom today at 3:30pm for a unique opportunity for those pursuing a career in teaching East Asian Languages.

EASC Event: Francis Troyan, Steven Wisnor, and Tessa Mahler, M.Ed. Information Session: Your Pathway to Teaching East Asian Languages in K-12 Schools The East Asian Studies Center presents: M.Ed. Information Session: Your Pathway to Teaching East Asian Languages in K-12 Schools Francis Troyan Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning Steven Wisnor Program Manager for World Language Education and TESOL Programs and Tessa Mahler Lice...

Looking for an engaging, East Asia-focused course in Spring 24? The EASC is cosponsoring EALL 4200 (class #29064), History of Race in East Asia, with our very own Dr. Melvin Barnes Jr. For more information, follow the link below.

EASC Co-Sponsored Course, History of Race in East Asia, With Dr. Melvin Barnes, Jr. to Be Offered in Spring 2024 October 24, 2023 EASC Co-Sponsored Course, History of Race in East Asia, With Dr. Melvin Barnes, Jr. to Be Offered in Spring 2024 This course focuses on the influence of race in East Asia. The course will examine the origins of the concept, its interactions with science and medicine, and most import...

Don’t forget! Today at 3:30pm, IJS speaker Taku Suzuki of Denison University will present his talk “Art of Waiting: Acts of Citizenship among the Asylum Seekers in Japan.”

This lecture provides an overview of Japan’s asylum policies, and their dire consequences for asylum seekers. In so doing, it highlights the temporary dimension of those asylum seekers with a contingent legal status. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork among the asylum seekers who are “provisionally released” from detention by the Japanese government, I argue that the central struggle of those asylum seekers and their citizen allies is the utter absence of temporal certainty in their lives. The struggle forces them to create a meaningful living in the "here and now," as their lives are indefinitely suspended by the state. These efforts, such as securing housing, employment, and child care, and improving Japanese language proficiency, then, can be understood not only as what Engin Isin calls daily “acts of citizenship” that produce them as legitimate members of the host society, but also as defiant acts of taking control of their own temporality.

IJS Lecture: Taku Suzuki, "Art of Waiting: Acts of Citizenship among the Asylum Seekers in Japan" The Institute for Japanese Studies presents: "Art of Waiting: Acts of Citizenship among the Asylum Seekers in Japan" Taku Suzuki Denison University with discussant Jeffrey Cohen, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University

Join us this Thursday, September 7 for our very first lecture of the year! The IJS will welcome Professor Michael Fisch of the University of Chicago to present his talk “Finessing Ecology: Experiments in the (N)ature of Post 3.11 Japan.”

‘Climate change appears to be unstoppable, putting our future under an increasing threat of global ecological collapse. Thus, it is no surprise that in recent years ecology has become a matter of central concern for anthropologists. Despite the flurry of publications on the topic, many with ecology in the title, there has been little reflection among scholars on the nature of the guiding presuppositions behind the term. My talk examines the conceptual and technological possibilities of ecology through an exploration of various ecological projects underway as part of the post 3.11 disaster reconstruction in Northeast Japan. Moving from massive concrete seawalls to efforts to re-establish vibrant coastal communities within a dynamic environment, I question the way in which the state and local residents are mobilizing ecological thought for new coastal futures. Only by reconceptualizing ecology, I argue, will we be able to establish a viable future framework for ecological governance.’

IJS Lecture: Michael Fisch, "Finessing Ecology: Experiments in the (N)ature of Post 3.11 Japan" The Institute for Japanese Studies presents: "Finessing Ecology: Experiments in the (N)ature of Post 3.11 Japan" Michael Fisch University of Chicago

Interested in the Interdisciplinary Master of Arts in East Asian Studies program? Attend one of our upcoming info sessions on 9/28 or 10/25!

The OSU East Asian Studies Center has awarded five graduate students and one undergraduate student with Louise Zung-Nyi Loh Memorial Scholarships for academic year 2023-24. The scholarship is awarded to students in any department or major who have an academic specialization and/or research interests in East Asian studies.

• Paul Cockrum, a PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, will travel to Taiwan for research related to his PhD dissertation on Taiwanese sociolinguistics.

• Jin Kim, a PhD student in History, will use his award to help fund a research trip to the National Security Archive in Washington, DC. His research focuses on China’s interaction with Third World countries during the Cold War.

• Samantha Koch, an undergraduate student majoring in Japanese and minoring in General Education, will study at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan for the 2023-24 academic year.

• Yifan Li, a PhD candidate in Art History, will visit libraries at the University of Michigan and Princeton University to help gather material for his dissertation on images of natural and built environments in twentieth-century China.

• Erxin Wang, a PhD candidate researching premodern Chinese theater, will present at the AAS in Asia conference in South Korea (June 2023).

• Keyu Yan is a PhD candidate in Art History. Yan plans to use this scholarship to support archival research trip to the Asia Art Archive in New York.

This summer, join the EASC for our Global Teacher Seminar.

This online seminar will inform K-12 teachers about the UN’s Sustainability Goal: Prosperity, focusing on the movement of goods and people in the regions of East Asia, Eastern Europe/Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The seminar will start by giving participants a solid foundation in the relevant political, social, and historical theories in order to ground their understanding of the movement of goods and people. Then throughout the seminar, guest experts will present regional case studies to provide comparative perspectives of what are prominent issues in their region, including the silk road and migration.

To register, follow the link below!

Teacher Training: Global Teacher Seminar Summer 2023 Teacher Professional Development Presented by the Area Studies Centers at OSU:

Join us for a virtual journey that will introduce East Asia’s diverse cultures and environment while building and enhancing your tool chest of teaching resources for the classroom. Focusing on the regions that comprise present-day China, Japan, and Korea, participants in this free online seminar will engage with experts and other educators in the field to explore major trends, global issues, and historic foundations that shape East Asian society.

Through hands-on activities, films, lectures, and discussion, the cohort will learn about East Asia’s diverse cultures to enhance teaching resources in the classroom. A broad range of innovative teaching materials will be shared, engaging social-emotional learning (SEL), education in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), social studies, ELA, and other cross-curricular approaches to society and culture.

For more information and to apply, follow the link below!

National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) 2023 Online seminar presented by the East Asian Studies Center:

This Thursday, 4/13 at 3:30pm, the Institute for Korean Studies and Mershon Center for International Security Studies welcome Joseph Kim to present his talk “North Korea is a Land with Darkness, Not a Land of Darkness.” Come out and join us for our last event of the Spring semester!

“To many, North Korea is a faraway ‘gulag state’ run by a dictator threatening the world with nuclear weapons. All that is true. But to Joseph, it is more than that. In South Africa’s international airport, Joseph saw a message on the wall saying, “They call it Africa, but we call it home.” Although North Korea holds many sad memories for him and is one of the darkest places in the world, it is still a place close to his heart. It is still his home and home to 25 million North Korean people today.”

To register and view a full bio for our speaker, follow the link below! This event is free and open to the public.

IKS Lecture: Joseph Kim, "North Korea Is a Land With Darkness, Not a Land of Darkness" The Institute for Korean Studies and Mershon Center for International Security Studies present: "North Korea Is a Land With Darkness, Not a Land of Darkness" Joseph Kim George W. Bush Presidential Center

On Monday, 4/13, the Institute for Korean Studies will host Professor Na Sil Heo of the University of South Carolina for her lecture “Privacy for Modern Housing: Transnational Anti-Communism and Postwar Reconstruction in Cold War South Korea.”

Na Sil Heo is an Assistant Professor of East Asian History. Her research interests include studies of childhood, the cultural Cold War, race, and gender and sexuality. She is currently completing a book manuscript that examines how childhood was a crucial site of postwar reconstruction and transnational anti-communism in 1950s-1960s South Korea. Reading sources ranging from home floor plans and children’s literature to infant formula advertisements, her work reveals how Cold War liberalism manifested in various sites of childhood in postwar Korea. Her research has been supported by multiple grants and fellowships, including the Postdoctoral Associates Program in the Council on East Asian Studies at Yale University and the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania.

To register and view the full abstract and bio, follow the link below.

IKS Lecture: Na Sil Heo, "Privacy for Modern Housing: Transnational Anti-Communism and Postwar Reconstruction in Cold War South Korea" The Institute for Korean Studies and Mershon Center for International Security Studies present: "Privacy for Modern Housing: Transnational Anti-Communism and Postwar Reconstruction in Cold War South Korea" Na Sil Heo University of South Carolina

Happy spring break from the EASC! 🌷🌸🌻

Next week, the Institute for Chinese Studies will welcome Joshua L. Freeman of the Academia Sinica for two exciting events.

On Tuesday 3/21 at 4:00pm, Dr. Freeman will present his talk “Uyghur Poets and the Making of a Cold War Diaspora,” analyzing Uyghur diaspora poets’ intersections with Maoist Xinjiang.

https://easc.osu.edu/events/ics-lecture-joshua-l.-freeman-uyghur-poets-and-making-cold-war-diaspora

On Wednesday 3/22 at 3:55pm, Dr. Freeman will hold a translation and interpretation workshop, Reflections on Translating Uyghur Poetry. Dr. Freeman will speak about his experiences as a translation of Uyghur poetry and share some of his thoughts about the practice and practicalities of translation.

https://easc.osu.edu/events/ics-literary-translation-workshop-joshua-l.-freeman-reflections-translating-uyghur-poetry

Join us for these rare opportunities! Both events are free and open to the public.

ICS Literary Translation Workshop: Joshua L. Freeman "Reflections on Translating Uyghur Poetry" The Institute for Chinese Studies, Department of History, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, and Department of Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures present: "Reflections on Translating Uyghur Poetry" Joshua L. Freeman Academia Sinica

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow at 4:00pm for an exciting lecture with Dr. William C. Kirby of Harvard University. In "Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China,” Dr. Kirby will discuss the history and future of higher education in China and the U.S.

To register and read a full speaker bio and abstract, follow the link below.

ICS Lecture: William C. Kirby, "Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China" The Institute for Chinese Studies and Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures present: "Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China" William C. Kirby Harvard University with commentator Caroline S. Wagner Professor, John Glenn College of Public Affairs,...