Department of Asian Studies

Spring 2011

Letter from the Chair...

Dear Friends and Alumni, made it possible for us to offer made progress in drafting plans courses in Turkish language and for our future graduate programs Greetings from New West where culture, a position ably filled by in Asian Studies. On top of these spring leaves are sprouting on the Dr. Canguzel Zufilkar. The Col- duties, Li-ling coordinated the Inside this issue: trees and daffodils are blooming! lege of Arts and Sciences sup- programs in Arabic and Hebrew, I am pleased to report to you on ported growth in the Department developed a Chinese summer our growing programs, new fac- of Asian Studies in many ways, immersion program, published ulty, and diverse activities. We too, allowing us to hire as full- several articles, and still found Chair’s Column 1 expanded our newsletter this time instructors Ms. Farida Badr time to practice the Chinese musi- academic year to cover all the in Arabic, Ms. Jia Lin in Chinese, cal instrument known as the guz- good news. and Dr. Shahla Adel in Persian. heng. We wish Li-ling Hsiao well Faculty News 2 Dr. Morgan Pitelka joined the as she embarks on her well- The colorful images that you see Department as Associate Profes- deserved research leave. Lecturer Highlights 4 in this newsletter give a taste of sor of Japanese Studies. All our the year’s events. These represent new instructors have brought One of our major activities was to just a few of the activities of all dedication and energy to their host the 50th anniversary meeting Giveret Retires 5 kinds that faculty initiate to attract posts. of the Southeast Conference/ Carolina students to the study of Association of Asian Studies. The Asian languages and cultures. We support UNC–Chapel Hill conference took place January 14- SEC/AAS Conference 6 Stroll into New West any day and study abroad programs with en- 16 at the Fedex Global Education you’ll see posters for language thusiasm. Our faculty lead pro- Center on the UNC–Chapel Hill New Faculty 8 tables, movie nights, invited lec- grams to (, India, Ja- campus (see pages 6-7). tures by artists and scholars, cook- pan, Singapore) and regularly ing events, and more. Students, serve as members of scholarship We’re looking forward now to the Korean Minor 9 too, can apply for funds from the and advisory committees. Rather major events of spring—our An- department to organize activities. than a photo this year, I include a nual Senior Honors Colloquium CAC China Forum 9 On behalf of our students, staff, cartoon of me drawn by a young on April 14th, and Commence- and faculty, it is my pleasure to Japanese girl—a reminder of a ment on May 8th. take this opportunity to thank our delightful field trip with UNC Events 10 many friends and alumni who students in Kyoto a few years Best wishes for 2011, the Year of make contributions to the Depart- back. the Rabbit. 11 ment of Asian Studies gift ac- Honors Colloquium count. Your generosity helps With sincere gratitude, I thank my make these events possible even colleague Li-Ling Hsiao, Associ- Giving to Asian Studies 11 in times when funds are scarce. ate Professor of Chinese Literature We sincerely appreciate your and Theater, for serving as the encouragement. Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the past Jan Bardsley Six faculty members joined our year and a half. Li-ling brought Chair department in 2010. Let me give her active leadership to regular a brief introduction here. You meetings of the department’s will find stories on each through- Curriculum Committee, which out our newsletter. A grant from oversees all our curricular issues the Korea Foundation enabled us from approving new courses and to hire Dr. Ji-Yeon Jo as Assistant strengthening our advising to Professor of Korean language and creating news ways to make our society and to expand our fast- majors and minors more effective. growing Korean program. The She also headed a committee that Institute for Turkish Studies has

Did you know?

The Department of Asian Studies now offers instruction in eight different Asian languages. Our newest addition is the program in Turkish, made possible by the generous support of the Institute for Turkish Studies. Dr. Canguzel Zulfikar teaches the two years of Turkish language we currently offer, as well as courses in English on Turkish culture and history. P a g e 2 Spring 2011

Faculty Publications and News

Mark Driscoll published his new book, Abso- Li-ling Hsiao published several arti- lute Erotic, Absolute Grotesque: The Living, cles and essays in the past academic Sahar Amer was on research leave in spring Dead, and Undead in ’s Imperialism, year: ―Loyalty vs. Filial Piety: the Late 2010, working on a new project focusing on 1895–1945, in July 2010 with Duke University Ming Commentaries of Pipa ji‖ in homosexuality in the contemporary Arab Press. He gave presentations this summer in Chinese Culture Quarterly; ―The World. She completed a substantial article on China and Japan on his new research and Metaphoric Mode of Production: The the topic entitled ―Homosexuality/ spoke with potential translators of Absolute Editing Principle of Ten Bamboo Lesbianism and the Politics of Naming in Erotic, Absolute Grotesque into Chinese and Studio Letter Catalogue‖ in Chinese Contemporary Arabic Studies,‖ which she Japanese. Mark was Studies; ―Dancing the Red Lantern: submitted to The International Journal of awarded a Pogue Leave Zhang Yimou’s Fusion of Peking Middle East Studies. She also completed a for spring 2012 to work Opera and Ballet‖ in Southeast Review books-in-brief article (an expanded review on his new book pro- of Asian Studies; and a paper co- article) on Joseph Massad’s Desiring Arabs ject, ―Race for Trade: authored for GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay The Opium Wars and with Dr. Studies, due to appear in the Fall 2010 issue. the Origins of White David A. In Spring 2011, she contributed a wall label Biopolitics, 1839- Ross: and longer article on the theme of the 1860,‖ which traces the ―Taking ―Iranian Balustrade‖ in the booklet accompa- origins of contempo- Pains to nying the special exhibit ―The Silk Road‖ at rary (neo)liberal re- Explain Li the Ackland Museum at UNC–CH. Also in gimes of trade in global Keran’s The Spring 2010, she gave a guest lecture at UNC phenomena occurring in the wake of the First Pain of Com- –Wilmington entitled ―Naming Homosexual- Opium War of 1839-42. position,‖ in ity in the Arab World: Bridging the Past and Southeast the Present.‖ Sahar received a Pogue Leave Review of for research in fall 2010 and is serving as a Kevin Hewison was a Visiting Professor at Asian Stud- Faculty Scholar at the Carolina Women’s Warwick University for six weeks in May and ies. She Center in spring 2011. June 2010. In May, he spoke to UNC alumni in served as one

Paris and also presented papers in Copenha- of the co- Jan Bardsley traveled to Japan in summer gen, based on research he conducted on red editors of the 2010 to view geisha dances, explore tea- shirt protests in from January to peer- houses, and collect new writing about geisha. March. He and Arne Kalleberg (Sociology) reviewed academic journal Southeast She published ―Liza Dalby’s Geisha: The were awarded a John E. Sawyer Seminars on Review of Asian Studies (SERAS), and View Twenty-five Years Later‖ in Southeast the Comparative Study of Cultures grant on edited the 2010 issue. She developed Review of Asian Studies, ―Teaching Geisha in Precarious Work and served as the director of the Chi- History, Fiction, and Fantasy" in ASIANet- in Asia by the nese Immersion Program which was work, and her article Mellon Founda- piloted in summer 2010, and will serve ―The Maiko Boom: tion. The Journal as its director again in summer 2011. The Revival of of Contemporary Kyoto’s Novice Gei- Asia, which he sha" is forthcoming in has co-edited for Japanese Studies Re- several years, is view. With Laura now one of the Miller, she co-edited Web of Science’s Manners and Mischief: highest ranked Gender, Power, and area studies Etiquette in Japan journals. Kevin (University of Califor- was awarded a nia Press, 2011). In Japanese, Jan published Reynolds Leave for fall 2011 to work on his ―Geisha, Pop Star, Princess: Japan Miscast?‖ book project, ―Murder and Mayhem in Modern in the online journal Nihongo to jendaa. Jan Thailand," which is a study of the political is an editor-in-chief of U.S.-Japan Women's uses of homicide, regicide, and mass murder in Journal. the period since World War II.

P a g e 3

Wendan Li published Chinese Writing & Calligraphy in fall 2010 with Univer- Robin Visser published her new book Cities sity of Hawai’i Press. The book draws Surround the Countryside: Urban Aesthetics in on her popular UNC–Chapel Hill Postsocialist China with Duke University course, ―Chinese Culture through Cal- Press in 2010. A Taiwan Studies Faculty ligraphy.‖ Wendan also published an Yaron Shemer was invited as a guest Research Grant enabled her to travel to Taiwan article, ―Features of Advanced L2 Chi- speaker to six public events and gave papers for research related to her new book project on nese Writing and their Implications for at conferences in Canada, Spain, and the U.S. sustainable aesthetics. In spring 2010, she the Teaching of Vocabulary,‖ in the Among his presentation topics are Mizrahi served as Interim Director of the Carolina Asia Journal of identity in Israeli cinema and terrorism in Center. In June she was invited by the Interna- Chinese Lan- Middle Eastern films. Yaron has also offered tional Institute for guage Teach- two new courses—―Language, Exile, and Asian Studies and the ers Associa- Homeland in Zionist Thought and Practice‖ Amsterdam School of tion. In the and a First-Year Seminar on ―Israeli Culture Cultural Analysis to summer, Wen- and Society: Collective Memories and Frag- speak in Amsterdam at dan presented mented Identities.‖ He was awarded a UNC– the seminar ―Spectacle research pa- Chapel Hill Institute for Arts and Humanities and the City: Urbanity pers at two Fellowship for spring 2011 to work on his in Popular Culture and international book project, ―Identity, Place, and Subver- Art in East Asia.‖ For conferences in sion in Contemporary Mizrahi Cinema in the book resulting China: one in Israel,‖ which explores the construction of from the seminar, she on Mizrahi (Oriental-Jewish) ethnic identity in contributed ―Coming Chinese callig- contemporary Israeli films and its inscription of Age in RMB City.‖ raphy and the other in Nanjing on the by power imbalances. With Thomas Moran, she has translated the development of teaching materials and essay by Yu-Shan Huang and Chun-Chi Wang online resources. In Shanghai at East Afroz Taj received a course development titled ―Post–Taiwan New Cinema Women China University of Science and Tech- grant from the Center for Global Directors and Films: Artists, Images, Lan- nology, she gave a research talk on Initiatives to create a course called ―Peace guage,‖ for the forthcoming volume edited by temporal and aspectual reference in and Popular Culture in Pakistan and Afghani- Lingzhen Wang, In /Engendering Cinema: discourse. stan.‖ And in January 2010 Afroz launched Chinese Women Filmmakers Inside and Out- his cyber-book "Darvazah: A Door Into side China. " (http://taj.chass.ncsu.edu/urdu), a multimedia, interactive language-learning Nadia Yaqub has immersed herself in re- web site developed with a major grant search and writing on Palestinian cinema while Pamela Lothspeich traveled to ($367,000) awarded by the U.S. Department on research leave. In addition to working on Bareilly, India this fall to spend a month of Education. On research leave in spring her current book project, ―Imagining Pales- researching the influence of the 2010, he worked on his new book, tentatively tine,‖ a comprehensive study of Palestinian ―Radheshyam Ramayana‖ (a modern titled ―Fantasies of Resistance: The Urdu cinema of the past decade, she completed four reworking of a Hindu epic) in Ramlila Theater from 1860 to 1960, ‖ which analyzes forthcoming book chapters, one on Palestinian performances in and around the author's the rise, fall, and transformation of the liter- women’s cinema for the edited volume Women hometown. Her research, which con- ary Urdu theater during the stormy passage and Violence in the Middle East and North cerns both the text and its performance, from colonialism to Partition and independ- Africa and three for Film in the Middle East explores issues such as nationalism, ence, an era of radical change in South Asian and North Africa. Nadia was invited to partici- modernity, chauvinism, and cross society. Recently, Afroz received a UNC– pate as a speaker/panelist in both the -dressing on stage, as well as inter- Chapel Hill Institute for Arts and Humanities Palestine Film Festival in April and the Boston religious, caste and gender relations. Fellowship to work on this book project in Palestine Film Festival in October. This research was supported by a Junior fall 2011. With John Caldwell, Afroz also Faculty Development Grant and a UNC led the UNC Summer Study Abroad Program –Chapel Hill Arts and Humanities in India in 2011. Gang Yue has led the UNC–Chapel Hill Study Award. Pamela was also recently Abroad Program at Xiamen University in Fall awarded a UNC–Chapel Hill Institute 2009 and 2010, where he teaches a new course for Arts and Humanities Fellowship to on the rise of China and supervises student work on this book project in spring experiential learning and field research. He 2012. She has published an annotated will lead the program again in Fall 2011. In bibliography, ―The Mahabharata in Spring 2010 he took a research leave, sup- Hindu Tradition‖ in Oxford's new elec- ported by a Grier/Woods Presbyterian China tronic resource, Oxford Bibliographies Initiatives Fellowship. He has published a Online—Hinduism. See page 10 of this chapter titled ―Fragments of Shangri-La: 'Eco- newsletter for a photograph of Pamela’s Tibet' and Its Global Circuits, ‖ in the volume students in her spring 2010 course, ―The The Postcolonial Green: Environmental Poli- Mahabharata: Remembered, Reimag- tics and World Narratives. He has two essays ined, Performed,‖ performing their own in Chinese scheduled for publication this fall, original play based on the Hindu epic. respectively on the ―Culturalist Bubble‖ and the ―Geopolitical Imagination‖ related to Members of our Hindi-Urdu faculty attend China's rise. the SEC/AAS Conference (see pgs. 6-7).

P a g e 4 Spring 2011

Highlights from the Lecturers

Have you ever wondered what goes on with Lili Fan, Chinese Lecturer: In Fall 2010, I taught first- and second- individual classes, programs, or people here Our Mid-Autumn Festival was held on Octo- year Arabic and I continue to co- in Asian Studies? Here’s your chance to find ber 1st at Hanes Art Center. It turned out to be organize the cultural activities and the out! Included below are short statements a great success. The 300-seat auditorium was Arabic Table with my colleagues in the from our very own language instructors, filled to full capacity by our faculty, students, Arabic program. In the Arabic Table highlighting everything from personal aca- and their friends. The evening was filled with this year we introduced the exploration demic accomplishments to new classes and great performances from instrument playing to of different Arabic dialects with native events available for their students to experi- singing Chinese songs, from poetry recitation speakers from different Arab countries, ence. to a Kung Fu demo. The performances were in addition to the preparation of new Arabic dishes. Shahla Adel, Persian Lecturer: followed by delicious moon cake tasting and

I was fortunate enough to join the wonderful fun games. During the fall, I also took a class in faculty of the Department of Asian Studies at Educational Measurement and Evalua- UNC in August 2010. I started the fall se- Nasser Isleem, Arabic Lecturer: In March 2010 I attended the Southeast Re- tion at the School of Education. It was a mester with teaching first- and third-year very interesting class that gave me new Persian courses. In addition to teaching first- gional Middle East and Islamic Studies Semi- nar conference, co-presenting a paper on insights into the field of language test- year Persian, I will be teaching a culture ―Pedagogical Uses of Proverbs in the Arabic ing and assessment. course in spring 2011, and I intend to teach other content courses in the future on topics Language Classroom.‖ My newest book, Colloquial Palestinian Arabic, was published This spring I am teaching the Lebanese including Iranian cinema and Iranian women dialect course. I am excited about the writers. in April 2010. Also in April, I obtained ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of opportunity to introduce our students to

Foreign Languages) certification as an OPI my native dialect as well as to Lebanese My most recent accomplishment was the (Oral Proficiency Interview) tester. culture. completion of my doctoral dissertation, titled: ―Is all Culture Learning Created Equal: Events I have organized include the big Arabic Hang Zhang, Chinese Lecturer: Students’ Perceptions of During the spring semester of 2010, I and Culture.‖ This qualitative research ex- cultural day last spring, field trips to the Is- taught a new class, Chinese 307: Chi- plored how students experienced learning lamic Association of Raleigh and Al-Iman nese Conversation. This is a new Chi- culture as cultural inquiry in a third-year School, coffee hours, and Iftar dinners at my nese language course at the third-year Persian class via film, WebQuests, and home. Many of these events have allowed PowerPoint presentations. UNC students to meet, min- gle, and practice their Arabic In addition, I was also a guest speaker at the with my Arabic students from Global Music Show through WXYC Radio Duke and Durham Tech. for an hour-long radio show on Persian Mu- Charles Joukhadar, Arabic sic: Past to Present, blending music with Lecturer: dialogue. The show was broadcast Septem- Last summer I taught second- ber 22nd from 9-10 p.m. You can find it in the year Arabic at UNC (Arabic online archive at http://www.unc.edu/ 203 and 204). It was a great areastudies/publicprograms/global-music- experience of teaching Arabic audio.html. intensively. The intensive

nature of summer classes Over several occasions, the students explored allows for more contact with Persian cuisine as we visited Persian restau- the language and more time to rants in the Chapel Hill area in an attempt to work on the different lan- help students become more familiar with guage skills. Persian culture.

During the Chinese New Year Celebration, students sing ―Beijing Welcome You.‖ P a g e 5

Brush Painting‖ and gained insight into We are also impressed by the increasing zest In the Spring of 2010, we organized "Chinese ―Chinese Herbal Medicine‖ from a talk of students for learning and Movie Night" featuring the movie "Yi ge dou given by Mr. Andy Pham. culture. bu neng shao" or "Not one less" and an intro-

duction to the R.E.A.C.H. program, a charity Students also actively participated in the Canguzel Zulfikar, Turkish Lecturer: organization created by the Asian Student Chinese essay contest, a great opportunity The Turkish program at UNC started this fall, Associations at UNC, Duke, and NC State. for them to practice and polish their writ- and we had our first Turkish conversation This movie helped raise viewers’ awareness ing skills. The popular annual events— table. To spread interest across campus about about the schooling situation in rural China, Celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival and Turkish culture and to document our activities, and also about how they could help these Chinese New Year Gala—were also held we keep a blog that can be found at http:// children through R.E.A.C.H.’s fundraising during the festival times. A large number turkish.web.unc.edu/. program throughout the year. of students and faculty attended each event

in which they showed their performing Music and movie nights are on the agenda. In Yi Zhou, Chinese Lecturer: talents, watched traditional and modern fact, we watched our first film, Wonderful During the past academic year, the Chinese dances and singing, and enjoyed delicious West, during the fall semester. program hosted a variety of cultural activities dumplings and sweet moon cakes. for students of Asian Studies and the public.

The cultural activities ranged from educa- We owe all this success to the joint efforts tional talks to films, an academic writing of Chinese faculty and student associations contest to entertaining performances. Stu- as well as support from the Department of dents learned about the traditional Chinese art Asian Studies and Carolina Asia Center. through Mr. Guobin Sun’s talk ―Chinese

Thank you, Giveret Friedman!

The Department of Asian Studies offers congratulations and thanks to Hebrew lecturer Luceil Friedman, who retired in summer 2010. Giveret Friedman, as she was known to her students, founded the program in modern Hebrew in 2003, when she was hired as a part-time lecturer to teach Elementary and Intermediate Hebrew. By 2005, the program had grown enough under her leadership to make her own job permanent and full-time, and to launch a third year of Advanced Hebrew. That very first third-year class was a small one, but memorable; as a fall-semester project, they put on a play entirely in Hebrew, a dramatization of the Megged short story "Yad VaShem" (see picture). The following year saw the creation of the minor in Hebrew, and the graduation, in May 2007, of the first Hebrew minors.

Over the years, Giveret Friedman taught Hebrew at every level, and also organized a wide array of extracurricular enrichment activities. The many opportunities for students to practice their Hebrew and learn more about Israeli culture included coffee hours with Hebrew folk music, Hebrew boardgame nights, and the popular Saturday night Hebrew film series. By the time of Giveret Friedman's retirement, the Hebrew program she built had quadrupled in enrollment and graduated more than 20 Hebrew mi- Giveret Friedman with the cast on opening night. nors. P a g e 6 Spring 2011

Asian Studies Hosts SEC/AAS Conference

Carolina faculty participated in the SEC/ UNC-Chapel Hill and its faculty have long AAS conference as conference organizers, been enthusiastic supporters of SEC/AAS. We panel organizers and chairs, and presenters. hosted the conference in 1982, and a number Jan Bardsley, Program Chair, and Wei- of our faculty members have been past or Cheng Lin (Art History), Local Arrange- current officers of the conference. These in- ments Chair, were fortunate to work with a clude Jan Bardsley and Li-ling Hsiao of the committee that stayed with the project from Department of Asian Studies and others who start to finish: Ash Barnes, Hsi-chu Bolick, are now emeriti faculty: Cliff Foust and Larry Lori Harris, Li-ling Hsiao, Larry Kessler, Kessler (History), Hsi-sheng Chi (Political and Bogdan Leja. Dáša Pejchar Mortensen, Science), and Doug Eyre and Melinda Meade graduate student in the History Department, (Geography). One thing that separates SEC/ deserves special thanks for her work recruit- AAS from all the other regional affiliates of Dr. Li-ling Hsiao and Dr. David Ross attend ing and coordinating our volunteers and the Association for Asian Studies is that we a conference event. handling all the details of conference logis- alone publish a scholarly journal, Southeast tics. UNC–Chapel Hill faculty and staff on Review of Asian Studies. The current editors the program were: Barbara Ambros, Inger are from our university, Li-ling Hsiao and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Brodey, Yong Cai, John Caldwell, Mark David A. Ross. Hill hosted the 50th anniversary meeting of Driscoll, Miles Fletcher, Dan Gold, Kevin the Southeast Conference of the Association Hewison, Li-ling Hsiao, Ji-Yeon Jo, Larry Producing this successful weekend conference for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS), January 14- Kessler, Michelle King, Pamela Lothspeich, would not have been possible without the 16, 2011, at the FedEx Global Education James Peacock, Morgan Pitelka, Marzanna funding provided by our sponsors. We grate- Center. The conference theme was Poplawska, David Ross, Afroz Taj, Robin fully acknowledge the funds provided by sev- ―Transnational Asia: Art, History, Popular Visser, and Jiayun Zhuang. The ―Workshop eral units of the University of North Carolina Culture, and Political Economies.‖ The on Language Teaching and Culture,‖ led by at Chapel Hill: the Ackland Art Museum, program featured over 150 presentations by Wendan Li, featured presentations by De- Center for Global Initiatives, UNC University faculty and graduate students from around partment of Asian Studies lecturers Shahla Library, Carolina Asia Center, College of Arts the Southeast, and several by scholars who Adel, Jia Lin, Hang Zhang, and Yi Zhou. and Sciences, Department of Art, Department traveled from other parts of the U.S. and Several UNC graduate students gave pres- of Asian Studies, and Office of the Provost. from Asia for the event. entations on their research: Georgina Drew, We also thank for their sponsorship the Asso- Dáša Pejchar Mortensen, Paul Schissel, ciation for Asian Studies, the Asian/Pacific We were delighted that Chancellor Holden Michael B. Smith, and Zachary Smith. Our Studies Institute at Duke University, NCTAN Thorp greeted our group at the Saturday colleague Wenhua Shi took photographs of (North Carolina Teaching Asia Network), and luncheon and that Peter Coclanis, Director the events. the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office of the Global Research Institute, welcomed (TECO) in New York. everyone at the Friday evening reception. We owe many thanks to our conference Director of the Carolina Asia Center Kevin volunteers—community members, faculty, Hewison, who assisted in many ways with and students from Duke University and the conference, also attended the meeting UNC-Chapel Hill: Shahla Adel, Phil and participated in the program. Bardsley, Sara Bush, Amanda Conklin, Emily Doll, Lili Fan, Laurel Foote-Hudson, The SEC/AAS Conference provided special Rebecca Gade, Stephanie Humphreys, lectures, events, and workshops. The two Chase Jenkins, Jia Lin, Carl Linke, Nga Ly, keynote lectures were ―Nature and Nation- Alanna Mori, Marzanna Poplawska, Tim alism in India‖ by AAS President and an- Prizer, Rebecca Roberts, McKay Roozen, thropologist Professor K. Sivaramakrishnan Jeff Schroeder, Zach Smith, Scott Strick- (Yale University), and ―Contemporary land, Linda Xie, Hang Zhang, Yi Zhou, and Chinese Photography and Contemporary Canguzel Zulfikar. China‖ by Professor Wu Hung (Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Pro- The UNC Faculty Talent Show, organized fessor of Art History, University of Chi- by Li-ling Hsiao, who also served as the cago). Bogdan Leja organized a workshop MC, enter-tained conference attendees on for K-12 educators and docents, ―Teaching Friday night. Featured were dances by the Silk Road: Culture, Commerce, and Marzanna Poplawska and Sathya Mandjiny, Art.‖ A book exhibit organized by Hsi-chu singing by Afroz Taj and musical accompa- UNC student volunteers Stephanie Humphreys Bolick represented 12 publishers and intro- niment by John Caldwell, and music by and Rebecca Gade discuss conference panels. duced new publications on Asia. One of the professional Chinese musicians Lisa Zou highlights of the weekend was the splendid and Guogang Li. Saturday evening reception for all confer- ence attendees hosted by the Ackland Art Museum. This gave everyone a chance to view the exhibit ―Art and Cultural Ex- change along the Silk Road.‖ Page 7 SEC/AAS Conference Pictures

Conference organizers Hsi-Chu Bolick, Wei-Cheng Lin, and Jan Bardsley enjoy the festivities! South Asian Studies major Sathya Mandjiny performs a dance in the Bharatanatyam style.

Volunteers ensure the proceedings go smoothly.

Wei-Cheng Lin and Jan Bardsley welcome the crowd to UNC.

Marzanna Poplawska performs a traditional Indonesian dance in the UNC Faculty Talent Show. P a g e 8

Meet Our New Faculty!

Ji-Yeon O. Jo, Assistant Professor, Morgan Pitelka, Associate Professor, Korean Language and Culture Japanese Studies

I joined the Department of Asian Studies as an assistant I am a historian of premodern Japan who specializes in the professor of Korean language and culture on July 1, 2010. visual and material culture of tea, the samurai, and daily life. Prior to this position, I had the honor and privilege of My first research project examined a sixteenth-century artis- starting a brand new Korean program in the department of tic tradition, Raku ceramics, and the social and cultural con- Asian Studies at UNC–Chapel Hill. My research interests text for its origin and reproduction, tea (chanoyu). This pro- center on language, culture, race, and identity issues, ject resulted in an edited anthology, Japanese Tea Culture: specifically concerns with migrants’ and diasporans’ Art, History, and Practice (Routledge, 2003); a book, Hand- sense of belonging, and notions of citizenship and of made Culture: Raku Potters, Patrons, and Tea Practitioners cultural capital in transnational and global/local contexts. in Japan (Hawaii, 2005); and a co-edited anthology, What’s One of my previous research projects investigated how the Use of Art? Asian Visual and Material Culture in Con- 1.5- and second-generation Korean American adolescents text (Hawaii, 2007); and young adults negotiate their identities in changing as well as a half- educational and dozen articles in local contexts in Japanese and Eng- the U.S. South. I lish. have published four articles in I am nearing com- addition to my pletion on my sec- dissertation from ond research pro- this research pro- ject, a biography of ject. I am cur- Tokugawa Ieyasu rently working on (1543-1616), foun- a manuscript for a der of the Toku- book based on my gawa military gov- dissertation. My ernment and a re- other research markable collector projects have also of Chinese and resulted in three Japanese art. In this additional articles, study I use material and my co- culture to reframe authored article, Ieyasu’s career not ―What we can in terms of the teleological narrative of ―unification‖ and learn about, and early modernity, but in terms of his embodied experience as from the testimonio of a "successful" undocumented one actor in a complex network of people, things, and infor- Latino student in North Carolina,‖ is forthcoming in Ed- mation. This project has thus far resulted in four articles, and mund T. Hamann, Stanton Wortham, & Enrique G. I plan on finishing the manuscript of a book–Warlord, Sho- Murillo, Jr. (Eds.), Revisiting Education in the New Latino gun, Deity: The Life and Afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu–in the Diaspora, Information Age Publishing. summer of 2011.

My current research project investigates experiences of A research leave in 2011-12 generously provided by the descendants of the Korean diaspora who recently moved National Humanities Center will enable me to start work on back to Korea to study or work. In summer 2010, I trav- my next project, a study of the medieval castle town of Ichi- eled to to interview return migrants from the jôdani. After teaching at Occidental College for eight years, I Korean diaspora. I am looking forward to giving presenta- moved in the summer of 2010 to UNC-Chapel Hill, where tions based on the initial findings from this research at the this fall I am teaching a First-Year Seminar, "Japanese Tea American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Culture," as well as the big survey course, "Asia: An Intro- (ACTFL) annual convention in November in Boston and duction." In future semesters I will be teaching a variety of at the Association of Asian Studies (AAS) annual confer- courses in premodern Japanese history and culture. ence in March 2011 in Hawaii. In February 2010, I was honored to receive the ―Award of Recognition‖ presented by the Consulate General of Korea in Atlanta for contribu- tion and service to the Korean community. In addition to my current research project, I am teaching advanced Korean and coordinating the Hebrew, Korean, Persian, and Turkish programs this year. In spring 2011, I am teaching a content course in Korean Studies, ―History, Memory, and Reality in Contemporary Korea.‖ I am excited to be here and to continue my academic and pro- fessional career as an assistant professor. Page 9

Korean Minor Launched

The growth of the Korean program has led to the development of our newest minor. Students pursuing the minor in Ko- rean will take three language courses beyond KOR 203 (so they will have the equivalent of three years of Korean lan- guage study) and one course taught in English on Korean culture.

New content courses in Korean studies will be offered starting in spring 2011. KOR 150 (History, Memory, and Reality in Contemporary Korea) will examine contemporary issues in Korea with connections to its recent history, and KOR 151 (Education and Social Changes in Contemporary Korea) will explore diverse, rich, and complex relationships and repre- sentations of family, community, and society in contemporary Korea.

Carolina Asia Center China Forum

In spring 2010 the CAC sponsored a series of campus-wide events on China culminating with a China Forum on April 23, which featured presentations and roundtable discussions of research from faculty from the College of Arts and Sci- ences. The China Forum had two primary aims. First, given recent China-related hires in the College, participants ex- changed information on current research projects to strengthen possible research and teaching synergies on campus. Sec- ond, a roundtable discussion on ―Strategies for China Studies at UNC and beyond‖ addressed ways to support China studies in the Triangle in the future.

Dr. Jonathan Hartlyn, Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences and International Programs, delivered the opening re- marks prior to two formal sessions: ―Visualizing China,‖ with presentations from Wei-Cheng Lin (Art History), David Ross (English), Wenhua Shi (Communications), and Robin Visser (Asian Studies); and ―Reconfiguring China,‖ with presentations from Yong Cai (Sociology), Xi Chen (Political Science), Michael Tsin (History), and Gang Yue (Asian Studies). The roundtable discussion noted a preliminary Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Chinese cities be- tween UNC and Peking University (Yan Song, City and Regional Planning) and the need for a specialist in Chinese re- ligion (Barbara Ambros, Religious Studies). The immediate outcome of the China Forum was a decision to launch a re- gional research forum on China sponsored by UNC, featuring in-depth discussion of research by one specialist per se- mester.

Page 10

A Year in Pictures: Department Events

Ms. Hang Zhang and her mother perform the “Double Sword” dance for the Chinese New Year Celebration. At the Japanese Language Table, students play a card game called katura. Event sponsored by the UNC Japan Club.

Dr. Pamela Lothspeich’s students perform their own original play as part of her spring 2010 course, ―The Mahabharata: Remembered, Reimagined, Performed.‖ Asian Studies graduate Sydney Hess with her thesis advisor, Dr. Eric Henry, at the department’s 2010 commencement party. Page 11 2010 Senior Honors Colloquium

Seven students presented their Honors Thesis research at our Annual Senior Colloquium and Student Recogni- tion Day on April 14, 2010. The presenters were (pictured l-r) Sydney Hess, Rupert Campbell, Patrick Dowd, Anneliese Gegenheimer, Chris Buchheit, Isabella Archer, and Yasmin Amer. Also recognized were several stu- dents associated with the Department of Asian Studies who had won honors for community service, scholar- ship, and post-graduate internships and fellowships. Department of Asian Studies CB 3267, 113 New West Chapel Hill NC 27599