EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES & CULTURAL STUDIES Department Newsletter Volume 12 Fall 2019 Table of Contents Mission Statement Words From the Chair.......................................................................................p 3 The Department of East Asian Languag- es and Cultural Studies is committed to Chinese Language Program.............................................................................p 4 providing students with the opportunity to understand the many facets of East Japanese Language Program...........................................................................p 5 Asian cultures, including languages, literature, history, society, politics, eco- nomics, religion, media, and art. In a East Asia Center.................................................................................................p 6 world of increasing international con- nection and globalization, we prepare In Her Own Words: Professor Xiaorong Li on Her New Book........................p 7 students to incorporate knowledge of Asia into their future interactions and re- sponsibilities within our complex world. Confucius Institute.............................................................................................p 8 The Writ of the Three Sovereigns by Dominic Steavu....................................p 9 2018 Fall Workshop and 10th Anniversary of Chinese Language Teachers’ Association of Southern California (CLTA-SC)................................p 10 Talking with Patrick Laboon (MA in 2016)........................................................p 11 Talking with Allison Visconti (MA in 2018)........................................................p 12 Faculty Activities................................................................................................p 13 Our Staff Center for Taiwan Studies.................................................................................p 14 Director Cori Montgomery (805) 893-2993 Financial Services Amanda Maffett Manager (805) 893-4623 Student Services Jill Title Manager (805) 893-3316 Financial Severo de la Cruz Coordinator (805) 893-5463 Academic Natalie Juarez Personnel (805) 893-3731 Coordinator Undergrad & Alyson Alexander Graduate Student (805) 893-2744 Advisor Tech Support Tony Chabolla Specialist (805) 893-2731 2 Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies Words From the Chair As I write, it is Summer of 2020, and the 2019 newsletter is der recent circumstances, they only now appearing. Due to a year with several enormous in- have proven again how extraor- terruptions to best-laid plans, we apologize for the delay. This dinary they are and how central year has tried us all to the fullest extent, but I am proud to be a position they hold for our un- able to express here how remarkably our entire EALCS com- dergraduate students’ sense of munity adjusted and adapted to the conditions we all lived belonging in the department. through over the past several months. When faced with an im- mediate switch to online academic and professional life, our One of our Japanese language undergraduates, graduate students, lecturers, faculty, and the lecturers, Chikako Shinagawa, is outstanding staff who work with us and support us, all caught now retiring. A master teacher their breath and got to work. To those adjusting to learning with the highest possible posi- and teaching online, to those whose research plans were inter- tive evaluations from her stu- rupted and have to be re-designed, to those balancing home dents year after year, it has been working conditions with increased family responsibilities, to our great honor to call her one those already feeling the financial constrictions facing the uni- of our own for the past twenty Katherine Saltzman-Li versity, and to those suffering from the lack of human contact years. Highlights of her remark- with friends, family, and colleagues, I thank each of you for able professional career include co-authorship of the most doing the very best you could under calamitous conditions widely-used Japanese language textbooks and workbooks, and for supporting each other and EALCS in so many ways. Genki I and Genki II, as well as authorship of other language- learning materials, and several prestigious awards and grants We lost the chance to mark the accomplishments of most to support or recognize her work. The latter includes a Dis- of our graduating majors and minors in person this year, but tinguished Teaching Award from the UCSB Academic Sen- the Japanese language program was able to hold a Zoom ate, a rarely-bestowed honor for non-senate faculty. In re- award ceremony that was touching and wonderfully personal tirement, she will be completing revisions for new editions in spite of the limiting format. I would like to honor all of our of the Genki textbooks, and undoubtedly her energies will undergraduates’ hard work and department engagement find new outlets towards new accomplishments. EALCS is over this last year. I hope that the focus you put into your so proud of Ms. Shinagawa, and so grateful for her innumer- studies gave you a clear and steadfast path through these able contributions. Needless to say, she will be sorely missed. times of such confusion and disarray. A special congratula- tions to those who have just graduated, especially for persist- I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Eunjin Choi, Korea Foun- ing with dedication in your studies and thereby gaining not dation Visiting Professor, and Dr. Jing Wang, Visiting Pro- only new knowledge in your academic areas of interest, but fessor of Modern Japanese Literature and Film, along with also new knowledge of your ability to get a job done under the temporary Lecturers and Associates hired in Winter and highly-challenging conditions. While it has been a truly bewil- Spring, who were all called upon this year to put great ex- dering and stressful time, a strong sense of your capabilities tra effort into their teaching, interrupting research and oth- to navigate the unexpected and adapt to circumstances is in er forms of department and university participation. Their fact, a very valuable way to head into your new post-college contributions to EALCS have been invaluable, and we are life. We send you off with all best wishes – stay in touch! delighted that both Dr. Choi and Dr. Wang will remain with us next year to continue the fine teaching and advising they Our graduate students also proved themselves to be remark- have contributed to our department and to our students. able this year, continuing on their paths towards graduate de- grees, studying, TAing in-person and remotely, winning fellow- Along with our highly impressive Korean language instruc- ships, and passing qualifying exams. It was a year of engaging tor, Dr. Wona Lee, Dr. Choi’s continuing presence and con- with the greater context of graduate study, as students sought tributions to EALCS are helping us enhance and develop our to turn our attention to the ever-escalating cost of living in Cali- growing Korean Studies program. As I reported in last year’s fornia and what it means to their ability to carry out their stud- newsletter, Korean Studies has grown in EALCS over the last ies. Altogether, a year of teaching and learning under the many several years through lecture series, added language cours- complicated conditions of 2019-2020 added greatly to the ex- es, extremely generous renewed support from the Korea isting full plate of graduate study, and I commend our gradu- Foundation for Dr. Choi’s position, and now additional time- ate students for how well they carried on and moved forward. ly and exceptionally generous support from Mr. Alex Jose. Mr. Jose recently gave substantial initial funds to establish I would like to acknowledge our language program lectur- the Hyung Il Pai Endowed Fund for Korean Studies in hon- ers who so expertly went above and beyond during this time. or and memory of his wife and our longtime esteemed col- Turning in-person language programs into online instruction league, Professor Pai. With these many kinds of contributions was particularly challenging, and our Korean, Chinese, and and increasing programs, we are very excited to see Korean Japanese language programs not only stayed the course, but Studies gradually take a greater position in the department. actually thrived. The instructors put dedicated hours into cre- atively adapting their programs and reaching out to their stu- It is not easy right now to remember events from before 2019- dents. Our language instructors could not comprise a more 2020, a year that will loom large for each and every one of remarkable group of teachers, individually and as teams. Un- us in so many ways, but as I step down as EALCS Chair, I am Continued on page 16. See Words From the Chair. University of California, Santa Barbara, Fall 2019 3 Chinese Language Program The 2018-2019 academic year was full of activities and joy for the Chinese Language Program! In addition to offering multiple levels of Chinese language courses, the program also organized cultural events and extracurricular activities, which includ- ed Mandarin Chinese speech competitions, Chinese character handwriting competitions, a language partner program (with the Chinese Students and Scholars Association), Chinese New Year celebration (with the UCSB Confucius Institute), summer China trip (with the UCSB Confucius Institute), and an international conference on Chinese language teaching and research. Chinese Speech Contest “Language Buddy” Program Two Mandarin Chinese The Chinese