2/16 (M) The Tale of Genji: Noh Theater Demonstration and Workshop
4:30 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Lower Lobby
To celebrate the Middlebury College Museum of Art’s recent acquisition of The Tale of Genji folding screens, Tsunao Yamai, member of the Komparu school of noh who was selected this year by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese government as a “Japanese Cultural Envoy,” performs an excerpt from the famous noh play Lady Aoi (from The Tale of Genji). The demonstration is followed by a workshop led by Yamai, in which participants will learn basic movements from the ancient Japanese art of noh theater. Participants must wear socks and active wear. The workshop takes place from 7:00-8:30 PM in the Mahaney Center for the Arts, Room 110. Sponsored by the Department of Japanese Studies, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Department of Theatre, Department of Dance, Middlebury College Museum of Art, and Japanese Club. Assistance provided by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. Free
2/19 (Th) Film: Lessons in Dissent (A Documentary)
8:00 p.m., Axinn 232
(Part of Apathy and Action: Exploring Youth-driven Movements, the 2nd Annual Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs Student-designed Conference)
Filmed over 18 months, Lessons in Dissent is a kaleidoscopic, visceral portrait
of a new generation of Hong Kong democracy activists.
Schoolboy Joshua Wong dedicates himself to stopping the introduction of
National Education. His campaign begins to snowball when an interview goes
viral on YouTube, and with the new school year fast approaching, a showdown
with the government seems inevitable. Microphone in hand, and still in his
school uniform, he leads 120,000 protesters into battle.
Meanwhile, former classmate Ma Jai fights against political oppression on the
streets and in the courts. Having dropped out of school and dedicated himself
to the social movement, he endures the persecution suffered by those not lucky
enough to be protected by the media’s glare.
Lessons in Dissent catapults the viewer on to the streets of Hong Kong and into
the heart of the action: confronting the viewer with Hong Kong’s oppressive
heat, stifling humidity and air thick with dissent. (Taken from the film’s official website.)
2/26 (Th) Art as a Way of Knowing: Reading Lu Xun’s Modern Prose Poetry Collection Wild Grass
4:30 p.m., RAJ
A lecture by Nicholas Kaldis, associate professor of Asian and Asian Studies at Binghamton University. Dr. Kaldis’s book, The Chinese Prose Poem: A Study of Lu Xun’s Wild Grass (Yecao) (Cambria Press, 2014), is the first comprehensive English-language study of Wild Grass (1927), a literary masterpiece that includes some of Lu Xun’s most psychologically complex writing. Lu Xun said his “entire philosophy” is contained in Wild Grass. Dr. Kaldis will talk about the genesis and significance of Wild Grass and how we may engage the poems in rigorous fashion while allowing them to influence us through the process of “aesthetic cognition,” or “art as a way of knowing.”
2/27 (F) Mirrored Resonance: Sinophonic English Poetry, Poetics: Pedogogy
12:15 p.m., Axinn 232
In this lecture Dr. Jonathan Stalling will explore several permutations of Chinese-English interlanguages as they lead into his Sinophonic English opera (Yingelishi) before turning to a new work he is calling Mirrored Resonance: The SinoEnglish Rime Tables. In this new project, Stalling draws upon Classical Chinese phonetics to create a novel algorithm, which has now transcribed over 130,000 English words into “Sinographic English,” along with new 3D digital learning environments designed to teach accurate English pronunciation through Chinese characters.
3/1 (Su) Rakugo
7 p.m., Dana
Rakugo is a traditional storytelling performance. The performer sits on a 2″x2″ cushion on the stage and tells a story that may involve several characters. He may stand up on his knees but never on his feet. His only props are a fan and a tenugui (Japanese towel). The leader, Yanagiya Sankyo, is one of the leading rakugo players in Japan. He is a veteran rakugo performer who can portray the subtle emotions of a character during a performance.
3/3 (Tu) East Asian Studies reception
4:30 p.m., Atwater Dining
A reception for East Asian Studies faculty, students, and prospective students. Come and enjoy good company and refreshments!
3/6 (F) The Tale of Genji: Japanese Calligraphy Demonstration and Workshop
4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., Mahaney Center for the Arts, Lower Lobby
To celebrate Middlebury College Museum’s recent acquisition of The Tale of Genji folding screens, award-winning Japanese calligraphy artist Masako Inkyo joins Professor Sarah Laursen (History of Art & Architecture) and Professor Carole Cavanaugh (Japanese Studies) for a special demonstration and talk about this ancient and influential novel and Japanese ancient and modern writing styles. Refreshments will be served.
The lecture/demonstration will be followed by a hands-on workshop led by Ms. Inkyo, in which participants will have the opportunity to learn basic calligraphy strokes and Japanese characters (5:30-6:30 pm, Mahaney Center for the Arts, Room 126). All supplies provided.
3/7 (Sa) Second workshop on Japanese Calligraphy
11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Ross Seminar Room B11
Sponsored by the Japanese Studies Department, History of Art & Architecture Department, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Japanese Club, and Calligraphy Club. Free
3/8 (Su) Film with open discussion afterwards: Nuclear Nation: The Fukushima Refugees Story
5 p.m., Dana (may be relocated, check calendar for details)
A 2012 documentary by Funahashi Atsushi about the exile of Futaba’s residents, the region housing the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Since the 1960s, Futaba had been promised prosperity with tax breaks and major subsidies to compensate for the presence of the power plant. The town’s people have now lost their homeland. Through their agonies and frustrations, the film questions the real cost of capitalism and nuclear energy.The day after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, Futaba locals heard the hydrogen explosion at Reactor Number 1 and were showered with nuclear fallout. In response, the Japanese government designated the whole town as an “exclusion zone” and 1,400 of the town’s residents fled to an abandoned high school 250 kilometers away. The entire community, including the Town Hall office, was moved into the four-story building, making the residents nuclear refugees.
The film portrays the evacuees as the nuclear disaster situation changes over time. One of them is Ichiro Nakai, a farmer who lost his wife, his home, and his rice fields in the massive tsunami. Doing his best to cope with the monotony of life at the evacuation center, he struggles to wipe away the haunting memories and start a new life with his son. The two finally get an official permit to enter the exclusion zone to visit their hometown. There, they see that their worst fears have become reality…The other is Katsutaka Idogawa, Futaba’s mayor, a former active supporter of the government’s nuclear policy, who was lobbying to build two additional reactors. After realizing his constituents were exposed to significant amounts of radiation and that the situation at the TEPCO plant is still unstable, his beliefs begin to change.
More information at: http://nuclearnation.jp/en/part1/
3/18 (W) “The Survival of the Author: Ghosts and Nonhuman Actors in Natsume Soseki and Henry James”
4:30pm, RAJ conference room on March 18.
Sponsored by Japanese Studies, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Comparative Literature, RAJ, and Academic Enrichment.
4/3 (F) Lecture by Maggie Clinton
12:15 p.m., RAJ
Lunch RSVP by Monday, 3/30, to rcga@middlebury.edu.
4/7 (Tu) Decadence and Morality through Japan’s Wartime & Defeat: The Vision of Sakaguchi Ango
4:30 p.m., RAJ
Lecture by James Dorsey of Dartmouth College. Right after Japan’s defeat in WW II the writer Sakaguchi Ango catapulted to fame with an essay titled “Discourse on Decadence.” In this essay he rejected all of the morals foisted on the people during the hard war years, and it is seen as a sign of the sharp break with the previously militarized, ultranationalist Japan. This lecture will problematize that understanding, and along the way raise questions about the links between spiritual pursuits, nationalism, and cultural identity.
4/9-10 (Th-F) Student Symposium
A list of presentations related to East Asian studies will be circulated.
4/22 (W) Lecture by Leslie Pincus (University of Michigan)
4:30, RAJ
A talk by Leslie Pincus (University of Michigan) on the Japanese New Left after the 1960s.
5/2 (Sa) Film: Stray Dogs
3 p.m and 8 p.m., Dana
(Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan, 2013, 136 minutes)
A single father makes his meager living holding up an advertising placard on the busy streets of Taipei. His children wait out their days in supermarkets before joining him in an abandoned building to sleep. As the father starts to come apart, a woman in the supermarket takes the children under her wing. With principal characters living the cruelest of existences on the ragged edges of the modern world, “Tsai may be the best chronicler we have of the temps mort between social reality and darkly comic dreams of despair.” – Tony Rayns, Film Comment.
5/4 (M) Why is My Milk Blue? China’s Food Safety Crisis and Scale Politics
4:30 p.m., RAJ
Lecture by John K. Yasuda (University of Pennsylvania) on how China is trying to develop a food and drug safety regulatory regime. His research asks a really pertinent question for all consumers, but also for those students interested in international food studies, of how China will be able to ensure the safety of its products both for domestic consumers as well as international supply chains.