CAS NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
SUSAN GREENHALGH
Professor
Department of Anthropology
Susan Greenhalth, anthropology professor, was selected to deliver Harvard University's 2008 Annual Edwin O. Reischauer Lecture Series on April 16-18. Sponsored by the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research, those selected to deliver the prestigious talks are chosen from among the most prominent scholarrs of East Asia - an 'extremely high honor," according to anthropology department chair Bill Maurer.
Widely considered one fo the world's leading experts on China's one-child policy, Greenhalgh has authored mulitple books and journal pieces on the topic including her landmark study, "An Alterntive to the One-Child Policy in China," coauthored in 1985, which opened the political space in China for serious consideration of two-child alternatives. Today, the article is referenced whenever discussion of a two-child option arises.
In her recently released book. Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng's China, Greenhalgh documents the extraordinary role played by a handful of Chinese missile scientists in the policy's formation. She explains in her book how the scientists, by borrowing ideas from Western natural science, convinced party leaders the one-child policy was 'the only option' available to avert a 'population crisis' threaterning the country's wealth, modernity, and global rise. Drawing upon 20 year of research into China's population politics she details how a nation of one billion decided to limit all couples to one child.
Her extensive population reserch on both China and Vietnam were the focus of her talks.
Mark Selden
Talk
War Atrocities, Historical Memory, and Reconciliation in the Asia Pacific: From Nanjing to Abu Ghraib
In his lecture to over 30 faculty and students in SSPB 5250 at noon on Tuesday, March 25, Mark Selden, distinguished author and editor of the e-journal Japan Focus discussed the controversies that continue to swirl around the Nanjing Massacre, the military comfort women, and other Japanese military atrocities rooted in the Asia Pacific War. He then juxtaposed what the Japanese army did to a number of high profile war atrocities committed by American soldiers in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq in an effort to understand the myopia and resistance to recognition and acceptance of their actions on the part of perpetrators. This resistance may be traced above all to nationalism or national pride, but it is also the product of interstate relations. It is not the exclusive property of a single nation. Rather, it is a global phenomenon, albeit one whose consequences are notably acute for certain nations. A question raised throughout the talk was what explains the fact that Japanese denial and refusal to provide compensation to victims has long been the subject of sharp domestic and international contention, while the United States has faced relatively little criticism or recrimination for its denial of atrocities?
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The talk sparked a lively discussion on signature moments in modern warfare that continued after the formal end of the talk at 2 pm.
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This talk was co-sponsored by the Center for Asian Studies and the Department of Sociology.
A Concert of Yamato Gaku
With the kind assistance of the Japanese 'Ministry of Culture, the Center for Asian Studies is happy to present a very special concert of Yamato Gaku by several
masters of that tradition. Yamato Gaku originated in the 1930's with important support of Baron Kishichiro Okura, a successful businessman, as an attempt to create a new Japanese music fitting the modern age. While frequently such attempts to guide the direction of culture misfire, Baron Okura sought the assistance of the major musicians of the Nagauta, Kiyomoto, Kato bushi, etc. traditions and the result was a new music strongly rooted in established traditions but of great musical significance.
Several musicians forming an ensemble of Japanese string, wind and percussion instruments and vocalists will perform and explain several compositions of this genre.
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CAS MISSION
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The Center for Asian Studies
was established to enhance the study of the many countries
and cultures of Asia at the University of California, Irvine
and to provide a forum for discussions across geographic and
disciplinary boundaries both within UCI and in the larger
community.
The Center brings together and drawsupon the expertise of
faculty throughout the university to create opportunities
for students, faculty, and the community to explore Asian
topics, culture, and travel, to develop advanced language
skills, and to acquire both a broad and a deep perspective
on the region generally.
The Center is composed of more than 40 UCI faculty members,
representing five schools and 10 departments across campus,
who have a specialization on one or more of five Asian sub-areas:
China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia. |
Strengths of an Asian Studies Minor...
The countries and cultures of Asia are significant participants
in the world community. They present compellingly different
models for social organization, historical development, and
cultural commitments. The many countries of this large
and complex region provide challenges and opportunities whether
one plans to be a scholar, a business person, or a diplomat.
The minor in Asian Studies draws upon the expertise of faculty
throughout the university to create opportunities for students
to explore Asian topics in a variety of fields, to develop
advanced language skills, and to acquire a broader perspective
as they apply the disciplinary training of their major field
to effective and informed studies of Asian subjects. |
DIRECTOR
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