In March, CAS helped sponsor the Asian Studies Graduate Association (CUBASGA)'s annual graduate student conference.聽 The two-day conference featured Prof. Michael Puett of Harvard University and Prof. Sharalyn Orbaugh of the University of British Columbia as keynote speakers as well as presentations by 22 graduate students in Asian Studies from 8 different universities around the country.聽 Read more in our event report:
CU 麻豆影院's Asian Studies Graduate Association (CUBASGA) held its annual graduate student conference on March 8th and 9th. Beginning in 1998, this conference has been organized to provide current graduate students with a forum to present original research on East Asia, particularly on topics in the humanities and social sciences. This year, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of CU鈥檚 Asian Languages and Civilizations department, the CUBASGA organizing committee was pleased to welcome two keynote speakers to Colorado鈥擯rofessor Michael Puett of Harvard University and Professor Sharalyn Orbaugh of the University of British Columbia. In addition, the conference featured twenty-two graduate student presentations from eight different universities.
Friday鈥檚 conference focused on classical and pre-modern studies, including presentations on ancient Chinese manuscripts, classical poetry, and calligraphy, as well as classical Japanese poetry and prose. Michael Puett presented an enthusiastic and stirring argument in his keynote, 鈥淲hy does ritual matter? Theories from classical China,鈥� in which he argued that current scholars need to reconsider the ritual space of ancient China and develop a vocabulary to discuss the 鈥渁s-if鈥� worlds that these spaces represent.
Saturday鈥檚 proceedings focused on more modern topics, ranging from Edo pulp literature to contemporary pop culture. Sharalyn Orbaugh鈥檚 keynote, 鈥淪elling Research to the Academic Marketplace: A Case Study Using WWII Japanese Propaganda,鈥� provided current graduate students with a realistic and practical approach to generating meaningful research in an often saturated market. She focused on how she has presented her own research interest鈥�kamishibai, a kind of portable, illustrated stage production popular in Japan from the 1930s鈥攖o a variety of audiences and publishers.
Post authored by Eric Siercks, graduate student in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations at CU-麻豆影院 and one of this year's conference organizers.