Newsletter 2019

Letter From the Director: CAS celebrates 20 years promoting the study of Asia at CU �鶹ӰԺ

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:45:50 +0000

Letter From the Director: CAS celebrates 20 years promoting the study of Asia at CU �鶹ӰԺ Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:45

Dear Friends of CAS,

In 1998, a small group of CU faculty met with a vision for an Asian area studies center that would bring together Asian Studies scholars from all corners of campus. With a start-up grant from then-Provost Phil DiStefano, the Center for Asian Studies was born. At that time, I’m sure none of us imagined how successful CAS would turn out to be! Under the leadership of founding director Dennis McGilvray, followed by Laurel Rodd (under whose guidance the Center achieved recognition, and funding, as a Federal Title VI National Resource Center in Asian Studies – the first and only area studies NRC in the State of Colorado), CAS became what one Associate Dean called a “model center” for the university. It has been my privilege to direct CAS since 2012, and to watch Asian Studies continue to grow.

This 20th anniversary year for CAS also brings the annual meetings of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) to Denver for the first time. In fact, it’s the first time the AAS meetings have been held anywhere between the West Coast and Chicago! To celebrate, we’re hosting a reception at the Denver Art Museum on March 23rd between 6 and 8 p.m. Please join us!

2018 brought yet another wonderful group of new Asianists to our campus. Joining the faculty in Asian Languages & Civilizations are Clarence Lee (Assistant Professor of Japanese), Evelyn Shih (Assistant Professor of Chinese), Riley Soles (Visiting Assistant Professor of Japanese), and Levi Thompson (Assistant Professor of Arabic). Also joining the faculty are Stephanie Su (Assistant Professor of Asian Art) and Alessandro Rippa (Postdoctoral Associate at the Center for Asian Studies). This past year our community was also enriched by visiting scholars from China, South Korea, Germany, and Japan.

Among these new Asianists, Alessandro Rippa joins us as part of the Center’s China Made project, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. This project explores China’s infrastructure model of development, with a regional focus in Southeast Asia. In October, we hosted a successful inaugural workshop here in �鶹ӰԺ, with scholars joining us from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, and throughout the US. As China becomes an increasingly significant player in economic development and social transformation in Asia, we hope that the China Made project will help shed some light on the inner workings of how Chinese development takes place and what sorts of impacts its infrastructural model creates in local Asian contexts. This past Fall, I traveled twice to Astana, Kazakhstan, to join other colleagues from the US and Europe in briefing officials there on China’s infrastructural development model. The China Made project is an example of the ways Asian Studies here at CU are engaged in a global conversation on the shifting nature of Asian relations and developments. Please visit the project website to learn more about China Made: https://chinamadeproject.net.

CAS continues to do whatever we can to make the study of Asia as accessible as possible to our students and to our broader community. We continue to host the Tang Global Seminar in China, and have added a new global seminar in Indonesia. Our Asia Internship program now includes opportunities in Tokyo and Shanghai, and we offer numerous other scholarship opportunities for study in Asia. All of these are made possible through our generous donors. If you would like to help us in our mission, please consider a donation to CAS. It’s an easy click from our homepage, or visit /cas/support-cas.

Tim Oakes
Director of CAS
Professor of Geography

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From the CAS Advisory Council Chair

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:39:20 +0000

From the CAS Advisory Council Chair Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:39

As noted elsewhere in the Newsletter, this year we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Center for Asian Studies. Hats off to its first two Directors Dennis McGilvray and Laurel Rodd and to the current CAS Team ably led by Faculty Director Tim Oakes and Executive Director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz!

For the past several years CAS has worked hard to find resources to support opportunities for CU undergraduates to either study or work in Asia during the summer. Geordi Emnett, a mechanical engineering major, participated in the CAS-led, Tang Endowment-supported Urban China Global Seminar (see page 4 for more information) last summer. This is some of what he had to say about that experience:

This summer has been the most incredible summer of my life to date. I had the privilege of getting to join a group of 12 other students to spend a month in China. This experience was beyond impactful and changed my life in immeasurable ways….The experience of studying abroad in China really challenged me to grow as a thinker, a global citizen, and it further spurred my intense curiosity to learn more about the world.

A modest investment aimed at opening the eyes and minds of CU’s undergraduates to the broader world around them can have a transformative impact.

We are deeply grateful to Dean Jim White and his colleagues in the College of Arts & Sciences for their ongoing support of CAS. We are encouraged that the importance of the campus-wide “internationalization” is (finally) getting the increased attention it deserves. The Academic Futures report, prepared with extensive campus-wide input and consultation in 2018, identified “Internationalizing our Campus” as one of its Top 4 priorities. The Academic Futures Committee noted that comprehensive internationalization is “essential to our mission and to other goals and projects set forth in this report.” It went on to note:

“Internationalization of our curriculum and our research creates a path to the long-term relevance of our public mission in service to society by creating global citizens with the ability to address problems of international significance. Globalization is one of the most powerful forces in our world, bringing great benefits and causing equally great challenges and anxieties. CU �鶹ӰԺ must position itself to prepare our researchers, artists, and students to address those anxieties, to help solve those challenges, and to ensure those benefits serve the common good” (emphasis added).

Proactive support of internationalization would create an environment in which CAS and other programs linking CU to the wider world could truly thrive. Important progress has been building from the bottom up. Deans of the College of Engineering & Applied Science, the Leeds School of Business, and the CU Law School have each recently hired staff dedicated to supporting and expanding international programs and connections. CAS has active links with the College of Engineering and the School of Business and is exploring links with the Law School and with one of CU’s newest Centers: the Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies (CNAIS). A critically important next step is the appointment of a senior administrator to lead and direct the internationalization effort. The Academic Futures report recommended this be assigned to a new Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Education. Experience at other Universities in Colorado and across the U.S. support the recommendation of an earlier in-depth review of internationalization at CU �鶹ӰԺ in 2010 that this effort be led by a Vice Provost/Associate Vice Chancellor for International Policy and Programs.

The Center has been told it needs to vacate its current premises in the coming year to make way for the proposed University Conference Center. We trust that CAS will be provided with a new space that both keeps all of the component parts of the Center together and provides easy access for students, staff and community members so that the vitally important work of the Center for Asian Studies will continue to thrive for the next 20 years. Onward!

George Taylor
CAS Advisory Council (CASAC) Chair

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Faculty News & Visiting Scholars

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:38:31 +0000

Faculty News & Visiting Scholars Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:38

Asian Studies Faculty Updates

Loriliai Biernacki (Associate Professor of Religious Studies) gave several invited talks last year, one in particular for the opening plenary panel of a conference in Sanchi, India (see photo) in December. This talk was titled “Sarvasākṣinī: The Goddess’ Wondrous Feat,” addressing Śākta Tantra. Biernacki published two short articles and a longer one on transcendence in sports using conceptual frameworks from classical Tantric texts as well as from the writings of 20th century scholar writing in Hindi.

Frank Hsiao (Professor Emeritus of Economics) served as a member of the Fulbright National Screening Committee (NSC), and the Screening Committee for Japan and South Korea met in San Francisco in December 2018. This is the fourth time he was invited to serve at NSC since 2007 (he himself was a Fulbright-Hays Research Fellow in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea in 1970s). There were many applicants and competition was very keen. To his surprise, no one from the University of Colorado applied last year. These are excellent scholarship and fellowship programs for both students and faculty members; for more information, please search online to find selection criteria and application procedures for Fulbright Student and Faculty Scholarships. They also have language training fellowship programs in the host countries.

Clarence I-Zhuen Lee (Assistant Professor of Japanese, ALC) arrived in the fall; his research is situated in the intersections between literature, intellectual history and sinitic medical history in Early Modern Japan. In particular, he focuses on the rise of kokugaku as a field of knowledge within the context of mid-18th century empirical rationalism. By studying kokugaku in relation to other fields of knowledge production (such as pharmacology and medicine), his research hopes to shed light on kokugaku not as a kind of proto-nationalism, but as an attempt to re-understand the world around us.

Dennis McGilvray (Professor Emeritus of Anthropology) was in Colombo, Sri Lanka in July 2018 for a workshop on Dutch Colonial Social History in Sri Lanka, followed by a Sri Lankan Studies Roundtable in Zurich in September. He also presented a conference paper on Muslim Dowry and Inheritance in Sri Lanka at the University of Exeter, UK. His current book project, entitled A House for Every Daughter, is about matrilocal marriage and household structure in Sri Lanka and South India.

Carole McGranahan (Associate Professor of Anthropology) gave a keynote lecture at the annual South Asia Conference at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in October. Her talk was titled “Imperial but not Colonial: Lessons from the Borderlands of British Empire.” Professor McGranahan also traveled to India and Nepal twice in 2018, to Nepal and India in June and October for research trips, and to Dharamsala, India in June with CU anthropology PhD student Dawa Lokyitsang, where they gave research talks and hosted community workshops as part of a Wenner-Gren Public Anthropology Grant.

Shawhin Roudbari (Assistant Professor of Environmental Design) published a paper in the journal Iranian Studies in December. Free eprints are available at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HtqBTqWHZE8ZpKFK9Biw/full.

Arriving in fall 2018, Stephanie Su (Assistant Professor of Asian Art History) specializes in East Asian art history. Her research interests include the Sino-Japanese relationship, global modernism, historiography, history of collecting and exhibition, the materiality of colors and print culture. She is excited to utilize the collection of CU Art Museum to teach courses on East Asian art and culture. Currently she is working on two projects, “Entangled Modernities: Picturing China’s Past in the Early Twentieth Century Japan and China,” and “Colors of Modernity: Changing Aesthetics in Meiji Japanese Prints.” Her long-term research goal is to reconstruct more interconnected and globalized histories of East Asian art with interdisciplinary approaches.

Levi Thompson (joined Asian Languages and Civilizations as Assistant Professor of Arabic in the fall. He teaches courses on the cultures of the modern Middle East, translates poetry from Arabic and Persian, and researches the development of modernist poetry outside the West.

New Post-Doc Position at CAS

CAS was pleased to welcome Alessandro Rippa to CU last fall as our first postdoctoral fellow, working with CAS Director Tim Oakes on the China Made project. His self-introduction:

My research interests coalesce around three major trends in the social sciences today: the social impact of infrastructural development; the flow of commodities across national boundaries; and the role of informal markets in processes of globalization. I have pursued these interests in the ethnographic contexts of Western and South-western China, particularly at China’s borders with Pakistan and Myanmar. My most recent research focuses on the analysis of the social and material consequences of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and explores new theoretical approaches for the study of large-scale infrastructural projects.

Since October 2018 I have been a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Asian Studies at CU �鶹ӰԺ, as part of the “China Made” project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Prior to joining the Center, I completed my doctorate in Social Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen and I was a postdoctoral fellow at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Visiting Scholars Come to �鶹ӰԺ

Over 2018, CAS was home to a number of scholars from Asia and beyond. During their residencies, visiting scholars meet with faculty and students, participate in events, and present their research at our Luncheon Series. They are a valuable addition to the community of Asianists on campus, and we are happy to have them.

Cai Bei arrived in early 2018, and in January 2019 he returned to Qinghai Minzu University, China. Cai worked with faculty host Emily Yeh from Geography on research related to the sacred landscapes and environmental protection on the Tibetan plateau.

Jaeyoung Choi arrived in early 2018 and returned to Hallym University, Republic of Korea in January 2019. His faculty host was Kwangmin Kim from History, and he did research related to the formation of Chinese world order in East Asia from 1500-1900.

Carolin Maertens arrived from LMU Munich, Germany, in late 2018 and will be here until 2020. Her research relates to migration practices in Central Asia.

Bisheng Peng arrived in late 2018 and will stay for a year from the School of Public Administration at Sichuan University in China. He is working with Terry Kleeman from Asian Languages & Civilizations (ALC) on research related to the origins and developments of Chinese Herbal Classics in Taoism.

Yanxia Tang arrived in early 2018 and will stay until early 2019. Yanxia is from Aichi University, Japan. Her faculty host is Faye Kleeman (ALC), and her research is related to diaspora in North American Chinese communities.

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Global Seminars with Colleen Berry and Christian Hammons in Asia

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:37:06 +0000

Global Seminars with Colleen Berry and Christian Hammons in Asia Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:37

In Summer 2018, Colleen Berry (Instructor of Asian Studies and CAS Associate Director) took 12 students to China on a Global Seminar with scholarship funding supplied by the CAS Tang Endowment. Students from a variety of majors participated in the “Urban China: Tradition, Modernity, and Nostalgia” course in Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. Two highlights of the program were the walking tours of the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) in Beijing, led by historian Jeremiah Jenne, and of Shanghai’s former Jewish Quarter, led by Dvir Bar-Gal, who has been researching the history of the Jews in Shanghai for many years.
The combination of course content and participation in everyday life in Chinese cities gave the students a meaningful, in-depth experience and a higher level of intercultural competence—an asset that can enrich their lives and enhance their careers. Post-trip reports from the students included these comments on what they gained through the experience of living in China for three weeks:

“The program was very strong in pushing people to become more independent and more confident in navigating places that they are completely unfamiliar with.”
“I reaffirmed to myself that I have a good sense of direction and with practice and focus can navigate and explore new places by myself or as a leader to others.”
“This type of experience is one of the things that makes life meaningful and worthwhile, so I’m absolutely glad that I was able to have that experience.”

Cultural Transformations in Indonesia" study indigenous ecologies in the Mentawai Islands. The seminar is led by Christian Hammons (Instructor in Anthropology & Critical Media Practices) every May, and this year’s students received scholarship support from the CAS Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages program grant for Southeast Asian Studies from the US Department of Education.
Congratulations to Jill Avery Ingebritsen, Rachel Marie Kline, Isabelle Moroco, Ashley Kathleen Pretorius, Emily Christine Protz, and Isabella Rulon Stephens!

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2018 Event Highlights

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:36:53 +0000

2018 Event Highlights Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:36

2018 CAS Speaker Series Events

In 2018, CAS sponsored 42 events. Some highlights include:

a talk by Tsering Shakya of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia on how the 13th Dalai Lama became a global figure;
Tyler Harlan, postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University, demonstrating how small hydropower is China’s first and most widespread renewable energy technology;
as part of our CLAC (Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum) initiative, Suronda Gonzalez exploring an in-depth case study of international students' experiences in CLAC;
a talk by Taliesin Thomas about the artwork of Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei;
a panel discussion about the trade war with China; and
our largest event this past fall, the first China Made conference (see page 1).

2018 CAS Luncheon Series Events

Our 2018 Luncheon Series offered 15 talks by faculty, visiting scholars and graduate students covering a wide range of Asia-related topics:

Reading the Visceral Pulses: Five Viscera Theory & the Pulse in a 7th Century Chinese Medical Manuscript, Thursday, February 1, Sarah Zanolini, Masters student, Asian Languages and Civilizations, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Anthropological Study of Local American Chinese Medicine, Thursday, February 15, Lihui Wang, CAS Visiting Scholar from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai
Territorial Affairs: Grounding the Global Land Rush in Postwar Laos, Thursday, March 1, Mike Dwyer, Instructor, Geography and CAS, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Revising the Rise in Postcolonial Jatra Performance, Thursday, March 15, Jashodhara Sen, PhD student, Performance Studies, Theatre and Dance, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Beyond Resistance: Tibetans and ethnic minority place-making in the contemporary Chinese City, Thursday, March 22,Andrew Grant, CAS Visiting Scholar
A Brief Introduction to the Study of Chinese Tomb Architecture of the Han Dynasty, Thursday, April 5, Yuan Ma, CAS Visiting Scholar from Sichuan University, Chengdu
Good Housekeeping: Advice for Women in a late Qing Daily-Use Religious Encyclopedia, Thursday, April 19, Katherine Alexander, Assistant Professor of Chinese, Asian Languages and Civilizations, CU �鶹ӰԺ
In the General’s Valley: China, Africa, and the Limits of Developmental Pragmatism, Thursday, September 13, Robert Wyrod, Assistant Professor, Women and Gender Studies and International Affairs, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Yasodhara: A Novel about the Buddha's Wife, Thursday, September 20, Vanessa Sasson, Professor of Religious Studies in the Liberal Arts Department of Marianopolis College. Co-Sponsored with the Tibet Himalaya Initiative and the Department of Religious Studies
Discussion of the Art Exhibition at the DMZ Museum, Tuesday, October 2m George Rivera, Professor, IMAP and Art and Art History, CU �鶹ӰԺ
"G Yang" and the Tibetan Landscape, Thursday, October 11, Cai Bei, CAS Visiting Scholar and Associate Professor, Qinghai MinZu University, Institute of Ethnology and Sociology, China
Illicit passages (tongdao): timber, amber and the making of the China-Myanmar border in Tengchong, Thursday, October 25, Alessandro Rippa, CAS Post-Doctoral Fellow, CU �鶹ӰԺ
After the Wenchuan Earthquake: Harmonization of Physical Reconstruction and Social Reconstruction in China, Thursday, November 8, Haorui Wu, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Natural Hazards Center, CU �鶹ӰԺ
The Altars of Soil and Grain in Tang Chang’an and Public Characters of Emperors, Thursday, November 29, Jaeyoung Choi, CAS Visiting Scholar; Associate Professor, Department of History, Hallym University, Republic of Korea
Service, Safety, and Fear in Community Centers: Bureaucratic Confusion and Mistrust in Xinjiang, China, Thursday, December 6, Sarah Tynen, Ph. D. candidate in Geography, CU �鶹ӰԺ

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CAS Affiliates Updates

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:35:59 +0000

CAS Affiliates Updates Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:35

Updates from the Program for Teaching East Asia

Program for Teaching East Asia Grant: Builds US-Japan Elementary School Partnerships

With a grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP), the Program for Teaching East Asia (TEA) is conducting a two-year project focused on building Japan-U.S. elementary school partnerships, drawing on opportunities provided by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Olympic Friendships: Elementary Education for Global Competency in Japan and the United States is designed to enhance participating US schools’ units of study about Japan and global competency education. At the same time, it supports a Tokyo Board of Education 2020 Tokyo Olympic/Paralympic Games “Global Friendship Project” education initiative. The project is directed at TEA by Catherine Ishida. TEA’s collaborating partner on-site in Tokyo is the University of Tokyo Center for Advanced School Education and Evidence-Based Research.

At the outset of the project in fall 2017, TEA selected six elementary schools from Midwestern and Western states to establish and sustain a sister-school relationship with an elementary school in Tokyo. The schools were selected based on their demonstrated commitment to teacher professional development, cross-cultural school partnership, teaching about Japan, 21st-century skills, and global competency education. From these six schools, 11 teachers were then selected to participate in a seminar in Tokyo in June. In preparation for study in Tokyo, the teachers completed a spring 2018 online course to enhance their knowledge of and teaching about Japanese history, geography, belief systems and cultural norms, and the education system.

While in Tokyo, the 11 US teachers visited their partner schools, getting to know faculty and students by observing classes and teaching a lesson to introduce themselves, their schools and communities. The teachers highly valued the opportunity to observe the subject of Tokubetsu Katsudō (Special Activities) in which Japanese elementary students serve lunch, lead class meetings, clean the school, and participate in clubs, and to speak with a scholar on the subject, University of Tokyo professor, Ryoko Tsuneyoshi. The American teachers also observed a “lesson study,” a common form of Japanese teacher professional development gaining international recognition. When not at elementary schools, the teachers explored sites in Tokyo featured in a set of children’s literature about Tokyo provided to each school by the project.

Since meeting in person last summer, several of the Tokyo schools have shared photos and information with their US counterparts about their school anniversaries. American students have responded to questions from partner classrooms in Tokyo and sent video pen-pal introductions. One US classroom created daruma dolls for athletes participating in 2020 Olympic swim trials to teach the athletes about Japanese culture in preparation for their potential visits to Tokyo in 2020. US teachers have presented their new insights about Japan with their school communities and have developed lessons to explore Japan through art, language arts, science, and social studies.

Lynn Parisi, Director, Program for Teaching East Asia

News from AATJ (American Association of Teachers of Japanese)

2018 ended with two major projects that showcased Japanese language teachers and learners in the United States.

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which is taken worldwide by tens of thousands of Japanese learners, was administered to almost 7,000 test-takers at 18 test sites around the US (including right here at CU). The test is administered in the US by AATJ, and the big day was Sunday, December 2. Dozens of volunteers give their time at the sites to make sure that this important test goes smoothly; thanks to all of them for their hard work!

On the more lighthearted side, students around the country were working on their New Year’s Cards (nengajo in Japanese). In Asia each year is represented by one of 12 animals, and 2019 is the Year of the Boar. Please enjoy one of the winners of this year’s contest.

AATJ also organizes two conferences annually for members and other Japanese professionals; manages an online National Japanese Exam taken by several thousand K-12 learners; and publishes four newsletters and two issues of the journal Japanese Language and Literature (which in 2019 becomes an Open Access journal published free online for all to read).

Learn more about AATJ and its many projects supporting 1,500 teachers of Japanese at all levels and (through them) many thousands of students at http://www.aatj.org.

Susan Schmidt, Executive Director, AATJ

First Lotsawa Translation Workshop at CU �鶹ӰԺ

In October, the Tibet Himalaya Initiative hosted the first Lotsawa Translation Workshop at CU �鶹ӰԺ. The workshop drew fifty-five scholars and translators from around the globe to join together in dialogue about the translation of Tibetan verse with respect to the dynamics of Buddhist devotion.

Building on Tsadra's series of Translation and Transmission conferences in 2014 and 2017, the innovation of the Lotsawa Workshop is its model of workshopping translations-in-process, which emerged as an inspiration between co-organizers Holly Gayley (CU �鶹ӰԺ) and Dominique Townsend (Bard College). In small groups of eight, junior translators, graduate students, and early-career faculty were paired with seasoned translators and senior faculty to workshop translations-in-progress of various devotional songs and other similarly inspiring verse.

A participant survey after the event cited an "amazing supportive scholarly atmosphere" and the "joy and laughter with which we all approached this privileged task of rendering great Tibetan literary works into English." Many cited the workshop groups in the afternoon as the most productive part of the weekend: "a rare and much appreciated opportunity to think through translation with a group of interested colleagues" and "a highlight in what was overall an unforgettably rewarding workshop."

In addition to the workshops, the long weekend featured panels on "The Dynamics of Devotion" and "Reflections on the Translation Process" as well as daily breakout sessions. Distinguished scholars served as keynotes, including Janet Gyatso (Harvard), Kurtis Schaeffer (Virginia), and Lama Jabb (Oxford). A Translation/Poetry Slam at Innisfree Poetry Bookstore and Cafe encouraged lively performances by a dozen Lotsawa presenters and participants.

The Tibet Himalaya Initiative is honored to have facilitated such a successful and impactful event. Our appreciation extends to the Tsadra Foundation and Chancellor Philip DiStefano for making this event possible through their generous support. Thanks also to the outstanding team at the Center for Asian Studies for their administrative help and to Religious Studies MA student, Joshua Shelton, for his exertion and enthusiasm in managing so many of the logistics and communications for the workshop.

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Alumni On the Move

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:32:13 +0000

Alumni On the Move Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:32

During my time at CU I dreamed of someday moving to Japan to work in marketing or communications. Thanks to luck, good timing (and perhaps grit), I did just that, moving to Tokyo two weeks after graduating. I initially worked in market research, and later shifted gears, working in international public and investor relations at Canon's global headquarters in Tokyo. (Achieve college dream? Check!) After spending a decade in Tokyo, where I also married a Japanese national and had my daughter, three years ago I moved back to my hometown of Denver. I am currently working to join the Denver U.S.-Japan Council in hopes of plugging into macro-level developments between Japan and the U.S. I am passionate about sharing my experience to inspire others to get engaged and push themselves to see bigger possibilities.

Rachel Hamasaki (MKTG, JPNS 2006)

After graduating from CU, I was accepted into the JET Program. I am now teaching English at Junior High and Elementary schools in Kitaakita City, Akita Prefecture. Though my time here has been short, I have learned a lot about my local culture and the surrounding areas. Between traveling to Lake Tazawa, seeing the famous Akita Inu museum in Odate city, and viewing the beautiful samurai houses in Kakunodate, I have continued to expand the Japan-related experiences and knowledge that I gained as an undergraduate at CU.

Dane LaFonte (JPNS, ASIA, ENGL 2017)

Kendra is a Travel Specialist at WildChina, an award-winning travel company based in Beijing. Her five years in China have featured residences in Guangzhou and Chengdu, as well as extensive travel across the country. In 2016 she furthered her studies of Chinese at the National Taiwan University in Taipei, before moving to her current residence in Beijing.

Kendra Tombolato (PSYC/CHIN minor 2012)

CAS Executive Director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz (JPNS MA 2000) visited Tokyo and Shanghai in September to further develop CAS’ Asia Internship Program. She met with lots of CU alumni, many of whom are already involved in AIP as intern hosts or scholarship donors, thus confirming that CU alumni are a generous bunch! To learn more, visit www.colorado.edu/cas/internships/AIP.

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Student Awards and Recognition

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:31:19 +0000

Student Awards and Recognition Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:31

2018 Asian Studies Graduates

The interdisciplinary major and minor in Asian Studies allow students to study the astonishing diversity of the Asian region. Information is available on the Academics tab of our website.

Asian Studies BA

Fiona Bradley
Alexander Brown
Alexander Carter
Lillian Poush
Yu Wang

Asian Studies Minor

Austin Hampton
Tiffany Kleber
Emily Martin
Ryan Mori
Allison Willman

Japanese Studies Fellowships

This endowment allows us to provide graduate student support to recognize and encourage the study of Japanese history, literature, and language.

Anna Blaine
Alana Brack
Drew Korschun
Miriam McConnell
Ji Shouse
Tetiana Topolian
Cassidy Younggreen

Edward G. Seidensticker Memorial Endowment Fund

Provides summer research fellowships to graduate students of Japanese studies.

Drew Korschun

Asia Internship Program - Japan

In June-July 2018, Rachel Lie, a sophomore in the Business Management and Entrepreneurship program at the Leeds School of Business, worked at Chiyoda Rubber Company, owned and managed by CU Alumnus Kazunori Takato.

Colorado Journal of Asian Studies

CAS is pleased to announce the publication of the most recent edition of CJAS, Summer 2018. This issue contains five papers written by recent graduates in Asian Studies (Alex Carter,Fiona Bradley, and Lillian Pousch) and by students who wrote papers for the 2018 Urban China class (Jessica Yan and Isabelle Boes). The papers cover a wide range of topics and cultures: “Spatial Expressions of Tradition and Modernity in Urban China: An Examination and Comparison of the Origins, Evolution and Presentation of Identity in Beijing and Shanghai”; “Sex Matters: Appreciating the Feminine in Tantric Practice”; “The Overseas Chinese: The Diaspora’s Impact on Local Society in Indonesia and Malaysia”; “Shifting Indigenous Subsistence Practices in Taiwan and Hokkaido under Japanese Colonization”; and “Food Authenticity as an Experiential Tourist Attraction.”
CJAS can be accessed at /cas/academics/colorado-journal-asian-studies.

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Support Asian Studies at CU!

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 20:30:34 +0000

Support Asian Studies at CU! Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/06/2019 - 13:30

CAS benefits from the generosity of our donors and sponsors, and in turn, we are able to create opportunities for financial support for our students and faculty members. If you would like to support the study of Asia on the CU campus and expand access to our programming to ever more diverse and broadly representative students and faculty members, please consider contributing to one of the following initiatives:
Contributions to the Asian Studies Advancement Fund allow us to help faculty pursue interdisciplinary research, attend conferences, and develop Asia-themed courses introducing students to new issues and ideas and support events at which faculty and students from around campus and the Front Range region have opportunities to network and collaborate.
Contributions to the Friends of Asian Studies Flatirons Fund endowment help to further the CAS mission, which includes supporting research, instruction, and outreach about Asia on the CU-�鶹ӰԺ campus. The fund is used at the discretion of the CAS Director, with current priorities including scholarships defraying the cost of student travel to Asia for study abroad and internships and the CAS Annual Symposium (a forum bringing internationally-recognized speakers to �鶹ӰԺ).
Contributions to the Asia Internship Program will provide scholarships to offset costs for our summer internship students and funding to allow us to further develop the program.
Donations can be made online at http://www.colorado.edu/cas/cas-initiatives/support-cas. If you would like to discuss other giving options or ideas, please contact Danielle Rocheleau Salaz at salaz@colorado.edu or 303-735-5312.
We thank you for your support!

Asian Studies Leadership Circle

CAS recognizes donors who give $1000 or more each calendar year as members of our Asian Studies Leadership Circle. We are pleased to recognize our 2016 Leadership Circle members:

Dennis McGilvray, CAS Advisory Council (CASAC) Member and Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, CU �鶹ӰԺ
Laurel Rasplica Rodd, CASAC Member and Professor Emerita, Japanese, CU �鶹ӰԺ; and Greg Rodd
Kazunori Takato, CU Alumnus, Class of 1973
George and Beth Ann Taylor, CASAC Member
Chris Yager, CASAC Member

Thank you to our Asian Studies Leadership Circle members, and to all our supporters. Your contributions allow us to continue to make a difference on campus and in the broader community.

To make a pledge or contribution, please contact CAS Executive Director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz at salaz@colorado.edu, or visit the CAS website at www.colorado.edu/cas/cas-initiatives/support-cas.

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