Gennifer Weisenfeld to present on Japanese aviation on November 17

The Institute for Japanese Studies and the Department of History of Art will present a lecture by Gennifer Weisenfeld, Duke University, on Thursday, November 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Pomerene Hall, Room 150 (registration required). Prof. Weisenfeld will present "Aviation and Japan's Aerial Imaginary."

Abstract: Aviation was the global fetish of the twentieth century. The consummate example of technological modernity, it represented the triumph of man over nature in the service of progress. It also provided a deeply transformative sensory and affective experience described as everything from intoxicating to deterrestrializing. Everyone from painters and poets to filmmakers and songwriters celebrated the new “aerial age.” Japan shared the world’s romance with aviation and it soon became a mania throughout the empire.

Japanese visualizations of aviation were aesthetically implicated in the nation’s militarized modernity. Civil air defense fused the scopic joys of aeriality with existential fear, producing a kind of technological sublime whose beauty was both awesome and awful. A visual stroll through the cultural landscape of aeronautic imagery reveals a creative investment among the “air-minded” in Japan that traveled through the 1930s all the way to the end of the Pacific War. This paper explores that landscape of visual pleasure.

Sookja Cho to present on Chosŏn people, their society and culture on November 18

The Institute for Korean Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures will present a lecture by Sookja Cho, Arizona State University, on Friday, November 18 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Denney Hall, Room 238 (registration required). Prof. Cho will present "Toward Immortality: The Hero Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn and a Sillan Odyssey in a Sinocentric World."

Abstract: Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn (b. 857) was a literary genius and an honorable government official of both Silla Korea (57 BCE–935 CE) and Tang China (618–907). He was long celebrated as an iconic figure who fulfilled the dream of Sillan intellectuals. In Chosŏn (1392–1910) literature, Ch’oe then continued to evolve from a historical man into a legendary hero and a mighty god, embodying the longing of Koreans for a powerful protector to shield both their lives and their cultural integrity from the might of China. This development invites a new inquiry into Ch’oe’s legacy among Chosŏn Koreans, suggesting the rise of a new side to the Korean heroic imagination, one which placed Ch’oe at the center of the intricate relationship between China and Korea.

This talk introduces heroic qualities of Ch’oe in Chosŏn fictional narratives and examines what such herorization of Ch’oe reveals about Chosŏn people, their society and culture. The reincarnations and heroization of Ch’oe speak to a deep Korean desire for cultural ascendancy and political power. They evoke the subversive and, until Chosŏn times, the underrepresented perspectives on China concealed within Korean history and literature, bringing forth the plurality of China and of Koreans' attitude(s) toward it.

Yukina Sato to present workshop on cultural identity within artmaking on November 18

The Department of Dance, with support from the East Asian Studies Center, will present the "Space Making Workshop" on Friday, November 18 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Barnett Theatre, Sullivant Hall. Third year MFA student Yukina Sato (Tokyo, Japan) will welcome two guest artists, Ayako Kato (Chicago, IL) and Nami Yamamoto (New York, NY), who immigrated from Japan and continued their art-making careers in the United States.

Abstract: Through dialogue, the presenters will unpack the layers of hardship, joy, and achievement on their artistic journeys. Participants will also listen to their stories of self-discovery as independent artists, and of their relationship with their cultural roots and representation. Participants have a chance to move together by choice.