First B.A. Major in Asian Studies in the Midwest – Fall 2022 at UIC

Congratulations to University of Illinois Chicago’s Global Asian Studies Program for establishing a B.A. in Global Asian Studies, the first in the Midwest!

Greg Robinson, Professor of History at l'Université du Québec à Montréal

Scholars have been taking an increased interest lately in Nikkei life in Chicago during the mid-1940s. By contrast, scant attention has been devoted to Japanese Americans in Chicago in earlier decades, perhaps because of the small size of the Nikkei community during the pre-war period. According to the 1940 census the city was home to barely 400 people of Japanese ancestry. Yet even that tiny pre-war population bears exploration, as it included extraordinary intellectuals, professionals, and creative artists. At this virtual lecture, Professor Greg Robinson will speak about Japanese Americans in pre-war Chicago.

About the Speaker                                                                        

Greg Robinson is Professor of History at l'Université du Québec à Montréal, a French-language institution in Montreal, Canada. A specialist in Ethnic Studies and U.S. Political History, he is the author of several books. His first, By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (Harvard University Press, 2001), uncovers President Franklin Roosevelt’s central involvement in the wartime confinement of 120,000 Japanese Americans. It received glowing reviews from the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the Los Angeles Times and other mainstream newspapers, and spent four months on Academia magazine’s scholarly bestseller list.

His second book, A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America (Columbia University Press, 2009), winner of the 2009 History book prize of the Association for Asian American Studies, studies the mass confinement of ethnic Japanese in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in transnational context. His third book, After Camp: Portraits in Midcentury Japanese American Life and Politics (University of California Press, 2012), which won the Caroline Bancroft History Prize in Western U.S. History, centers on postwar resettlement and coalitions for civil rights between Japanese Americans and other minorities.

His most recent solo-authored book, The Unsung Great (University of Washington Press, 2020), offers an alternative history of Japanese Americans. Professor Robinson is also the coeditor of the books John Okada (University of Washington Press, 2018), winner of a 2019 American Book Award; Pacific Citizens: Larry and Guyo Tajiri and Japanese American Journalism in the World War II Era (University of Illinois Press, 2012), a study of a couple of pioneering Nisei journalists; and Miné Okubo: Following Her Own Road (University of Washington Press, 2009) on the famed Nisei artist and writer.

Professor Robinson has been active in the public sphere as speaker and blogger. He writes regularly for the San Francisco Nichi Bei Weekly and the blog Discover Nikkei.

Co-sponsors

The University of Chicago Library and the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies

NIKKEI SOUTH SIDE: JAPANESE AND JAPANESE AMERICANS IN HYDE PARK AND ITS VICINITY

Exhibition Dates: November 1, 2021 - January 28, 2022

Location: The University of Chicago Library, 1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637

Chicago’s South Side has long-standing but little-known relationships with Japan. In 1893 the Japanese Garden in Jackson Park was established for the World’s Columbian Exposition. In the same year the University of Chicago conferred its first-ever doctoral degree—upon a Japanese Divinity School student named Eiji Asada. Taking this momentous year as a point of departure, a special exhibit will be open at the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center from November 1, 2021 to January 28, 2022.  This exhibit highlights more than a century of connections between Japanese and Japanese Americans and the University and Hyde Park area.

During Japan’s Meiji and Taisho periods (1868–1925) the University of Chicago was a frequent destination for so-called “government students” from Japan. These elite scholars were sent by the Japanese government to acquire advanced knowledge in various fields, then to bring their expertise back home. Showcased in the exhibit, are the campus activities of these scholars including self-run periodicals and participation in cultural events.  Also recognized are several notable Japanese and Japanese American educators. Toyokichi Iyenaga (Far Eastern studies) was a popular lecturer in the University Extension, whose teaching received press coverage on multiple occasions. From the University Archives come letters by Professors Joseph Kitagawa (Divinity School), Akira Irye (history), and Tetsuo Najita (history)—all eminent scholars in religious and intellectual history—that evidence their work in lobbying for visits by members of Japan’s imperial family, and in procuring from the Japanese government financial support for Japanese studies at the University. 

Gallery Hours:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday: 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

Wednesdays: 10:30 am - 4:30 pm

Closed: November 25-26, 2021; December 24, 2021-January 2, 2022; and January 17, 2022

This exhibit was curated by Ayako Yoshimura, Japanese Studies Librarian at the University of Chicago Library, with contributions by Eric Langowski MS '20, University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

Read the FULL news article on the University of Chicago Library website.

Visit the associated web exhibit. 

Visiting the Exhibition Gallery:  In order to provide broad and safe access to the Library, including the Exhibition Gallery, all visitors will be asked to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test, consistent with University policies and protocols. for more information, please visit this Access page.

From by the University of Chicago Library. Photo of children in front of the Ellis Community Center courtesy of Julie Azuma.

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For any inquiries, contact us at [email protected]

Tsukasa Taiko and Shubukai are programs of Asian Improv aRts Midwest and is supported in part by The Illinois Arts Council Agency, The MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, JCCC Foundation, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and The Joyce Foundation.

JASC WISHLIST

• NEW or used Apple iPad
• Letter Size (8 1/2 x 11) Copy Paper
• "Dollar" gift items for Adult Day Service games & activities
• Staples, Amazon, or Target gift cards
• Amazon Wishlist (be sure to use smile.amazon.com!)