Winter 2021
Winter Quarter Newsletter
Dear UC San Diego community:

Welcome back to 2021 and happy lunar new year on February 12th! Although we recognize 2021 continues to be a year of challenges, we hope the Institute can be a resource and a place of intellectual community.

As always, we continue to look for ways to make our programming meaningful to you. We are making the most of our strengths as a UC campus: we helped organize a publishing workshop with nine UC campuses hosting UC Press editors and a completely full zoom room of 500 attendees; we recently held a symposium on Pacific Worlds: Indigeneity, Blackness, and Resistance co-organized with UC Irvine, UC Merced, and UCLA with over 200 attendees; and we are now gearing up for our spring multicampus graduate student conference (also on Pacific Worlds).

In addition to these systemwide events, this fall we had a special event in our Challenging Conversations series on "What Does An Abolitionist Asian American Politics Look Like?" The panel talk - drawing over 300 participants - helped launch UC San Diego's first Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies Program and undergraduate minor, led by Director Simeon Man. Students and faculty have been advocating for this program for decades, and we honor their work and see this historic moment as their legacy.

We are very proud of all our programs and invite you to see the incredible line-up of speakers and talks each organizes.

As always, we remain open to your suggestions, comments, and participation.

All our best,
Nancy Kwak
Director

Simeon Man
Associate Director
Upcoming Events
Pacific Worlds Symposium:
Indigeneity, Blackness, and Resistance
Organizers from UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Merced and UC San Diego came together to bring the Black Pacific into conversation with the Black Atlantic and the Indian Ocean to consider not only the intimacy of continents but also the intimacies of oceans and islands.
Launch of Yookoso! App for Japanese Language Learners
With support from the university’s Course Development and Instructional Improvement Program, Japanese Studies language faculty Junko Tokuda Simpson spearheaded creation of the "Yookoso!" app. The 100% UC San Diego creation will help students learn Kanji characters outside the classroom at their own pace.

The Getty Foundation: Pacific Standard Time Grants Awarded
Lisa Cartwright, faculty in the Science Studies Program and Professor of Visual Arts and Communication, is leading a grant awarded by The Getty Foundation. Oceanographic Art and Science: Navigating the Pacific brings together scientists and artists to explore the visual and sensory techniques used to see, measure, and imagine the oceans.

What Does an Abolitionist Asian American Politics Look Like?
On October 16, 2020, the Institute invited special guest speakers to discuss the varied challenges facing Asian Americans at this current juncture, the place of Asian American politics in the age of #BlackLivesMatter, and the ways forward in merging existing organizing efforts.
Fulbright Visiting Scholar: Andrei Kurkov
Andrei Kurkov is a Ukrainian fiction and non-fiction author who writes in Russian. He has published more than 20 novels and non-fiction books and also 10 books for children. His novels have been translated into 37 languages. Since 2018 he has served as President of PEN Ukraine.
Recent Publications by Faculty
Songs in Dark Times: Yiddish Poetry of Struggle from Scottsboro to Palestine,
by Amelia Glaser
Program Director, Jewish Studies and Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies
When Near Becomes Far:
Old Age in Rabbinic Literature,
by Mira Balberg
Professor and Endowed Chair in Ancient Jewish Civilization
Congratulations to all our Manuscript Forum Awardees!
Our Manuscript Forum provides support to UC San Diego faculty nearing completion of first or second book manuscripts that will feature in promotion to associate or full professor, or equivalent. This year, we are pleased to support candidates from the departments of History, Literature, and Theatre and Dance.
For more Funding Opportunities, visit our website.
Want to be featured in the future? All affiliates - faculty, staff, students, and alumni - are welcome to submit updates to [email protected] to be considered for a future issue.
The Institute of Arts and Humanities emphasizes the value of interdisciplinary thinking in addressing the needs of a complex world. We house 15 academic programs and one center in regional, ethnic, and thematic studies. Our programs equip students to analyze and speak about the past, present, and future with creativity and insight. Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with the latest!