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Meet Our Students: Anh Luu
Meet Anh Luu, who is in her final year of undergraduate studies at UBC. Anh is majoring in Asian Language and Culture with a focus on Japan, and minoring in Asian Language and Culture with a focus on China. In this interview, she shares her history of language study while reminiscing on moments with the department, and discusses her plans to continue developing language skills post-graduation.
Learn more about Anh
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KORN students thrive in the 16th Annual Toronto Korean Speech Contest
Congratulations to UBC students Ethan Maja, Tracy Chen, Violet Smith, Tricia Lim, and Eric Venis who recently competed in the final round of the 16th Annual Toronto Korean Speech Contest! Ethan Maja won the Korea Tourism Organization Special Prize, and Eric Venis, the Grand Prize winner of the previous year, won 1st place in the advanced category!
Read more
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JAPN students shine in the 33rd Annual Canadian National Japanese Language Speech Contest
Congratulations to UBC students Karli Messer, Ingrid Abigail Mas, Michelle Anne Cheng, and Tielia Young who recently competed in the 33rd Canadian National Japanese Language Speech Contest! Michelle was awarded 3rd place in the open category and Ingrid received 1st place in the intermediate category. Tielia in the advanced category won the Grand Prize, receiving a scholarship to travel to Japan!
Read more
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New Publication on choosing a research project that matters to you (and the world) by Dr. Christopher Rea
Congratulations to Asian Studies Professor Christopher Rea on his newly co-authored book Where Research Begins: Choosing a Research Project That Matters to You (and the World)! This guide helps you figure out WHAT to research in the first place, and why it matters.
Learn more
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UBC Professor grows online community with modern Persian literature
UBC Public Humanities recently published an interview with UBC Asian Studies professor Hessam Dehghani, who discussed the inception and impact of the UBC Persian Literature Reading Club and Persian Literature events.
Read more
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Dr. Sunera Thobani interviewed by University of Toronto Press (UTP) on her recent publication
“I am very thankful that working with the contributors...kept me determined to analyze the parallels between the practices I was tracking within the institution and within global politics.” UBC Asian Studies professor Sunera Thobani was recently interviewed by UTP on her process and hopes for her book Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University.
Read the interview here
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Poems translated by Dr. Mostafa Abedinifard published in online literary journal
A towering figure in modern Persian satire, Emran Salahi (1947–2006)， was an equally adept writer of serious Persian poetry, which he composed in various forms. Six poems from his collection Beyond the Ellipses, translated to English for the first time by UBC professor Mostafa Abedinifard, were recently published in the online literary journal, Parsagon.
Learn more and read the poems
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| FEATURED SUMMER COURSES |
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Looking for courses this summer? Check out the following classes with seats still available!
ONLINE (Term 1): ASIA 311 921 Tibetan Buddhism
This course introduces Tibet’s religious history and the formation of Tibetan Buddhism since the 7th century. In particular, we will focus on philosophy, meditation, and ethics in the four main Tibetan Buddhist traditions and Tibetan Buddhism today.
IN-PERSON (Term 1): ASIA 387 921 Japanese Religions
This course introduces the historical developments of major Japanese religions and the role they played for different actors in Japanese history.
ONLINE (Term 2): ASIA 200 951 Cultural Foundations of East Asia
Interested in traditional and contemporary culture in East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea)? Students in ASIA 200 will critically examine both the shared and diverse cultural elements within East Asia, historically and today. Examples include religious and philosophical beliefs, literature, art, food, and architecture. This 200-level class is suitable for students of all levels, and requires no Asian language background nor any prerequisites.
IN-PERSON (Term 2): TIBT 390 921 Tibetan Language in a Community Context
Tibetan Language in a Community Context (TIBT 390) will be offered by the Department of Asian Studies in collaboration with the UBC Himalaya Program from May 16 to 27 this year! This two-week introductory summer course blends classroom instruction and experiential learning opportunities with Tibetan community partners in the Lower Mainland.
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| UPCOMING EVENTS |
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[Webinar] Hongkongers’ International Front: The Global Politics of Diaspora during and after the 2019 Anti-Extradition Protest
Dr. Ming-sho Ho, Professor, National Taiwan University
April 28, 7pm PT / 10pm ET
The flare-up over Hong Kong’s proposed extradition bill in 2019 gave rise to a global wave of organization among overseas Hongkongers, which has persisted after the decline of the protest movement as a result of COVID and government repression. This presentation will examine the pro-democracy campaigns of Hong Kong’s diasporic communities.
Learn more and register
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“Between Two Worlds”: Immigrant Writer: Which Subject? From Where? For Where?
Bita Malakouti, Iranian Writer
Rira Abbasi, Iranian Poet
May 7, 11am PT / 2pm ET
The third and final session of the Spring 2022 series in Modern Persian Literature features guest speakers Bita Malakouti and Rira Abbasi. The panel discussion will deal with all that goes into the process of choosing a theme or a topic for a work of literasture, including the audience, the Life-Worlds they decide to focus on, and more.
Learn more and register
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Weaving Femininity into Mysticism: Rereading Parvīn Iʿtiṣāmī’s “God’s Weaver”
Dr. Behnam M. Fomeshi, Research Fellow, Monash University
May 14, 4pm PT / 7pm ET
The next Alireza Ahmadian Lecture in Iranian and Persianate Studies will discuss Parvīn Iʿtiṣāmī, the first important twentieth-century woman poet of Iran. Well-versed in classical Persian poetry, Iʿtiṣāmī formed an association between femininity and mysticism and challenged the patriarchal discourse of Persian mysticism.
Learn more and register
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Revelations of Chinese Philosophy and Feminist Philosophy, Comparative Studies and Case Studies
Dr. Eva Kit Wah Man, Director of Film Academy and Chair Professor in Humanities, Hong Kong Baptist University
May 16, 4pm PT / 7pm ET
This lecture by Prof. Man will start with personal notes before theoretical discussion, which format confirms her beliefs that the real drive to philosophy and art is better to be concrete, existential, connecting to people, with emotion and they should address to real life issues. This explains her alternative approach in opening this speech with the subject “What Does Comparative Philosophy Mean to a Female Chinese Scholar Like Me?”.
Learn more and register
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We Measure the Earth with our Bodies: Book Event with Tsering Yangzom Lama
Tsering Yangzom Lama, Tibetan Writer
May 19, 5pm PT / 8pm ET
To celebrate the publication of author Tsering Yangzom Lama’s debut novel We Measure the Earth with our Bodies, the UBC Himalaya Program will be hosting a book event. The author will be reading an excerpt from her book, followed by a Q&A moderated by Asian Studies Professor Tsering Shakya and discussed with UBC Creative Writing Professor Billy-Ray Belcourt.
Learn more and register
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Image — Text — Reality in Buddhism: Interrelation & Internegation
May 23-25, 2022
Text and image are the major modes by which humans make sense of the world and, more categorically speaking, construct the (meaningful) world. This workshop aims to gain important insights about the topic of text-image relations by studying Buddhist teachings.
Learn more and register
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| EVENT RECAPS |
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Culminating Collaboration and Sustained Growth – The 2022 Chinese Language Program Student Employee Appreciation Event
The Chinese Language Program (CLP) recently came together over Zoom to celebrate the remarkable contributions of its exceptional teaching assistants, Work Learn assistants, and volunteers. The event was an opportunity for TAWLs and volunteers to bond further with one another, look back on the past year, and share their personal highlights of working with the CLP.
Read more
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UBC’s 12th annual Harjit Kaur Sidhu Memorial Program
On April 7, the Department of Asian Studies and the Asian Library at UBC hosted their 12th annual Harjit Kaur Sidhu Memorial Program. This event is dedicated to celebrating the life of Harjit Kaur Sidhu, who was a passionate educator and advocate for Punjabi language and culture. Celebrating excellence of Punjabi language at this event was a true tribute.
Read more
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2021/22 Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture
In the first week of April, we hosted the 2021/22 Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture, featuring guest speaker Dr. Ban Wang of Stanford University. The two-day event took place in the Asian Centre at UBC, joined by UBC students, faculty, and alumni, as well as community members and scholars hailing from other educational institutions.
Read more
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2022 Asian Studies annual Careers Night
On March 17, we invited 8 Asian Studies alumni to share their university and post-grad experiences during our annual Asian Studies Careers Night. Calling in online, alumni offered insights and advice to the next generation of Asian Studies students. A recording of the alumni introductions and Q&A session is now available on our YouTube channel.
Read more and watch the event highlight
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In case you missed some of our previous events, the recordings of the following events are now available on our YouTube channel:
April 12: Green Courts and the Indigenous Slot in Himalayan Resource Struggles: The Environment as a Metanarrative
March 13: “Between Two Worlds”: The Literature of Migration OR Immigrant Writer?
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| SUSTAINABILITY NEWS |
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More “inter-being” less “instant gratification”: Integrating climate crisis content into an introductory class about Tibetan Buddhism at UBC
How can instructors include more climate crisis content in UBC courses that don’t deal primarily with those topics and are taught by instructors who are not climate experts? Dr. Dagmar Schwerk reflects on her undergraduate course ASIA 311: Tibetan Buddhism and the class's field trip to the Sea to Sky Retreat Centre—a sustainable Buddhist retreat centre off the grid in Whistler, BC.
Freightened: The Real Price of Shipping (2016)
Do you have 52 minutes? The Sustainability Initiative Committee recommends watching Freightened: The Real Price of Shipping (2016), a documentary that focuses on the surprisingly secretive world of international shipping. Approximately 500 million shipping containers are transported across the oceans each year, but more frightening, the shipping industry is barely regulated with little or no environmental, employment, or tax regulations.
Asian Studies Eco-Challenge!
The Asian Studies Sustainability Initiative Committee is excited to launch the first departmental Eco-Challenge! Open to all Asian Studies graduate students, faculty, and staff, this month-long event aims to help the Asian Studies community connect to nature and to each other. There are fun weekly activities planned, and we will highlight the winners and celebrate our collective successes at a wrap up event! If you would like to participate in the challenge, sign up here! If you have any questions, contact us at asia.eco@ubc.ca!
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| ASIAN LIBRARY NEWS |
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UBC Library acquires Afghan primary source databases
We are pleased to share that UBC students, faculty, and staff can now access the Afghan Serials Collection Partisan Publications from the Wahdat Library and the Afghan Central Press digital archive. UBC professor Naveena Naqvi sees these databases as valuable resources for students and scholars with an interest in Afghan history. She intends to use these resources in her future course ASIA 310, which will focus on Afghan history.
Learn more and explore the databases
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Spring Book Display: Love Makes the World Go Round
The Asian Library has put together a spring book display, available to view from March 18 to June 24 on the library’s upper floor. Browse through love stories of all kinds—romantic, familial, or platonic—in a multitude of Asian languages. From legendary romance novels to heartwarming films of friendship, and beautiful poems by renowned poets, the Asian Library is sure that you will find something to love in the collection, as there’s no better company than a great book.
Learn more
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
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Call for Papers: 6th Workshop on Innovations in Cantonese Linguistics (WICL-6)
The 6th Workshop on Innovations in Cantonese Linguistics (WICL-6) will take place as a virtual conference via Zoom on 27-28 May 2022 (EDT) , to be hosted by The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. The deadline to submit abstracts is April 24.
Learn more and apply
Contribute open educational resources during the UBC OER Collection Challenge
The new UBC OER Collection showcases the university's open educational resources in a searchable interface to help educators incorporate open educational resources and practices into curriculum. Participate in the OER Collection Challenge with your Faculty or department and contribute open educational resources by April 30.
Learn more and participate
Summer Workshop for Graduate Students on Asian Art, Religion, and History at Fudan University
Fudan University invites applications to their 11th Annual Summer Workshop on Asian Art, Religion, and History, from June 23 to July 2, 2022. The theme of this year’s workshop is “Intellectual History of Asia in the Global Context." Advanced graduate students specializing in East Asian studies with Chinese language proficiency are encouraged to apply. Applications may be sent to brooks.jessup@berkeley.edu by May 1.
Learn more and apply
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