October 05, 2020 The Update is a regular roundup of news in the Department of Asian Studies for our Students, Faculty and Staff |
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2019/20 Lecturers of the Year Announced Each year, the Department singles out two individuals who have demonstrated teaching excellence, taken new risks in their pedagogy, and/or otherwise distinguished themselves in their service to the Department. It is with great pleasure that we announce Li-jung Lee and Gurinder Mann as our 2019/20 Lecturers of The Year. In her short time since joining the Department as a visiting lecturer in 2018, Because Punjabi is a very new teaching area and there are few existing textbooks or materials to rely on, Gurinder Mann has had to come up with most teaching tools for himself. Despite this, he has managed to earn excellent student evaluations throughout all class levels from 100 to 300. Gurinder has brought a new level of excitement and energy to the Punjabi Language Program. |
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| UPCOMING VIRTUAL EVENTS | ||||||
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| SPOTLIGHT: Faiz Jaffar |
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Interested in what you can do with a degree in Asian Studies? In our Spotlight Interview Series, we ask our students, postdocs and alumni about their career paths, how they became interested in Asian Studies and for any advice they would give to current students. In this interview, alumni Faiz Jaffar leads us through high school French classes first made him interested in Chinese, how his UBC studies and connections helped him land his current job, and what led a global CEO to break out in spontaneous applause! Could you elaborate on an experience that you felt was fundamental in your acquisition of the language or appreciation of the culture? When I arrived at UBC, I immediately enrolled in the intensive Chinese classes. But even with my UBC course load, I never stopped self studying. After classes, I listened to Chinese music, joined Chinese-language clubs, and kept my own Chinese notes. Sometimes my own notes (complete with slang, video-game vocabulary, and the occasional swear word) were longer than the textbook notes for our class. To really learn the language I had to build on top of what I learned in class. I tell my friends who are serious about language acquisition that 4 hours a week is just the warm up. What makes you proud about your current job? How does it relate to your degree? My degree was in Chinese language and culture, and currently I work as a management consultant specializing in foreign-NGO's that want to do business in China. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised how applicable my degree is to my job. Although I am not often popping out my book report on Romance of Three Kingdoms or my psycho-analysis of The Tale of Genji, the mindset of learning, adapting, and explaining a culture has been highly relevant. Let me give one example of a moment of pride in my current position: we were hosting an Asia-Pacific conference at a Marriott hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We had delegates from across the APAC area, Pakistan, China, New Zealand, Thailand, ect. Among the delegates was a special guest delegation from Australia, whom we were hoping to register as clients. It was late in the afternoon of the final day of our conference. I was speaking to the Pakistani delegate in Urdu, and mid-conversation I spotted the Australians preparing to leave for the airport. I snapped back into English and ask "Can you wait right there for just 5 minutes, please?" I then said to one of our Malaysian partners in the best Mandarin I can muster: "The Australians are leaving, but we didn't give them their surprise. Can you ask one of the staff to run down and grab their gift bag?" She gave me a nod. As I turned back to return to my Urdu conversation, I saw that the organization's global CEO saw what transpired and was looking at me in shock and awe. In a more perfect world, at that point a "UBC Asian Studies" banner would have dropped behind my head. But alas, I had to make due with a minor applause. |
| ASIAN LIBRARY NEWS | ||||||
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Book study space in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre A limited number of study spaces in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre are available to UBC students, faculty and staff. This space includes access to desktop computers, printing and scanning and is organized to ensure safe physical distancing at all times. Non-medical masks are required. Book your study space online here. |
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| OPPORTUNITIES |
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The 2020 Nehru Humanitarian Graduate Scholarship in Indian Studies The Centre for India and South Asia Research (CISAR) at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC, invites submissions for the 2020 Nehru Humanitarian Graduate Scholarship in Indian Studies. The annual $1,000 scholarship is offered by Dr. and Mrs. D. P. Goel to a graduate student pursuing the political, historical, economic, religious, social, or cultural study of India. The award is made on the recommendation of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, in accordance with findings of the Adjudication Committee of the Centre for India and South Asia Research. All students pursuing an MA or PhD at UBC-Vancouver are eligible for this award. Applications must be received by October 16. For full details, please visit the SPPGA website. Organised by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), ACEID2021 – which will be held both in-person in Tokyo, Japan and online from March 21 to 24, 2021 – encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in an international forum stimulating respectful dialogue. This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders. It is currently accepting abstract submissions for papers from a wide variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives; the early bird submission deadline is October 30. For more information on submission guidelines, please visit the ACEID2021 website. World Congress of Korean Language 2020: Video Contest for Korean Culture Education Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the first World Congress of Korean Language will be held as linguists from all over the world, educators, language engineers, industry officials and those interested in Korean will come together to discuss the future of Korean and Hangeul. They are also holding a video contest with awards and are calling for submissions on informative short videos on Korean culture to contribute to the promotion of the Korean language and culture. The deadline to submit your video is November 13. You may apply as an individual or in a group. For more information on the contest and submission guidelines, please contact the World Congress of Korean Language 2020 through their website contact form. Have an idea to support social connectedness during this time? The @utownubc community grant offers up to $1000 in funding for projects that foster community and capacity building from a distance. Applications are being accepted on a rolling deadline until Dec. 1, or once funding is fully subscribed. Members of the UBC and Musqueam communities, including students, residents, staff and faculty are welcome to apply. Critical Asian Studies: Call for Submissions Critical Asian Studies, a Taylor and Francis multidisciplinary academic journal, is soliciting 500-1,500-word online blog posts to for a linguistically and culturally diverse readership. With a focus on practice more than theory, the blog is now publishing posts emphasizing empirical evidence from early career scholars about emerging scholarship and research on new and critical topics infolding across Asia on the themes of research and opinion on politics, economic realities, or another critical topic in an Asian region, or reflections on fieldwork highlighting methods employed across various disciplines for research, analysis, and data collection. Deadlines for submission are on the last Friday of each month. If you would like to submit or propose a post, respond to webeditor.criticalasianstudies@gmail.com with your interest and potential topic. Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research (CJUR): Call for Submissions CJUR is a multidisciplinary student-led publication that aims to provide an accessible platform for undergraduates from all Universities across Canada to gain experience in academic publishing, and was founded in 2015 at the University of British Columbia. Submissions are peer-reviewed by graduate students with experience in the field of the submission. CJUR is a great way to build your CV and have something to show for all your hard work! They accept manuscripts on a rolling basis, but the sooner you submit, the sooner you will hear back from them. For information on submission guidelines, please visit the CJUR website or email cjur.uro@gmail.com. |
| ON & OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS |
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October 15 October 16 - 18 |
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