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2019 Asian Studies Welcome Event
Tuesday, September 17 | 4:30 p.m.
Join us to kick off the 2019 academic year! Mingle with your fellow students and enjoy drinks, nibbles, guest speakers and fun activities. We’ll also have some funky Asian Studies merch for sale – bring your cash and we guarantee you’ll start the new academic year off in style!
This event is free but registration is required by September 10th, 2019.
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2019 Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture
With Dr. Geremie Barmé
November 5, 2019
Held annually, the Department invites leading scholars to discuss topics in Chinese literature and culture. This upcoming lecture will feature Geramie Barmé, Founding Director Emeritus of the Australian Centre on China in the World and Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University. Please save the date.
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2020 John Howes Lecture in Japanese Studies
With Dr. James E. Ketelaar
February 10, 2020
Guest speaker, Dr. James E. Ketelaar, Professor of Japanese History, East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, continues one of our greatest annual traditions in which we invite prominent scholars from around the world to speak to the university community and alumni on Japanese Studies.
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| NEW HIRES |
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Colleen Laird
Assistant Professor of Japanese Popular Culture |
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Kay Duffy
Assistant Professor of Premodern Sinitic Poetry |
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Renren Yang
Assistant Professor of Modern Chinese Popular Culture |
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Naveena Naqvi
Assistant Professor of Persianate Islamic Cultures of South Asia |
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Sheryl Lim
Acting Student Programs Coordinator |
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Sophie Gardner
Communications & Events Coordinator |
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| FACULTY MILESTONES |
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Christopher Rea
Promoted to full professor and
appointed Associate Head |
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Sunera Thobani
Promoted to full professor |
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Student Spotlight with Kiran Sunar: Unlocking the Wisdom of the Past
How can we study the past in order to inform the present? PhD student Kiran Sunar, discusses how her research on Punjabi literature responds to contemporary questions around Islamophobia, homophobia, and gender-based violence. Receiving over a dozen awards and scholarships over the last four years, Sunar also shares how they continue to support her and her research.
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Faculty Spotlight with Sharalyn Orbaugh
Dr. Sharalyn Orbaugh teaches Japanese manga and anime to hundreds of students every year. An expert in Modern Japanese Literature, she has spent her career researching how stories have been fundamental to the way we understand our lives and create our identities.
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Faculty Spotlight with Alison Bailey
In this video, Assistant Professor in Pre-modern Chinese Literature, Dr. Alison Bailey, discusses her current research on the cultural history of filial revenge in Chinese literature and law. She hopes she can give students the same sense of respect that she has developed for Chinese culture.
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Faculty Spotlight with Christopher Rea
Over the last decade, Professor Christopher Rea has expanded UBC's course offerings on modern Chinese literature and cinema. As a literary and cultural historian focused on the modern Chinese-speaking world, his most recent publications concern laughter, comedy, celebrities, and swindlers.
Rea believes that UBC is a fantastic place to study modern Chinese culture and hopes to teach his students how to be critical thinkers while having fun with the language.
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| Featured Courses |
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| Confucianism in China and Beyond: Reinventions of Tradition |
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Films of the
South Asian Diaspora |
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| Tibetan Literature, Genres, and Book Culture |
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| The Partition of India in Film and Narrative |
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History of Christianity
in Asia |
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History of the
Chosun Dynasty |
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| FACULTY RESEARCH STORIES |
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New Book: Mind and Body in Early China
Dr. Edward Slingerland argues that Orientalist accounts of China as a radical, holistic other are fatally flawed and that the humanities need to move beyond social constructivist views of culture, and embrace instead a view of human cognition and culture that integrates the sciences and the humanities.
Book now available through Oxford University Press
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Published Chapter: A Case Study of Cantonese as a Foreign Language Curriculum Design in North America
Lecturer in Cantonese Raymond Pai shares his insights on establishing the UBC Cantonese Language Program. Titled Cantonese as a Second Language: Issues, Experiences and Suggestions for Teaching and Learning, the book covers various issues related to both acquiring and teaching Cantonese from scholars all across the globe.
Book now available through Routledge Publishing
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Published Article: Kṛṣṇāyaṇa: A Contest of Love and Beauty in the Talk of Krishna and Rukmini
Dr. Tom Hunter recently published an article comparing the beauties of nature and love as found in the Old Javanese court epic Krishnayana in InSitu Magazine, an online journal devoted to the work of contemporary musicians of Bali.
Article now available through InSitu magazine
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Published Article: From Buddha Bones to Bo Trees
Dr. Douglas Ober's article, From Buddha Bones to Bo Trees: Nehruvian India, Buddhism, and the poetics of power, 1947-1956 details the strategies and ideologies that India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his cabinet employed vis-à-vis Buddhism from the mid-1940s to late 1950s.
Article now available through Cambridge University Press
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Published Article: Asghar Farhadi’s Nuanced Feminism
Published in Asian Cinema, Assistant Professor Dr. Mostafa Abedinifard's article "Asghar Farhadi’s nuanced feminism: Gender and marriage in Farhadi’s films from Dancing in the Dust to A Separation" draws on feminist and masculinities theories to examine representations of gender in the films of Academy Award-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi.
Article now available through Ingenta Connect
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Keynote Lecture: Retired Emperor Goyōzei’s Waka Album and “The Poetry-Contest between Different Eras”
On December 7th, Dr. Joshua Mostow gave a keynote lecture for a symposium in conjuction with the Poetic Imagination in Japanese Art exhibition at the Portland Art Museum.
Watch now
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Harjot Oberoi Recognized by India's Foremost Historian
Dr. Ramchandra Guha, India’s leading public intellectual and foremost historian, published an article featuring seven of his favourite books in Scroll.in. Third on his list, Guha praises professor Harjot Oberoi's book, The Construction of Religious Boundaries, as "the best of the British and French intellectual traditions."
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Dr. Mark Turin Receives Killam Research Fellowship and Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies Wall Scholar Research Award
Selected by UBC’s Faculty Research Award Committee, the Killam Research Fellowship award enables full-time research during a recognized study leave. Moreover, as a Wall Scholar, Dr. Mark Turin will see one book project through to completion and embark on a new one. Both of these research projects coincide with the United Nations Year of Indigenous Languages 2019.
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Sadhu Binning Receives 2019 UBC Honorary Degree
As a faculty member from 1987 to 2008, Sadhu Binning founded UBC’s Punjabi language program, in which he developed original curriculum materials and pedagogical models that remain widely used and influential. The author of more than a dozen books in both English and Punjabi, he has played a key leadership role to further Punjabi literature, culture and language in British Columbia and Canada.
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| SPRING HIGHLIGHTS |
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2019 Lunar New Year Celebration
Friday, February 8, 2019
The Department of Asian Studies and the Chinese Language program welcomed the Year of the Pig at their 2019 Lunar New Year Celebration. Students, teachers and other curious participants gathered at the Nest to explore Chinese and Korean cultures through engaging cultural activities and entertainment. Thanks to all the staff, volunteers and participants that made this event such a success.
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Talk with Artist Hamid Rahmanian
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
New York–based Iranian filmmaker and graphic artist Hamid Rahmanian was invited to the University of British Columbia to share his artistic process of transforming the 10th-century epic poem Shahnameh by the poet Ferdowsi, into a modern classic.
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Hong Kong Comedian Vivek Mahbubani Visits UBC
Tuesday, March 26 - Saturday, March 30, 2019
Organized by the Cantonese language program, Vivek Mahbubani, an award-winning Hong Kong comedian of Indian descent, entertained UBC and the greater community with a series of events. The Cantonese Comedy Night on March 29 was an enormous success with all 190 tickets being sold out ten days in advance. Demand was so overwhelming that an encore show was added on March 30.
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The 2019 Asian Studies Careers Night
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Over 70 students and 16 alumni attended this year’s packed event at the UBC Alumni Centre. Students had the opportunity to meet with multiple alumni, ask questions, and make connections that we hope will last long after this event. We'd like to give our most sincere thanks to all students, staff, faculty, and alumni who made this event a night to remember.
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The 2019 Harjit Kaur Sidhu Memorial Program
Thursday, March 14, 2019
The Harjit Kaur Sidhu Memorial Program celebrates the rich life of Punjabi language and culture and its importance in BC, in memory of a woman who shared such passions. Our goal is to call attention to important new scholarship on Punjabi language and culture and bring it to our students and the broader Vancouver area audience; encourage and recognize achievements in Punjabi language cultural production in BC; and honor students for their work in learning and using the Punjabi language.
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Why is Punjabi Studies important at UBC?
Beyond our annual Harjit Kaur Sidhu Memorial Program, the Punjabi language occupies a central place in our South Asia program, and represents one of the largest and longest-standing Punjabi language programs in the world, outside of South Asia. In this video, hear from students why Punjabi Studies has been integral to their experience at UBC.
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| INTERVIEWS AND STORIES |
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Bruce Fulton Promotes Korean Literature to the World
In this interview with the Korea Foundation, Dr. Bruce Fulton shares his experience and insights on Korean literature, both as a translator and as a professor, as well as what Korean literature means to him.
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Meet our MA Student: Haoyue Li
Haoyue’s research investigates the olfactory feeling in premodern Chinese literature. |
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Meet our PhD Student: Julie Vig
Julie shares her experiences before her current position teaching Sikh Studies as an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. |
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Meet our BA Student: Lovneet Aujla
Lovneet shares his experience in the UBC Punjabi Studies program, advice for fellow students, and his academic and career goals. |
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Ciaran Dudley, BA ’11
Information and Culture Officer at the Consulate General of Japan |
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Paul R. Kim, BA ’14
Freelance Columnist, Interpreter and Translator |
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Laura Sparks, BA ’09
Freelance Japanese to English Translator |
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Are you an Asian Studies alum and interested in sharing your story with current students? If yes, we welcome you to fill out our Alumni Spotlight Interview form!
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| STUDENT NEWS |
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Creating Community – Persian Language and Iranian studies at UBC
How three Persian students initiated a new program and created a vibrant community.
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2018 汉语桥 “Chinese Bridge” BC – Mandarin Singing Contest
Saturday, November 17, 2018
About 100 students from 10 post-secondary institutions participated in the contest. Out of the 19 prizes in total, UBC students won 6 of them. Congratulations to all the prize winners and every UBC student who participated in the contest on that night.
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2018W UBC Chinese Language Program Heritage Final Project Festival “Mapping China”
Friday, November 23, 2018
With 56 teams and over 350 attendees, the festival allowed heritage Chinese learners from different course levels to demonstrate, display, and promote Chinese culture from various angles.
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Inaugural Korean Movie Night
Friday, January 18, 2019
Featuring 신과 함께 (Along with the Gods: the Two Worlds), our first Korean Movie Night was a success. About fifty students arrived before the movie began, enjoying 김밥 (Korean sushi rolls), snacks, and drinks with fellow Korean culture and movie lovers. There was a lot of laughter and some sobbing heard throughout the movie. Thanks to everyone who joined us!
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A Conversation on Pop Culture with Artist Anita Lee
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Students in CNTO 451 (Advanced Cantonese through Popular Culture) and the UBC Cantonese community in attendance enjoyed a night of interesting stories and insightful discussion on popular culture with Fairchild radio host Miss Anita Yuen Wah Lee 李婉華. Miss Lee shared her many years of precious experience working in the entertainment industry in Hong Kong, China, and Canada.
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Asian Studies Student Wins NATSA Prize for Best Undergraduate Essay
Congratulations to fourth year Asian Studies student, Aaron Throness, for wining the North American Taiwan Association prize for best undergraduate essay. Aaron's essay investigates how the Ming Dynasty thought about and interacted with Taiwan. Aaron then went on to represent UBC during NATSA's annual conference in May, presenting the paper at the University of Seattle.
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2019 BC Korean Speech Contest
Saturday, March 15, 2019
Twenty-six final contestants, including twenty-one UBC students, participated in this annual event. Special congratulations to our very own Dear Sophie who took gold in the Advanced catgory!
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Japanese Language Program Annual Talent Night
Friday, March 8, 2019
Attended by nearly 200 students, instructors and friends who enjoyed a record 24 performances by UBC Japanese language students, this was the Program's largest event ever!
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2019 UBC Lantern Festival Poetry Night
Thursday, February 28, 2019
This year’s event included an exciting poetry contest and splendid recitals of Chinese poems. Our top-notch contestants, carefully selected from our Chinese language courses, did not dissapoint with their beautiful performances.
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2019 CHIN 243 Documentary Festival: Stories About Us, By Us, For Us
Friday, March 29, 2019
Students, faculty, friends and family enjoyed the final documentaries and stories from CHIN 243 students. Participants were also challenged through interactive games testing their creativity and classroom knowledge. The evening was filled with laughter, cheers and even some tears due to the touching stories the students shared.
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2019 BC “Chinese Bridge” Mandarin Speech Contest
Saturday, March 16, 2019
More than 55 students, from 11 different universities and colleges, participated in this annual speech contest. This year, the contest challenged students to present speeches about the "fun and challenges in learning Chinese." Congratulations to all the prize winners and UBC students who competed.
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Tadoku Club: Final Meeting of Winter 2018/19
Monday, April 1, 2019
The Japanese reading club held its final meeting of the term. After some individual reading time, participants discussed their favourite books from the year, enjoyed a group reading and were awarded prizes. We look forward to seeing everyone again in September!
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2019 CHIN 233 Happy “Fun” Summer Vacation Travel Fair
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
A mini exhibition was held for nearly 60 students taking the non-heritage-stream Chinese course CHIN 233. Through oral presentations and short videos, students promoted travel packages from their travel agencies.
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Class of 2019: Graduation Reception
Friday, June, 24, 2019
Congratulations to our class of 2019! Best wishes to all of our graduates on behalf of the whole department. We hope you stay in touch.
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Check out our new selection of Asian Studies items! Our new tote bags, pencil cases and pins were all designed by an Asian Studies Alumnus and available for purchase at the Asian Centre main office.
Check our full selection of merch here! |
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