 |
|
Spring Registration Opens Monday, February 6
|
 |
Registration for our Spring term starts Monday, February 6.
From current events to concertos to cosmology, we have something for everyone. We are also excited to expand our Lafayette program with the addition of a fifth class!
Starting Monday morning, you can browse course listings and sign up at
olli.berkeley.edu/courses
, or call 510.642.9934 to register by phone.
Mark your calendars for the following dates:
Tuesday, March 7:
Berkeley Info Session
10 - noon at Freight and Salvage, 2020 Addison
Thursday, March 9:
Lafayette Info Session
1:30 - 3 at Lafayette Library and Learning Center, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd
Monday, March 27
First day of classes
|
|
|
|
Faculty Profile: Dayna Barnes
|
|
Jennifer Monahan, OLLI Staff
 Dayna Barnes is a specialist in US-Japan relations, East Asia and international history. She holds a Ph.D. in International History from the London School of Economics and is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. She has also taught at SFSU, USF, and OLLI CSU East Bay. Her Spring course on "The United States as a Pacific Power" will be her first course with OLLI @Berkeley; she will also give a talk at our Lafayette Info Session on March 9.
What do you see as the likely economic repercussions of the Trump administration's economic and foreign policy stances?
I want to clarify first that my upcoming course will focus on the history of US relations with East Asia. It will shed light on the origins of our current relationships but not focus on current events. That said...
The relationship that's most in flux at the moment is with the Philippines, which is currently pivoting away from the US and towards China, or possibly Japan.
Our economic relations with China may change as well, although that seems less likely because our economies are so intertwined. Our reliance on Chinese manufacturing -- in technological hardware, for example -- is unlikely to see a major shift. The end of TPP [Trans Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade agreement] will increase China's weight as a trading power, since it will now be engaged in a series of bilateral negotiations rather than negotiations with a 12-nation trading bloc, or may take up leadership in creating an alternative agreement.
Japan has been the biggest proponent of TPP, for which the Obama administration was an advocate and an ally. Trump's stepping back from the TPP is a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
How do you see US relations with China evolving under the new administration, especially in light of Trump's recent approach to the One China policy?
Certainly it feels like an unstable moment in US-China relations. The Taiwan issue is back on the table in a way that it has not been since the 1970s, and the South China Sea is another possible flashpoint for confrontation.
Regarding Trump's phone conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, I -- along with many other speculating on this -- see two possible explanations for Trump's stance. First, he may not have been up to speed on the nuances of the US-China relationship since he has no prior foreign policy experience. It's also possible that this is a savvy game he's playing: by putting assumptions back on the table, he's giving himself more bargaining chips. So I -- and everybody else -- will be waiting to see whether this is a canny political ploy or an early misstep.
What are some of the ways in which your class will provide historical context for current trends?
I already mentioned the Philippines. We tend to forget it was an American colony from 1898 until 1942, and we still see that strong link in terms of military bases and cooperation. Now the Philippines is facing challenges with their new brash leadership. Their government is moving towards China, but also embroiled in the South China Sea island dispute, which also involves Vietnam, Malaysia, and Japan. So that's a potential flashpoint.
We'll look at Vietnam -- and the US's complicated history with it -- in the class.
The class will also look at the role of the US in the division of the Korean peninsula into North and South Korea. We'll pay particular attention to North Korea as a potential nuclear power, and to South Korea as an economic and a security partner.
You have a forthcoming book, Architects of Occupation: American Experts and the Planning for Postwar Japan, and I hear you may teach a course with us this summer about 20th- and 21st-century occupations.
My summer course will look at a series of US occupations since World War Two: we'll compare postwar Japan, Germany and Korea with more recent occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We'll identify policies and issues that were similar in all these situations, as well as important differences. The occupation of a homogenous society presents a different set of challenges from the occupation of a nation with very different populations, for instance; this wasn't fully anticipated in Iraq. The occupation of Japan was at one point held up by the Bush administration as a model of a successful occupation that turned a former enemy into an ally. But so much was different in Iraq and Afghanistan, and so much went wrong. The class will be an opportunity to look at what happened and why.
|
|
|
|
Volunteer Profile: Ann Whalley
|
|
Gale Lederer, OLLI Volunteer
 "Thanks to OLLI, new worlds just keep opening up for me," says Ann Whalley, this month's featured volunteer. "That's the beauty of this premium membership -- I feel free to check out things I don't even think I'm interested in, and they turn out to be fascinating. I always think I'll quit going to a course if I don't like it, but that's never happened." Ann tends to prefer Freight and Salvage's big film and lecture classes, though she's also enjoyed OLLI's more intimate courses such as Amelia Barili's class on volunteerism and neuroplasticity -- which connected her with Refugee Transitions, where she still volunteers. "OLLI's got wonderful teachers," she enthuses, singling out for particular praise Linda Rugg, Tamim Ansary, Marshall Krause, Michael Fox, and Alex Saragoza -- whose travel study trip to Cuba she particularly enjoyed.
Ann moved to the Bay Area from Massachusetts in 1988. "I have an adopted family out here," she explains, "and I didn't want to grow old worrying about black ice." Trained as a social worker, Ann worked in Alameda County in the Social Services and Public Health departments, starting in child welfare and moving into what was then the new field of data analysis. Thanks to a friend, she discovered OLLI almost as soon as she retired and found it a perfect fit. "I'd forgotten how much I like to learn," she says, "and I love the OLLI community. In fact, I love the whole setting here -- including this Jazz Cafe!" She pauses, looking around our pleasant interview space appreciatively. "And then," she continues, "I've made such good friends through OLLI. We do all kinds of things together -- such as travel."
Ann takes full advantage of the Bay Area's cultural riches -- such as theatre, museums, and ethnic restaurants. She frequently volunteers for OLLI as a class host as well as for Open House, the OLLI table at the Solano Stroll, and similar events. Probably most importantly of all, she assists Susan Boyle with our Google group, OLLI B CONNECT. The OLLI community is certainly grateful for this dedicated, enthusiastic volunteer.
|
|
|
|
 We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Alan Fong on January 13 following an illness. Alan served on OLLI's Curriculum Committee for 10 years, helping choose faculty and courses. He also volunteered in many other capacities: at Info Sessions, in the classroom, and wherever else he was needed. Alan was a true polymath, offering both knowledge and wisdom on a broad variety of subjects, with a quick wit and a kind heart.
A few years ago, when OLLI collaborated with StoryCenter, Alan made a short video describing his role in the creation of the Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley:
Arrangements for a memorial have not been finalized as of this writing.
|
|
|
|
We also mourn the loss of Don Solem, who passed away January 5. Don was "a force in Bay Area and California politics for five decades" and a longtime OLLI member. You can read his obituary from the San Francisco Chronicle.
|
|
|
|
Pierluigi Serraino will speak about his recent book,
The Creative Architect: Inside the Great Midcentury Personality Study, on Wednesday, February 14 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in 210 Wurster Hall on the UC Berkeley Campus.
Event details
Kathryn Roszak presents the inaugural Berkeley Dance
Installation
2/5 at 1 p.m.
at Shotgun Studios (1201 University Ave in
Berkeley). See Iranian dancer Shahrzad and choreographers Dalia
Rawson, Lissa Resnick, and Kathryn Roszak.
Tickets available at door. Roszak
also directs the Women Ballet Choreographers Residency at Djerassi May
7. See www.dlkdance.com for details as well as information about her movement classes for seniors. Or
travel to Scotland with Ms. Roszak this summer and learn about Scottish
art and culture, and the Edinburgh Festival.
|
|
|
|
Monday, February 6, 2017 at 5:00
Toll Room, Alumni House
Leigh Raiford,
associate professor of African American studies at UC Berkeley and author of Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography and the African American Freedom Struggle
|
|
|
|
 Culture and Culinary Traditions of Northern Spain
June 1-10, 2017
In collaboration with Cal Discoveries
Explore monuments, learn about regional history, and sample local cuisines and wines as you make your way from Madrid to San Sebastian. Led by UC Berkeley professor Alex Saragoza. View the tour brochure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
