EASC, IKS to hold event on pop music, social activism in S. Korea, United States on October 14

The East Asian Studies Center and Institute for Korean Studies will present a a three-part event, "Popular Music and Social Activism Between South Korea and the US: From Civil Rights Protest Songs to K-Pop and Black Lives Matter," on Wednesday, October 14 from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (online; registration required).

Abstract: This event will comprise two short presentations and a panel discussion. In Part One, Dr. Pil Ho Kim (assistant professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures) will offer a historical overview of the relationship between Korean popular music and the United States, focusing in particular on the role that American civil rights anthems and modern folk songs played in the development of the protest song movement against the military dictatorship in South Korea. Then Wonseok Lee (Ph.D. student, School of Music) will bring the story to the present by discussing how K-Pop’s explosive global fandom has allowed its leaders to champion various social causes, including recent anti-racist activism in the U.S. Finally, in Part Three, a group of undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio State join the conversation to share their first-hand experiences with respect to K-Pop and social activism in the contemporary moment.

Ohio State is taking a fresh look at the Black Lives Matter movement and how it relates to every facet of knowledge we engage in across all disciplines and from multiple cultural perspectives. The Office of International Affairs, in partnership with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and curated by the area studies centers, presents a series of events dedicated to exploring the links between the Black Lives Matter movement and the diverse communities around the globe. These events are intended to showcase different perspectives about the American racial struggle; to remind us of the interconnectedness of the contemporary world; and to spark reflection about the consequences of the tragic reality that some communities are treated as though they matter less than others.

Christine Ho to present on modernism, race in early 20th century Chinese art on October 16

The Institute for Chinese Studies will present a lecture by Christine Ho, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, on Friday, October 16 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (online; registration required). Professor Ho will present "Minor Ornaments: Alternate Modernism and Race in Early Twentieth-Century Chinese Art."

Abstract: Twentieth-century Euramerican critics often described the painting of Asian artists as “decorative,” implying a facility with superficial beauty at the expense of conceptual depth. What happened, then, when artists in modern China embraced this pejorative phrase as the defining feature of their art? This talk explores the polymathic designer, publisher, and cartoonist Zhang Guangyu’s vision for the potential of the decorative, and his negotiation of the paradox of race and culture in making of alternate modernism in modern China. Was it possible to imagine that the decorative could transcend modernism’s nationalist discourses through its language of abstracted symbols and mutual borrowing across cultures to upturn narratives of progress and innovation? Or did decoration remain entrapped within the racialized, and racist, paradigms of the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, and folk studies?

Bruce Fulton to present on Pak Wanso on October 20

The Institute for Korean Studies will present a lecture by Bruce Fulton, University of British Columbia, on Tuesday, October 20 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (online; registration required). Professor Fulton will present "Trauma in Pak Wansŏ’s “Puch’ŏnim kŭnch’ŏ” (In the Realm of the Buddha)."

Abstract: In a literary career dating from 1970 Pak Wansŏ established herself as the elder stateswoman of contemporary Korean literature, a household name both within Korea and in Korean communities abroad, and long respected in the mundan (literary world) of her country. The story of her own life is compelling—entry to Seoul National University in 1950 followed shortly by withdrawal necessitated by the outbreak of the Korean War; two decades spent raising five children; and an award-winning career in letters. From the fabric of that life Pak has woven a body of literature that gives voice as no other author has to the trauma of civil war and territorial division as well as the subsequent upheavals in Korean society and culture. If there is one quality that has cemented Pak’s appeal to a mass audience, it is her uncanny ability to empathize with people’s lives and experiences. Her works draw a visceral, almost cathartic reaction from readers young and old who report hearing an authorial voice so clearly and directly it is almost as if they are in the physical presence of the narrator.

It is tempting to see much of Pak’s career as a process of working through wartime trauma. She lost both an uncle (executed on an unsubstantiated allegation of treason) and a brother (forcibly conscripted by the People’s Army, never to be heard from again) in the war, and the latter loss figures prominently in her debut work, the autobiographical novel Na’mok (Naked Tree). Like other of her works from the 1970s and beyond, “In the Realm of the Buddha” is a dual narrative that shifts back and forth between the here-and-now and unresolved trauma of decades earlier. For the narrator trauma is viscerally alive, a dead weight inside her that she is desperate to vomit up once and for all.

Japanese interpretation course to be offered Spring 2021

The East Asian Studies Center and the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures will offer a course on professional Japanese interpretation in Spring 2021, with support from a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant for EASC. Japanese 5194 is a course on professional Japanese interpretation. Distinct from translation, which is written, interpretation focuses on speaking fluency. Students will learn how to prepare to speak intelligibly on a given topic while developing fluency in business-level Japanese. As the class is broken into thematic units, students will be responsible for reading on a given topic, preparing vocabulary lists, and getting ready to interpret that content into the opposite language. Those language skills will be applied through hands-on training in consecutive and simultaneous interpretation, bidirectionally between Japanese and English. Lecture material will include an overview of the field of interpretation, different modes of interpreting and the techniques involved in each, as well as active listening and public speaking skills. By the end of the semester, students will become familiar with basic theories and concepts of interpretation and acquire a fundamental interpreting skillset.

Course: Japanese 5194: "Introduction to Professional Japanese Interpretation"
Call Number: 33026, 33027
Credits: 3 credit hours
Time: Four (4) webinars that students must attend live on select Thursdays from 5:30 p.m. to 6:50 p.m.; Monday, Wednesday, Friday submissions for homework
Instructor: Allyson Sigman
Prerequisites: Japanese 5102.01 or 5102.02 (Level 4-II) or instructor's permission
Technology Requirements: The course will be conducted entirely remotely using Carmen in conjunction with a web-based interpreter training platform. Students must be able to watch lectures, record videos of their interpretation, post feedback to other students' videos, and attend four web conferences. The instructor recommends a computer with at least 2GB RAM, a stable internet connection of at least 8 Mbps down/2 Mbps up, and a headset with a microphone. If you have any questions about system requirements, contact Etsuyo Yuasa.

Students may register for the course via Buckeye Link.

ASC accepting applications for Undergraduate Research Scholarship

The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences is accepting applications for the Autumn 2020 Undergraduate Research Scholarship. Awards generally range from $500 to $12,000 and are applied toward university tuition and fees (student's statement of account) for Spring 2021. Any amount remaining after university fees have been paid will go directly to the student at the beginning of Spring 2021, unless noted otherwise. Awards will be determined based on merit review criteria.

The application deadline is October 29, 2020.