ASIANSTUDIESUB

NEWSLETTERfall 2011 ♦ http://www.asianstudies.buffalo.edu/

NYCAS Summary

South Asia Program News

Announcements

Asian Studies Calendar

Of Lions and Lounge Suits

Professor Rebecca French Awarded Fulbright for Research in India

Asian Studies Courses: Spring 2012

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With the significant involvement and assistance of many faculty, staff, and students across the University at Buffalo, the Asian Studies Program hosted the annual New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) on September 16-17.

The participation of UB faculty and graduate students as panelists and panel chairs was exceptional: the 167 registered participants included 26 faculty and staff and 21 graduate students from the UB College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Education, Law School, School of Management, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and the UB Art Gallery.

Asian Studies faculty, along with the Confucius Institute staff, recruited a strong cadre of undergraduate and graduate students to help with registration, exhibitor displays, event reception, and many other tasks. These volunteers were ex-ceptionally well organized and mobilized by Asian Studies graduate assistant Jeffrey Chow.

Non-UB participants in the conference hailed from 16 states and provinces and 6 countries overseas, including China, Japan, Australia, England, Italy, and Russia. Professor Larisa Zhilina of Dostoevsky State University in Omsk, Russia, who spoke on Russian and Japanese student perceptions of each other, may well be the first NYCAS participant to travel from Siberia for the conference.

In addition to the 41 panels on the conference theme, “Asia at Work and Play,” and a wide range of other topics, confer-ence highlights included:

Asian Studies Hosts NYCAS: Asia at Work and Play

• The exhibition opening for “Buffalo Beijing: Translation,” an impressive collaboration between MFA students in UB’s Department of Visual Studies and students at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing

• The world premiere of Dinh Q. Lê: Saigon Diary, a visually striking exhibition at the UB Anderson Gallery (through December 31) that provides tre-mendous insight into economic, social, and envi-ronmental conditions in contemporary Saigon

• “What is Asian Contemporary Art: The Challeng-es of a New Field of Enquiry,” a keynote address by Melissa Chiu, vice president for Global Arts Programs at the Asia Society

• A plenary address by the president of the Associa-tion for Asian Studies, Gail Hershatter, entitled, “The Girl Who Burned the Banknotes: A Child Daughter-in-Law’s Story and the Shape of Social Change in Early Socialist China”

• “China’s Sacred Sites,” a display of stunning pho-tographs based on the book of the same name by Buffalo architect Bonnie Foit-Albert

• “The Arts in Asia: A Workshop for Teachers,” featuring presentations on visual and performing arts in Vietnam, Japan, and India

• An energetic drum performance by the Korean Folk Art Club

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NYCAS SUMMARY

L-R: Asian Studies Director Kristin Stapleton,Assistant Director Bruce Acker, NYCAS President Patricia Welch, and Executive Secretary Ron Knapp.

Korean Folk Art Club performs at NYCAS luncheon

NYCAS panel participants

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We are especially grateful for the close collaboration on NYCAS 2011 from Bruce Kolesnick and Amy Veiders in the UB Office of Special Events, Sandy Olsen and Sandra Firmin in the UB Art Gallery, Millie Chen in the Department of Visual Studies, Eric Yang and Peggy Du in the UB Confucius Institute, College of Arts and Sciences creative design director Renee Ruffino and her intern, Ying Ri Guan, and Heidi Conschafter at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center.

Significant financial contributions came from the UB College of Arts and Sciences, the UB Confucius Institute, the Association for Asian Studies, East View Information Services, Norman and Thuy Murray, and Papaya and Saigon/Bangkok restaurants.

We hope to see a strong UB contingent at the next NYCAS conference, September 28-29, 2012, at SUNY New Paltz, focused on the theme “Contesting Tradition.” The NYCAS web presence is now host-ed by the UB Asian Studies Program, so additional information about upcoming conferences can be found at www.asianstudies.buffalo.edu/nycas/index.shtml.

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SOUTH ASIA PROGRAM NEWSThe Asian Studies community at UB celebrates the in-

auguration of Dr. Satish K. Tripathi as the 15th presi-dent of the University at Buffalo. Born in the village

Patna of Faizabad district in the northern Indian state of Ut-tar Pradesh, Dr. Tripathi graduated at the top of his class from Banaras Hindu University, one of UB’s institutional partners in India. In 2010 and 2011, visiting professors Manish Arora and Gangatharan Alagappan from Banaras taught courses through Asian Studies at UB, and we hope to expand this cooperation with future exchanges.

The UB community is currently benefitting from the contribu-tions of Ian Wilson, who has joined Asian Studies as an adjunct faculty member from Syracuse University, where he is a gradu-ate student in the Department of Anthropology completing his dissertation, “A Variously Understood Past: The Negotiation of Bharatpuri History.” He is helping Asian Studies expand our existing first- and second-year Hindi course offerings to in-clude the closely related language of Urdu, which UB plans to offer through the second year in the future.

Mr. Wilson is part of the broader U.S. Department of Educa-tion-funded initiative to expand the existing South Asia curric-ulum at UB. In addition to 1st-year Hindi-Urdu, he is teaching a course entitled “Society and Caste in Contemporary India” this fall and “Contemporary Asian Societies” in the spring se-mester. His recent Asia at Noon presentation, “Remembering in the Kings’ Village: Centrality and Opposition in Collective Memory,” examined centralizing and decentralizing forces in oral narratives he collected in the ancestral village of the rulers

of the former North Indian kingdom of Bharatpur.

In conjunction with expanded South Asian language and con-tent course offerings, Asian Studies recently inaugurated a new South Asia@UB website that draws together various faculty and students carrying out research in and about South Asian societies. For more information, see http://wings.buffalo.edu/english/as/Hakala/SouthAsiaAtUB

Professor Hakala will be hosting an informal series of film screenings in conjunction with his South Asia courses. Films include the controversial Fire (1996), the Bollywood films Umrao Jaan (1981), Taal (1999), and Dil Se (1997), and the documentary Father, Son, Holy War (1994). For more information, see http://wings.buffalo.edu/english/as/Hakala/SouthAsiaAtUB/News

And students, faculty and other community members won’t want to miss the dynamic Rhythm of Rajasthan music and dance performance on November 18 in the UB Center for the Arts. For details and tickets visit www.ubcfa.org.

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SOUTH ASIA PROGRAM NEWS

JOIN THE UB CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE LISTSERV! The Confucius Institute at UB is planning exciting lectures, performances, and other programs for 2011-2012. Keep up to date on Confucius Institute programs by joining the listserv. In addition to announcements about its own events, the Confucius Institute listserv will include postings about other China-related events in Western New York, Chinese language classes, travel opportunities, useful web resources, and unique news stories. Major Confucius Institute events will continue to be posted in the Asian Studies e-news.

To subscribe to the Confucius Institute listserv, send an email to Executive Director Wenzhong (Eric) Yang - wenzhong@buffalo.edu or Xiaopeng (Peggy) Du - duxiaope@buffalo.edu and indicate that you wish to subscribe.

Join us on Facebook!  Visit UB Asian Studies for our Facebook link.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Asian Studies Program welcomes our new Director of Undergraduate Studies and Korean Studies Dr. Mark Nathan this fall. Dr. Nathan assumed the role of director after the retirement of Dr. Thomas Burkman in Spring 2011. As director, Mark will oversee the academic advisement for incoming students, Asian Studies majors, and

minors. He will also be teaching classes on Korean history and culture and Buddhism in East Asia.

Dr. Nathan graduated in 2010 with a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures. He also attended the University of Chicago (M.A., History of Religions) and Rutgers University (B.A., History). He specializes in Korean Buddhism from the late nineteenth century to today. His dissertation, “Buddhist Propagation and Modernization: The Significance of P’ogyo in Twentieth-Century Korean Buddhism,” looks at the adoption of religious propagation as a strategy of Buddhist reform and the role it played in reshaping the Buddhist tradition of Korea over the last century.

Asian Studies Program Welcomes New Director of Undergraduate Studies and Korean Studies Professor Mark Nathan

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December 2Friday1:00 -2:30 PM

February 3Friday12:00 PM

February 10Friday12:00 PM

National Acrobats of China. Mainstage Theater. Tickets: General public $26.50/ Stu-dents $16.50/ Groups $23.50 http://www.ubcfa.org

“Hiding,” special film screen-ing on North Korea refugees. Presented by the Reliance Net-work. 120 Clemens. UB North Campus.

Asia at Noon. Vida Vanchan, Assistant Professor, Depart-ment of Geography and Plan-ning, Buffalo State College.

Asia at Noon. Swati Bandi, Visiting Instructor, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

ASIAN STUDIES CALENDARUnless otherwise noted, all events are free.

University at Buffalo International Education Week. For event listing, visit http://wings.buffalo.edu/intlservices/

November14-18

November 15Tuesday2:00 - 3:00 PM

November 18Friday8:00 PM

Rhythm of Rajasthan, featur-ing exciting music and dance from the Indian state of Raj-asthan. Cosponsored by Asian Studies, Gujrat Samaj of Buf-falo, Triveni, and UB Center for the Arts. Center for the Arts, Mainstage Theater. Tick-ets: $10 students/ $25 general public. http://www.ubcfa.org

China Town Hall with Zbig-niew Brzezinski, Former Na-tional Security Advisor (via webcast) On-site discussion with Peter Geithner, Director of Asia Programs (ret.), Ford Foundation. 120 Clemens Hall.

Asia after Graduation, UB Alumni & Asian Studies Pro-fessors. 107 Capen Hall.

November 16Wednesday6:30 - 9:00 PM

November 23Wednesday7:30 PM

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Before I left Buffalo last Au-gust for a semester teaching in UB’s Singapore program, I

signed up to attend the by-invitation-only Singapore Global Dialogue, an annual forum in late September with topnotch speakers on international affairs in Asia. The speakers were good, the tour de force being no less than Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew himself. But to me the most memo-rable feature of the parley was one formality imposed on all attendees and stated in the conference bro-chure: a dress code, “Lounge Suit.”

The most formal weeds available to me were the tan sport coat with a color design and red necktie I had brought – all gathering dust in my closet since my arrival in the Lion City of eternal summer just a few ki-lometers from the Equator.

Having just retired as an unkempt professor surrounded by less-kempt students, I had no clue what “Lounge Suit” meant. The very notion of a dress code to me denoted airs, elit-

ism, conformity – challenges to my proletarian proclivities. I called my lodging’s front desk. They didn’t have a clue either, but offered to do some research. Three minutes later a computer print-out rustled under my door.

Jacket. Dark colors are best for eve-ning occasions.

Suit trousers. Must match the jacket.

Formal shirt. Collared. Clean and well pressed. White is always the safest color. Ideally the shirt should be double cuffed and worn with cufflinks.

Tie. Required. Bow ties are accept-able but are very unusual and should be avoided. The top button of the collar of the shirt must be done up. Avoid novelty items.

Dark socks. Ideally the same color as your suit, at least as dark as your suit, mid-calf length, no logos or pictures.

Formal shoes. Preferably black, at least as dark as your socks. Always

wear lace-up shoes.

Watch. If desired. Should be a good quality analogue watch.

I flunked the code on every count. Nonetheless, I donned my best, hailed a cab to the conference hotel, and approached the registration desk to claim my meeting badge. Would bouncers in Lounge Suits wrestle me and my sport coat out the door? Looking furtively left and right, I slinked into the back row of the con-ference hall. Spread out before me was a sea of black and dark blue suits, with white shirts and nondescript neckties. Here and there a brown or tan fabric stood out – to a man worn by someone with a Western face. Women in the audience, permitted it seems to interpret Lounge Suit to their liking, added what little color was there.

After the session I sidled up to a tan suit and struck up a conversa-tion with a Brit, who it turned out was a longtime resident. We got on

OF LIONS AND LOUNGE SUITS

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PROFESSOR REBECCA FRENCHAWARDED FULBRIGHT FORRESEARCH IN INDIAUB Law School Professor Rebecca R. French has been awarded a core Fulbright Scholar Research Award, allowing

her to live in India for 6 months while she further explores her project “The Buddha’s Theory of Secular Law.”

Professor French describes her project:

“Countering the view that Buddhism presents only a religious philosophy, my research has shown that the Buddha and his tradition had a very significant influence on secular law. I plan to go to India for six months to talk with scholars, do archival research, and collect local materials. The result of this project will be a book that will provide a more nuanced understanding of legal ideas during the Buddha’s life, his approach to monastic and secular legal problems, the central texts that present his legal theories, and the legal policies of the first Buddhist empire in India. This will set a foundation for a new sub-discipline and add Buddhism to the world’s major legal traditions.”

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) assists in the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty and professionals.

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to the subject of the funeral-like at-tire in the room. “Yes,” he said, “this is a very conservative society. It is a mirror of Britain of the 1950s.” Then I remembered the stately church I attended thirty years ago in Virginia where all the men wore suits with pants and jacket of matching dark colors. I recalled conferences in Ja-pan about that time where an un-spoken dress code produced a dull monochrome. You can imagine my smug inner glee when no less than Minister Mentor Lee hobbled to the stage at the final session, wearing an open-collar shirt! To see the vener-able, 89-year-old statesman dressing as he pleased assured me that people who are truly important can shove the dress code.

While Lounge Suit symbolizes the unrepentant orderliness of the Lion City, it masks a Singapore that is un-dergoing social change. While strict behavior and decency are legislated, motion is afoot and I sense it among my students. They are excited that in two elections in 2011 new issues were debated – the rising cost of transport, food, housing, and edu-cation; the growing numbers of im-migrant workers from the Philip-pines, Bangladesh, and China that provide manual labor and household help; a birthrate among Singapor-eans far below population replenish-ment. The ruling PAP Party won its slimmest majority since Singapore gained independence 46 years ago. While proud of the multi-racialism,

public safety, and prosperity the PAP has fostered, people complain that the PAP parliamentarians are com-placent and disregard the needs of the people. The elections saw a sur-prising number of young, first-time voters. The students tell me that the social media helped bring them to the polls.

I went back to my lodgings, loos-ened my tie and hung up my sport coat. I looked forward to meeting my stdents the next day.

Thomas W. Burkman

Research Professor of Asian Studies, Emeritus

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ASIAN STUDIES COURSESSPRING 2012

AS 229, Contemporary Asian Societies, Class # 14906 Instructor: Ian Wilson Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 1400-1450, Baldy 109

This broad survey course introduces the diverse and complex societies of contemporary Asia, including East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. The course will focus upon these societies through the 20th century and into the 21st century by starting from the rise of nationalism, political revolution, and decolonization and moving on to consider the social and cultural transformations within Asian societies, particularly in relation to major political and economic changes affecting Asia and Asia’s place in the world. In considering these changing societies, students will be introduced to a variety of academic disciplines, including anthropology, social and cultural history, and political science. In addition to fulfilling a require-ment for Asian Studies students, this course will offer students an introduction to the important process of globalization with a stress on globalization’s varied impacts in socially and politically diverse contexts.

AS 383, India in Traveler’s Eye, Class #23336 (cross- listed with ENG 383, Class # 20764) Instructor: Walter Hakala Tuesday & Thursday, 1530-1650, O’Brian 214

The idea of “India” has long attracted the attention of people from afar.  Whether in quest of gold or en-lightenment, the “India” carried in the traveler’s imagination often conflicts with the India that is actually encountered.  This course is intended to serve not just as an introduction to the motivations and experienc-es of travelers to India, but also to the forms of knowledge that are produced in the wake of such travels.  By reading and discussing a wide range of both primary and secondary source materials, students will develop a broad familiarity with the history, literatures, religions, and geography of South Asia.  The diversity of perspectives that these works present challenges readers to consider what it means to be an “outsider” look-ing “in” on a culture, compelling us to consider arguments for and against treating certain geographic and political regions and temporal periods as coherent cultural zones.  Satisfies the English Breadth of Literary Study and the Asian Studies Upper-Level Elective requirements.  

AS 395, Christianity in East Asia, Class #13231 Instructor: Mark Nathan Tuesday & Thursday, 1400-1520, Clemens 06

This course traces the historical roots of the introduction and spread of Christianity in East Asia. It begins with an examination of Jesuit missionaries, such as Francis Xavier and Matteo Ricci, in Japan and China and their strategies for accommodating or rejecting indigenous religious beliefs and customs, and then moves on to consider the unique way in which Catholicism was subsequently transmitted to Korea, where Christianity has enjoyed unparalleled success in East Asia. In a relatively short period of about 230 years Christianity has emerged as a major religion in (South) Korea and one of the most influential in modern Korean society. This course looks closely at the history of this emergence and how Christianity has af-fected and been affected by Korean socio-political developments, in particular its interactions with and influence upon the traditional religions of Korea, its relationship to Korean nationalism since the late 19th century, and its conflicts with colonialism and Communism in the 20th century. It concludes with a com-parison of the Christian traditions of China, Korea and Japan and asks why Christianity in contemporary Korea has been so successful compared to its neighbors.

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AS 401, Buddhism, Class #22795 (cross-listed with RSP 394, Class #13701) Instructor: Jeannette Ludwig Tuesday & Thursday, 1230-1350, Talbert 112

A survey of Buddhist thinking and practice over 2,500 years, this course investigates the historical development of the religion, its teachings, and its key practices. We will first briefly consider the life of the founder, Siddhar-tha Gautama, known as the Buddha ‘the enlightened one,’ then go on to examine the chief tenets of the faith. We will look at the major schools of Buddhist thought – Theravada, Vajrayana, and Zen – and pay attention to three aspects or variables: 1) the culture into which the teaching was introduced, 2) the major teachers and their impact, and 3) the real-world practices that typify Buddhist practice in each homeland. The course concludes with a discussion of ethics from a Buddhist perspective, taking up some of the vexing issues of the 20th century.

AS 575, Islam & S. Asian Literature, Class #23337 (cross-listed with ENG 575, Class # 23688) Instructor: Walter Hakala Monday, 1530-1810, Clemens 436

The purpose of this course is to expose students to the wide variety of poetic and prose literary forms associated with Islamic cultures, incorporating examples in English translation from Arabic, Hindi, Pashto, Persian, Sindhi, Tamil, and Urdu originals.  The course is organized in five sections: (1) Theoretical Foundations; (2) Formal Poetry; (3) Narrative Poetic Forms; (4) Prose; and (5) Literary History.  Students are expected to demonstrate familiarity with the content of the readings  and  evaluate the efficacy of the various approaches through which the literature has been analyzed.  All of the texts are in English and no background in Asian languages or literature is expected.  

APY 267, Cultures of Islamic Peoples Class# TBA Instructor: David Banks Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 1000 – 1050 am, Location TBA

This course will discuss the spiritual side of Islam in the Southeast Asian and West Asian regions. Islam has its largest number of followers in Southeast Asia, and the styles and content of worship differ substantially from Islam in the Middle East and South Asia. This will give us a chance to familiarize ourselves with the usual ritual practices of Muslim men and women in Borneo and Malaysia, as well as Indonesia and other areas. We will consider how it moves beyond the usual rituals to mystical forms called Sufism, the heart of Islam. We will also consider how Islam affects relations between the sexes. Readings include some classic Sufi works that will help us to understand the unique religious perspectives of Southeast Asians. We will also read an anthropological monograph about the spiritual and worldly concerns of female Muslims in the Kuala Lumpur area. This course should be of special interest to students of yoga and Buddhism.

HIS 182, Asian Civilizations 2, Class #11661 Instructor: Kristin Stapleton Tuesday & Thursday, 1700-1820, Hochstetter 114

This course explores the civilizations of China, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia in interaction with the rest of the world since 1500.  Topics include the nature of political regimes, colonization, nationalism, and demo-graphic and cultural change.  Readings include a textbook and primary sources in translation.  Assignments include short papers and in-class exams.

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HIS 391, China and the World, Class #12516 Instructor: Roger Desforges Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 0930-1050, O’Brien 209

This course surveys China’s role in the world from the seventeenth century to the present. It examines: the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), which provided the territorial, demographic, and economic foundations of today’s China; the Republic (1911-1949), which established a new form of government but was beset by internal division and foreign encroachment; and the People’s Republic (1949- ), which is now widely viewed to be rivaling the United States in global influence. Lectures followed by discussions, four videos, a mid-term examination; readings in historical documents and three books leading to two short papers and one longer one.

History 368: Modern Japan Since 1600, Class# 24346 Instructor: Thomas Burkman Time and Location Forthcoming

The course will begin with the institutions and vibrant cultural life of the Tokugawa Period, and the transforma-tions which took place in a context of commercial activity, urbanization, and ideological reorientation. Then it will move forward to the internal and external factors that brought about the modern nation-state, industrializa-tion, imperialism, and major nation standing in the world. Secondary writings, historical documents in transla-tion, literature, film, and a biography project will all contribute to historical understanding.

APY 575: Ethnography and Personal Narrative, Class # 12799 Instructor: Deborah Reed-Danahay Tuesdays, 1230-1510, Filmore 354

This course will cover ethnic memoir and autobiography as a section of the course and some works by Vietnam-ese American authors.

ENG 653: Critical Theory: Representing Human Rights, Class # 23696 Instructor: Professor Arabella Lyon Tuesday, 1230-1510, Clemens 412

Human rights have emerged as a powerful discourse used in the construction of citizenships, histories, nation states, geopolitical boundaries, and human duty. It is used to promote Western “universals,” to imagine new cultural formations, to force compromises among nations and between groups within nations, and at its best, to protect and dignify human diversity. Despite the appeals of human rights discourse, however, its representations are subject to sociopolitical and economic forces that limit its possibilities. In this class we will study the trans-national implications of human rights discourses, attending to global, transhemispheric, and diasporic trends in its representations. Examining the differences between juridical and literary representations, the course begins with several critiques of human rights representations (Lyon and Olson, Shaffer and Smith, Hesford). Proceed-ing through a series of readings on violence (Girard, Scarry, Zizek), we then will address a series of questions that will make us better readers of human rights appeals and deliberations: Who can speak and advocate for whom? How are human rights violations and advocacy narrated in law, literature, and film? How are gender, race, nationality, class, age depicted within popular culture and legal/political documents? How is the subject of human rights violation constructed, and for what purpose and whose benefit? How do subjects speak back to the forces which have constructed them?

ASIAN STUDIES DIRECTORYKristin Stapleton, Director (kstaple@buffalo.edu),

Mark Nathan, Director of Undergraduate Studies (mnathan@buffalo.edu)

Walter Hakala, Director of South Asian Languages (walterha@buffalo.edu)

Bruce Acker, Assistant Director (backer@buffalo.edu)

Jeffrey Chow, Graduate Assistant (yewchow@buffalo.edu)

714 Clemens Hall, University at Buffalo, NY 14260 / Tel: (716) 645-3474 / Fax: (716) 645-3473

http://www.asianstudies.buffalo.edu/

Asian Studies Notes is published by the Asian Studies Program, University at Buffalo.

 Jeffrey Chow , Editor

Asian Studies NotesIncludes Spring 2012 Course List

Asian Studies Program714 Clemens HallBuffalo, NY 14260-4610Tel.: (716)645-3474Fax: (716)645-3473Email: asian-studies@buffalo.eduHomepage: http://www.asianstudies.buffalo.edu/