The Center for Asian Studies is pleased to help support the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations' "Transnationalism and it's Discontents: Exploring Critical Approaches to Border-space" conference this weekend, March 13-15.
A collaborative effort between faculty and graduate students, this conference, organized by the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, is designed to encourage new approaches to Asian Studies through the consideration of contemporary transnational literature, film, performance, and criticism. The event will feature as its keynote speaker acclaimed transnational writer Tawada Yōko, as well as a selection of transnational scholars working at institutions across the United States and worldwide.
The conference will begin Friday evening with a screening of the documentary, Ikyō no naka no kokyō - A Home Within Foreign Borders. Levy Hideo (1950-) is the first Westerner to write novels full-time in Japanese. A Home Within Foreign Borders follows Levy as he returns to Taichung, Taiwan, for the first time in half a century. Prompted by an invitation to speak at Taichung's Tunghai University, he makes the journey accompanied by poet Suga Keijirō, producer of the film, and Wen Yuju, former pupil and fellow author (herself a Taiwan-national writing in Japanese). Ōkawa Keiko's camera captures Levy without reserve as he dares to step into the space he once called "home," at times fumbling uneasily, at times a joyous child reborn. The screening will begin at 6:00 p.m. in ATLAS 102, and will be followed by a Q&A session with Levy Hideo and producer Suga Keijiro.
The panels begin at 9:15 Saturday morning in ALTAS 102. Panels include: Colonialism/Post-colonialism; Graduate Panel on Theoretical Approaches; and Media. There will also be "A Conversation on Transnational Writing" at 11:00 with Yōko Tawada and Levy Hideo, as well as a keynote speech by Yōko Tawada at 5:00 p.m.
On Sunday, the panels begin at 9:00 a.m., also in ATLAS 102. Panels for Sunday include: Translation; and Comparative Studies.
Additional details about the conference are available at http://bouldertransnational2015.weebly.com.
Sponsored by:
The Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations
Association for Asian Studies Northeast Asia Council
Center for Humanities and the Arts
President's Fund for the Humanities
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
Japan Foundation
Center for Asian Studies
Department of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures
