Luncheon Series: Takara Ben’s Oceanic Poetics 09.11.2025

CAS Luncheon Series
Thursday, September 11, 1pm-2pm

Denison Arts & Sciences Building, room 146

This talk contains material from an article I am writing about the work of the Okinawan poet, Takara Ben (高良勉, b. 1949). Okinawa, a group of islands between mainland Japan and Taiwan, was colonised by the Empire of Japan in the 1800s before being occupied by the US military from 1945-1972. In my talk, I will introduce Takara Ben, a prominent poet and critic in Okinawa and a strong advocate for the protection and dissemination of Okinawan languages and cultures. I will detail some of the major themes and forms of Takara’s poetry, and focus on his use of the ocean as a figure he uses to think about connection, expression, and the situated nature of poetry in Okinawa.

Daryl Maude is Assistant Professor of Japanese in the Asian Languages and Civilization Department and Affiliate Faculty in LGBTQ Studies. Daryl’s research focuses on modern and contemporary literature (prose, poetry, and criticism) written in Japanese. His current project examines how, during the Cold War and into the present day, the future has been imagined by queer people, Okinawans, sex workers, and others marginalized by mainstream Japanese society. Amid the triangular relationship between mainland Japan, Okinawa, and the USA, his research looks at partial, fragmentary, and messy visions of the future in literature and media, and asks how, amidst violence, creators make work that imagine otherwise.