National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA)

Past NCTA/World History Center Enrichment Seminars

For information about current and upcoming events, please visit our Upcoming Events page

2012-13

Beginning in the Fall of 2012 we inaugurated a new Seminar Series exclusively for NCTA alumni and associates.

Seminar 1: "China’s Maternal Welfare and Child Care Policy: 20th Century Approaches and Future Challenges" took place on Wednesday December 5, 2012 and was lead by Dr. Tina Phillips Johnson, Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Chinese Studies Program at St. Vincent College.

Seminar 2: "China’s Balancing Act in the 1980s: Emulating or Rejecting the United States" took place on Satruday January 12, 2013.

Discussion leader/speaker: Jing (Jay) Li, Associate Professor of History at Duquesne University

Seminar 3: Three Teachers' Perspectives on Teaching Contemporary China

Took place on Wednesday, February 13, 2013.

Our presenters were three of our NCTA-Pittsburgh region alumni who

participated in the Hangzhou Summer Residential Program in July, 2012. They will share with you their implementation projects based on the summer experience.

Discussion Leaders: Pamela Burrett (ESL at Mt. Lebanon High School), Patrick Hickey (Librarian/Director of Research and social studies teacher at the Science and Technology Academy), and Jennifer Kraar (Librarian at the Winchester-Thurston School)

Seminar 4: "An Introduction to Chinese Sixth Generation Film: Focusing on Blind Shaft." Took place on Saturday, March 9, 2013.

This full length feature film (86 minutes long) was introduced by Cindy McNulty, an English and History teacher at Oakland Catholic High School. She has taught in China and traveled independently throughout much of China over a period of twenty five years. During 2012 Cindy attended the NEH Summer Institute, Chinese Film and Society, at the University of Illinois.

2011-2012

Love, Luck & Marriage in Japan: A Culture Workshop

Meet Mrs. Kiyoko Matsumoto of Handa City, Japan, for a special workshop for students & faculty about love and marriage customs in Japan, including a model demonstration with traditional Japanese wedding attire for women and men! This once in a lifetime event includes special talks by Dr. Clark Chilson (Religious Studies) and Mrs. Fumiyo Iwadachi (Handa City).

Event Flyer: Love, Luck & Marriage in Japan Flyer

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Center and National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA) at the University of Pittsburgh, and the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania.

JAPAN AND ITS WORLD: LATE EDO PERIOD AND TODAY

Saturday March 24, 2012 from 9:30a.m.-Noon in 4130 W. Posvar Hall,

The workshop was lead by Constantine Vaporis, the Director of the Asian Studies Program and history professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and focused on the changes occurring in the late Edo period (mid-19th Century) especially the “opening” of Japan. In addition we explored the ways that this information relates to understanding Japan’s role in the world today. Dr. Vaporis works regularly with NCTA teachers in the Baltimore area. He is intensely interested in understanding East Asia “through Japanese eyes” as attested by his newest publication (January 2012) Voices of Early Modern Japan: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life during the Age of the Shoguns.

Dr. Vaporis’ presentation will deal with four distinct topics:

Challenges from Within

Danger from Without

Seeking Out the World

Postwar Japan and Asia

Within each topic there will be appropriate readings provided so that seminar participants can be well-prepared for on-going discussion during the presentation. These readings will be posted on our website.

For more information and a registration form, please see the flyer: Japan and Its World Flyer

Readings for Workshop: Workshop Packets

Registration Deadline: March 19, 2012

Anpo: Art X War directed by Linda Hoaglund (Wings of Defeat)

Free public film screening and discussion with the Director. Round table discussion with the audience to follow, with speakers Linda Hoaglund, Geralyn Huxley (Curator of Film and Video, Andy Warhol Museum), and Charles Exley (Assistant Professor, East Asian Languages and Literatures). For more information on the film, go to the site for New Day Films.

When: 7:00 p.m, Thursday, April 12, 2012
Where: NEW VENUE: Carnegie Museum of Art Theater (4400 Forbes Ave)

For NCTA Alumni & Associates: NCTA is planning a pre-screeining discussion about this film. Details TBA.

In 1951, Japan signed the US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty (ANPO) that gave the U.S. the right to maintain armed forces on Japan’s soil. This sparked a protest movement in 1960 in which millions of Japanese citizens took to the streets. The film uses the work of Japanese artists to guide the viewer through the opposition to the government response and the presence of U.S. military in Japan.
Sponsored by the Asian Studies Center and National Consortium for Teaching About Asia, University Center for International Studies, University of Pittsburgh with the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Andy Warhol Museum

2010-2011

"CHINA’S 1911 REVOLUTION: How it continues to Influence China (and the world) Today."

This World History Seminar for teachers was held on Saturday, Sept 24, 2011, from 9:30am-Noon in room 4130 Wesley Posvar Hall (University of Pittsburgh's Main campus). The seminar was led by Dr. Kristin Stapleton, Director of the Asian Studies Center at the University of Buffalo, SUNY.

Workshop Readings: Reading Packet; Stapleton Article

Intersections: East Asia and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Math), June 22-24, 2011.

How can you use East Asia to teach about science or the arts if you are a literature, social studies or history teacher? How can you teach about technology, math or science using East Asia as your examples? NCTA teachers addressed these questions in a series of presentations designed by teachers for teachers in a variety of fields. Other activities included an evening welcome reception and a Friday 1/2 day hands-on art workshop at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh!

China: Exploring the Interior 1903-1904

NCTA is collaborated with Shady Side Academy in sponsoring a photography exhibit “China: Exploring the Interior 1903-1904” between April 7-30, 2011. To kick-off the exhibit, there was a reception on April 7th, 2011at 5pm with the curator Robert M. Sargent and Pitt history professor Evelyn Rawski.

"Unknown Chains: Slavery Across the Eurasian World"

was held on Wednesday, September 29, 2010 and was led by Professor Stewart Gordon, senior research scholar at the Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan. Many of you will remember the 2009 lecture based on his book, When Asia Was the World. Dr. Gordon’s new book, Routes, (University of California, 2011) explores four different kinds of routes: trade, supply, river and pilgrimage in a world wide perspective. Each of the twelve chapters focuses on one of the great routes of human history, as far back as the Roman Appian Way and as contemporary as Interstate 90.

Asia Unreeled Film Series

Four thought-provoking and entertaining films spanning the diverse realities, histories, and cultures of Asia. Each film was followed by a moderated discussion. Films were shown at Winchester Thurston School, 555 Morewood Avenue in Shadyside (intersection of Morewood & Ellsworth)

February 6, 2011: The Spirit of Taiko (2005), 2:00p.m.- 4:00p.m.
February 13, 2011: Up the Yangtze (2008), 2:00p.m.- 4:00p.m.
February 27, 2011: Smile Pinki (2008), 2:00p.m.- 4:00p.m.
March 6, 2011: Silence Broken - Korean Comfort Women (1999), 2:00p.m.- 4:00p.m.

U.S.-China Administrator Shadowing Project

This program, offered to Pennsylvania school superintendents and principals, pairs Pennsylvania schools with Chinese schools. Over a one year period the administrators visited each others’ schools for a period of a few weeks. The Chinese delegation came to Pennsylvania during the Fall, and the American delegation visited China during the Spring. For a more detailed description and an application see the following documents:

2009-2010

"Will China and India Dominate the 21st Century Global Economy?" was held on February 16, 2010 and was lead byLee Branstetter, Economics and Public Policy, Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon Universitiy Readings: www.frontlineonnet.com Check the archives. (Articles which look promising are “Sustainable Future”, volume 27 #1; “Another Bubble?” volume 26, #20.); www.thestatesman.net; www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com;www.hindustantimes.com “Buck up, India is coming: Obama” 1-30-10.

Focusing World History Through A Comparison of China and the West. Was held on Monday, November 9, 2009. and was led by John Blair and Jerusha McCormack, whose current project is entitled Western Civilization with Chinese Comparisons, a sourcebook they have used in China and now for American students at St. Francis University in Loretto, PA.

Readings: China and the West (from Education About Asia Volume 12, Number 3 Winter 2007) Mapping Ethnocentrism (Excerpted from Western Civilization with Chinese Comparisons)

Networks and Routes: New approaches to connected history, was held on October 6, 2009 and was led by Stewart Gordon, senior research scholar at the Center for South Asian Studies, University of Michigan. Readings:

www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200805/suitable.luxury.htm

www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200904/the.game.of.kings.htm

2008-2009

Interpreting Japan’s Role In the Period 1890-1910 was held on October 21, 2008 and was led by Shingo Minamizuka, from the Department of Intercultural Communications at Hosei University in Tokyo.
The Japanese Textbook Controversy was held on November 11, 2008, and was led by Shingo Minamizuka, from the Department of Intercultural Communications at Hosei University in Tokyo.
Beyond Chinggis Kahn: Mongol Connections with the World of Islam was held on February 24, 2009 and was led by Johan Elverskog, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. NCTA alums Pam Burrett and Adel Fougnies also shared their experiences teaching in Mongolia last summer.

2007-2008

East Asia in the World Economy 1600-1900 was held on October 17, 2007.
Africa: China's Great Leap into the Continent was held on November 19th, 2007 and was led by Joshua Eisenman from UCLA and the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington D.C. Readings: China's Africa Strategy
From Revolution to Globalization: A Half-Century Rendezvous between Beijing and Havana. was held on March 11, 2008 and was led by Yinghong Cheng, Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy at Delaware State University. Readings: “Sino-Cuban Relations During the Early Years of the Castro Regime, 1959-1966”.