Faculty, Student, and Alumni News | Asian Studies Center

Dr. Alter, ASC Director, named Editor for the Journal of Asian Studies

For many academics, especially those affiliated with a top-ranked research institution such as the University of Pittsburgh, being involved in the publication of an academic journal is a major accomplishment. So, in July 2021, when he was named the Editor for the Journal of Asian Studies, it was a high personal honor for Dr. Joseph Alter, the Director of the Pitt Asian Studies Center.

The Journal of Asian Studies, or JAS, is the premier peer-reviewed academic journal for the field of Asian studies and is the primary organ for the Association for Asian Studies. The journal was founded in 1941 as the Far Eastern Quarterly, but the scope and focus of the journal has shifted over time along with the changing nature of Asian studies and especially recently as Asia continues to play a bigger and bigger role in global affairs, a term Dr. Alter calls “Global Asia.” Indeed this “Global Asia”, or the growing impact that Asia, in particular the developing countries of China and India and the cultural exporters of Japan and South Korea, is what Dr. Alter would like his 5-year term as editor to focus on. Dr. Alter said that he is seeking to publish papers and academics that tackle this topic regarding the new and profound ways that Asia interacts with the rest of the world, and vice versa.

Dr. Alter stressed is that while being named Editor for the JAS is a personal honor, it is also a big responsibility that he takes extremely seriously. Due in large part to his editorial predecessors, the JAS is a well-known and well-run academic journal that has a reputation for being the foremost journal regarding Asian studies. Dr. Alter also talked in-depth about the challenges that he will face as an editor for a membership-based publication. As more and more journals become open-access rather than subscription-based, journal editors must adapt to the changing technologies and continuously improve their publications to keep their readership willing to pay, a process that hinges on making sure that the journal is as good of a publication as possible and worth reading. Dr. Alter also readily shared that this is also an honor for the ASC and the University of Pittsburgh as a whole. As both the Director of ASC and the Editor of the JAS, he hopes this prestigious position will help to elevate the Center and the University, bringing in new resources and new academic collaborators.

As editor, Dr. Alter said that he would continue to advocate for policies and highlight papers and books that meet and surpass the high bar for quality that has come to be expected from the JAS. There are two policy priorities that Dr. Alter seeks to put forth during his tenure. The first is that he wants to have more papers submitted and published by authors from Asia, especially the often-overlooked countries. Relevant to this point, his second policy regards publishing topics that deal with these lesser-known countries and topics that are often excluded from other journals.

Congratulations to Dr. Alter on this wonderful accomplishment and best of luck during his tenure as Editor for the Journal of Asian Studies.

The University of Pittsburgh Celebrates India Republic Day

On Sunday, January 29th from 2:00 to 5:00 ET in the Frick Fine Art Building the Indian Nationality Room Committee at the University of Pittsburgh, along with the Asian Studies Center and Screenshot: Asia, presented a celebration of India's Republic Day with an afternoon of food, dance performance, and short film that highlighted Indian culture. India Republic Day is the day when India marks and celebrates the date on which the Constitution of India came into effect. Ranjani Shankar, the Committee Chair of the Indian Nationality Room Committee, served as the MC for the event. Dr. Joseph Alter, Asian Studies Center Director, gave a short speech about the importance that India has in his personal life and in the overall Pitt Community. Various schools of Indian dance were performed by dancers of different ages and levels. Dance performances were intermixed by singing performances of famous Indian songs including the national anthem and Vande Mataram.

The Asian Studies Center Welcomes new Assistant Director for Partnerships & Programming, Linda Lieu

Please join the entire Asian Studies Center staff, faculty, students, and community in welcoming Linda Lieu to her new position as Assistant Director for Partnerships & Programming.

Linda was formally the Assistant Registrar for Student Records and Graduation for the University of Pittsburgh’s Registrar’s Office. Prior to working at the University of Pittsburgh Linda spent many years in community engagement roles at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Action Against Rape. She has presented on topics such as sexual assault, the Model Minority Myth, Pitt’s PeopleSoft student information system and conducted programs in the Allegheny County Jail. She is currently co-chair of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus through the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO).

As ASC’s Assistant Director for Partnerships & Programming, she will be responsible for most of the great programming held by the center. Additionally, she will oversee partnerships with community organizations. Welcome Linda!

Farewell to Rachel Jacobson

The Asian Studies Center is saying a bittersweet farewell to our longtime, beloved Administrative Assistant, Rachel Jacobson. Rachel has been working with Asian Studies since her student days, and has been a wonderful source of knowledge on topics ranging from Anime, getting student scholarships processed, Japanese light novels, and Asian film procurement. She is moving on to bigger things, and we could not be more excited for her! We look forward to seeing Rachel at various Asian Studies events.

Local Students Excel at the 2021 High School Japanese Speech Contest

Local Students Excel at the 2021 High School Japanese Speech Contest

PITTSBURGH, PA – The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania (JASP) and the University of Pittsburgh’s Asian Studies Center jointly hosted the 24th Annual High School Japanese Speech Contest. The contest was held online the week of March 1, and the awards ceremony was broadcast to YouTube on Friday, March 12.

This year, 37 students from Western PA competed virtually in spite of the difficulties of the last school year. Japanese language students of all levels and students who are involved in Japan-related cultural activities participated in one of four speech levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced, and advanced plus) or the poster contest. Participating schools were Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, Shaler Area High School, and Upper St. Clair High School. Students from Shaler Area Middle School submitted artwork for a vote during the awards ceremony.

Margaret Rea from Shaler Area High School won the grand prize in Advanced level. Margaret received an iPad as the grand prize donated by the Consulate General of Japan in New York. First place in the Advanced category was tied between Zoe Babbit, Jaime Eichmiller, and Abby Sawa, all from Shaler Area High School. First place in the Intermediate category went to Stephanie Lu from Upper St. Clair High School. The first place in the Beginner category went to Elise Bertolet from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School. Finally, first place in the Poster competition went to Richard Alex Carlson from Upper St. Clair High School.

This event is made possible through the generous support of the Elliott Group, Perryman Company, Temple University Japan Campus, Japan Foundation Los Angeles, the Japanese Consulate General of New York, University of Pittsburgh Asian Studies Center, the Japan Iron & Steel Federation and Mitsubishi Endowments at the University of Pittsburgh, and all participating schools, students, and volunteers.

About The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania:

Established in 1986, The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania is an association of individuals, corporations and organizations that seek to promote local understanding of and mutually beneficial participation in the changing US-Japan relationship. The Society provides informative, innovative programming in order to encourage a better understanding of the business, cultural, social, educational and political practices and customs of Japan and the United States. More can be learned about the JASP at our website: http://japansocietypa.org/

Japan Studies Postdoctoral Fellow: Keisuke Yamada

Keisuke Yamada, (PhD University of Pennsylvania, 2020) is an ethnomusicologist who studies Japanese cultural formations. As a Japanese Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh he will be affiliated with the Asian Studies Center in the University Center for International Studies from Spring 2021 through Spring 2022. Dr. Yamada’s scholarship is interdisciplinary, ranging across a number of topics to engage with theoretical questions that highlight the significance of a global perspective in Asian studies. His first book Supercell's Supercell featuring Hatsune Miku (Bloomsbury 2017), examined the fan-based articulation of vocaloid musical personae and the blurring of production and consumption in the domain of prosumer social media. His dissertation research focused on the politics of cultural creativity at the intersection of traditional music, environmentalism, and human/non-human animal relationships, showing how the use of animal parts and products to make shamisen (an iconic instrument in Japan) raises complex questions concerning ethics, aesthetics, authenticity and the integrity of musical traditions, as well as the politics of sustainability and cultural preservation in an era of global environmental activism. Following on a critically incisive study of blackness and racial stereotypes in the intellectual history of Japan’s engagement the west, his current research examines the history of noise (sō-on), making the argument that the creative potential of noise must be understood as a feature of work environments and the history of labor in the context of industrialized production.
While at the University of Pittsburgh Dr. Yamada will complete work on several publications, pursue his ongoing research, play a critical role in the expansion of the Summer Institute for Asian Studies, and in fall 2021 will co-teach Asia Now, an undergraduate course that incorporates a lecture series to highlight contemporary scholarship in Asian Studies.

Edo Avant-Garde Film Screening with Introduction and DIscussion with Linda Hoaglund

Thursday, January 21, 2021
7:00pm - 9:00pm (Eastern Time) / 6:00pm - 8:00pm (Central Time)

DESCRIPTION: Edo Avant-Garde reveals the untold story of the vital role Japanese artists of the Edo era (1603 – 1868) played in developing “modern art.” During the Edo era, Japan prospered in peaceful isolation from Western powers, while audacious artists innovated abstraction, minimalism, surrealism and the illusion of 3-D. Their originality is most striking in images of the natural world depicted with gold leaf on large-scale folding screens that anticipate 20th century installation art. In groundbreaking interviews with scholars and priests, the film traces the artists' original visions to their reverence for nature, inspired by Buddhism and Shinto animism.

LOCATION: Please register here, and then a link to the Vimeo livestream will be sent to the registrant's email account.

SCHEDULE: 7:00 Introduction by Linda Hoaglund, 7:15 Edo Avant Garde livestream begins, 8:45 Discussion with director Linda Hoaglund.

If you have any questions, please contact asia@pitt.edu

Largest Collection of Tsukioka Kōgyo’s Woodblock Prints Digitized by the University of Pittsburgh Library System

The University of Pittsburgh Library System, which holds the largest collection of artist Tsukioka Kōgyo’s (1869-1927) color woodblock prints outside of Japan, has digitized four complete sets that depict Noh theatre. This online collection comprises the largest digital representation of Kōgyo’s work freely available online. The set contains: Nōgaku zue 能樂圖繪 (Pictures of Noh), Nōgaku hyakuban 能楽百番 (Prints of One Hundred Noh Plays), Nōga taikan 能画大鑑 (A Great Collection of Prints of Noh Plays), and Kyōgen gojūban 狂言五十番 (Fifty Kyōgen Plays) and is available via the Kōgyo: The Art of Noh website at: http://exhibit.library.pitt.edu/kogyo/

The Artist

As the preeminent graphic artist of the Noh and kyōgen theatres, Tsukioka Kōgyo created hundreds of Japanese woodblock prints, paintings, magazine illustrations, and postcard pictures of Noh and kyōgen plays. Kōgyo also produced paintings and prints of flowers, birds, and even wartime scenes, but he is best known and remembered for his theatre paintings and prints. All the prints were published in Tokyo between 1897 and 1930.

Noh Theatre

Noh theatre, a well-known and long-established art form that originated in 14^th century Japan, is a combination of dance and drama that plays on themes of the supernatural and the natural world.

The Collection

The online collection contains 632 digitized prints from the four sets, along with over 200 Japanese synopses of Noh plays with English summaries provided by P.G. O’Neill in his A Guide to Nō (Hinoki Shoten, 1964).

As described by Elizabeth Oyler, professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, “Kōgyo is recognized as a master whose art imbued traditional woodblock printing with the new techniques and perspectives of the global modernity of the turn of the 20th century. His four collections of Noh prints embrace the breadth of his artistic vision and provide invaluable documentation of the world of the Noh theatre. Access to a carefully catalogued and cross-referenced digital archive containing all four collections is a treasure trove for scholars of studio arts, art history, the Noh and theatre history, and world history.”

Remembering E. Maxine Bruhns

The staff of the Asian Studies Center join with our colleagues in UCIS to remember the life of E. Maxine Bruhns who served as director of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program from 1965 until her retirement in January of this year. Up until her death on July 17^th at the age of 96, Bruhns dedicated her life to promoting cross-cultural understanding and helped to build diversity into the very foundation of international studies at the University of Pittsburgh. The Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning serve as a window to the world for our students and as a powerful symbol of the values of inclusiveness, open mindedness and global understanding that are the heart and soul of a liberal arts education. Countless students have benefited in direct and indirect ways from the support they have received from the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program. We see this over and over as our Asian Studies certificate students are awarded fellowships to conduct research in the humanities, social sciences, business, health sciences and other areas. In remembrance of E. Maxine Bruhns, we in the Asian Studies Center join our colleagues at the University to recognize a life lived fully in the service of transforming students into global citizens. With great appreciation for all they do, especially at this time of loss and at this moment in history, we look forward to working with the dedicated staff of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program toward the ongoing realization of a vision for the future embodied by E. Maxine Bruhns.

Local Students Excel at the 2020 High School Japanese Speech Contest

PITTSBURGH, PA – The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania (JASP) and the University of Pittsburgh’s Asian Studies Center jointly hosted the 23rd Annual High School Japanese Speech Contest. The contest was held on Friday, March 6th at the William Pitt Union on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. This year, 54 students from Western PA competed in this daylong competition. Carley Soley from Upper St. Clair High School won the grand prize in Advanced Plus level. Carley received an electronic Japanese-English dictionary as the grand prize donated by the Consulate General of Japan in New York. For a full list of winners, see here.