Pitt NCTA Workshop Resources

Food in Contemporary Japanese Literature: An NCTA Workshop for K–12 Educators, held on October 25, 2023, that offered an introduction to contemporary Japanese literature through readings that celebrate food. It began with a video featuring award-winning author Hideo Furukawa and his translator, Kendall Heitzman, discussing a chapter from his memoir Zero F, set in Fukushima after the March 2011 disaster. Next, it looked at popular Japanese literary genres, including manga, modern tanka poetry, the I-novel tradition, and zuihitsu. Lastly, it concluded with the possibilities of translation, using a tanka by Ainu poet Hokuto Iboshi, guided by notes from poetry translator Andrew Campana. This workshop provided guidance for teachers in K-12 who want to include contemporary Japanese writing in their curriculum or to focus on food writing. Click Here to Access the Workshop Resources

The Great Books of East Asia Series is a free book discussion series that will give K-12 educators a chance to delve deeply into important and foundational books from East Asia that they may know of or even teach about but may have never read in an enriching way.  Some books in the series are significant for understanding East Asia or are well known as important works of world literature. Others may not be familiar outside of a particular country but are a central part of that country’s literature.  Participants will be provided with complimentary copies of the books (in translation). The discussions will be led a faculty expert who will provide content and context on the work, and an NCTA master teacher who will discuss ways to incorporate the work into the classroom.

Public Art + Dissent: Art, Protest and Public Spaces was an online mini-course for K-12 educators held over the course of three days, November 9, 11, and 13, 2020. In this Pitt NCTA/Global Studies Center collaboration, speakers discussed how protest artists use public spaces to engage in dialogues with their public as well as other artists around the world. Recent and contemporary public art examples from around the world were showcased to demonstrate ways in which public art transcends national boundaries and is used for protest, dissent, and commentary on political, social, and cultural issues. Topics included the works of Ai Weiwei, Yayoi Kusuma, street artists in Bogota, Columbia, Loyalist murals from Northern Ireland, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Whose Narrative: Re-examining War Memorials in East Asia and the US was an innovative collaboration held on April 4, 2019. The recorded video program featured Dr. David Kenley, Elizabethtown College, and Dr. Kirk Savage, University of Pittsburgh. This two part workshop focused on understanding the history, context and messages convayed through war memorials in East Asia and the US.