2019-2020

Have you taken two Asian Studies classes? Are there topics in/on Asia that you would like to explore, research and understand more? Do you wish that you had some funding to help you do this? If you’ve answered yes to all of these questions, the Gaylord Prize is perfect for you. Every year, Asian Studies offers, for successful proposals,  grants of up to $1000 to research any topic of interest that you have within the world’s largest continent: Asia. This is your chance to go beyond classes at CC and truly explore something to do with Asia that has been on your mind and you believe deserves more attention. This semester’s applications are due to Linda Inzer second Friday of block 3.  Feel free to reach out to her or Asian Studies faculty to learn more! Buddhist Pilgrimage in J...

Machi and Kaiting will hold various events for students interested in Asian culture. Traditional annual events at CC such as Chinese New Year Festival and Sakura Festival will continue this year, and everyone is welcome. Machi and Kaiting are looking forward to meeting and making friends with all the students who have an interest in Asian culture and Asian languages!  Machi Niiya, the Japanese CPC, was born in Miyagi Prefecture and grew up in Tokyo. She earned her master’s degree in Linguistics at International Christian University (ICU) this past March. When asked about the most important experience in her life, Machi shares that her family moved to the United Kingdom when she was in sixth grade and stayed until her eighth-grade year. She views this experience as laying the groun...

Starting from January 2018, the Trump administration has imposed and escalated tariffs on imports. In June 2018, the U.S. added a 25% tariff on imports of steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum. In response, retaliatory tariffs have occurred, including retaliating tariffs from China averaging 16% on $121 billion of U.S. exports. For the U.S. this is the first episode of large-scale competitive tariff protection since the Great Depression in the 1930s. As a whole, the U.S. set tariffs on approximately $283 billion of U.S. imports, with rates ranging between 10% and 50%. These combative exchanges of tariffs characterized what is known currently as the “China trade war.” A trade war is defined as a series of events in which one or more nations attacks another’s trade with taxes and quotas. Ty...

Q: Hello! Would you please briefly introduce yourself and your field of study? Sure! I’m the Riley Scholar in the Asian Studies Program this academic year. I received my PhD training in Asian Studies and Asian American Studies at Cornell University and I also hold a Master’s degree from the School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. I teach and research within the field of Asian Studies and Asian American Studies. Q: What made you want to specialize in Asian Studies and Asian American Studies? Well, I have a longer answer to that question… I’m a first-generation college student and I’m also Filipino American, so I grew up in the diaspora. When I first entered college, I wanted to be an Asian Americanist. However, there was no Asian American Studies...

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers have come out to the streets to protest against an extradition bill, formally called the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill, proposed by the Hong Kong government.  The protests officially began on March 31st, 2019 and are still ongoing. There have been eight recorded suicides, and over 2,000 injured so far. The protests arose out of anxiety and concern over the “one country, two systems” relationship between Hong Kong and mainland China. Hong Kongers worry that their residents and those passing through the city will be extradited to courts controlled by the Communist Party of China, therefore undermining the civil liberties of Hong Kongers and not receiving a fair trial. In addition, there is an...

In recent years, there has been an uptick in tension between the Chinese government and Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim minorities, particularly the Uyghurs. Xinjiang is China’s western-most province and shares a border with eight other countries. Far more than any other provinces in China, thereby making it an extremely strategically important area. Earlier this summer, the Chinese government released a white paper “on historical matters concerning Xinjiang.” In this paper it was stated that “conversion to Islam was not a voluntary choice” for the original Chinese people who converted in Xinjiang. Rather, Islam was imposed on them and Islam, it is stated, is a foreign religion. This report troubled many both in and outside of China. For many nations, it is hard to establish what is an...

On April 30, 2019, the Japanese emperor, Emperor Akihito, announced to abdicate at the age of 85, and on the next day, May 1, 2019, his son ascended to the throne and became Emperor Naruhito for the new Reiwa Era of Japan. This year’s October and November would be the months of celebration in Japan due to the enthronement dated to start on October 22 and a large festival surrounding it starting on November 9. Here are a few things to know about Reiwa to help understand the significance of these celebrations better. This Abdication was a Special Case     The traditional Japanese succession of throne was maintained for more than 200 years: after the current emperor passed away, his (there was no female emperor in Japanese history so far) first legitimate successor ...

On November 5th, Asian Studies faculty invited students to get together over lunch and discuss what can be available to Asian Studies majors and minors in the future. For several years now, the faculty acknowledged, Asian Studies has had a disproportionate number of classes focused on East Asia. Assistant Professor Yogesh Chandrani (Religion and Asian Studies department) and others are spearheading an effort to change this and include more classes on South Asia and Southeast Asia. For example, starting in  blocks A and B this summer, Asian Studies will be offering a class on Elementary Hindi/Urdu, providing enough students enroll. Students welcomed this new addition, as Hindi, is not only one of the most commonly spoken languages in Asia, but is the third most-spoken language in the ...

Islam is the largest religion in Asia and the fastest growing religion in the world. Islam, therefore, deserves a great deal more attention in this publication which sometimes privileges East Asian stories over others. This is not the only reason why writing and talking about Islam is pertinent. Across the world, Muslims are facing unprecedented persecution. This repression demands our attention, engagement, solidarity and resistance. In the United States there are continued attempts to expand a Muslim ban, in Myanmar there is what the United Nations has called a “textbook” case of ethnic cleansing, in China there are concentration camps, and in India there is a citizenship law that excludes Muslims. This citizenship law passed in the lower house of India’s parliament on Novembe...

During block 3, Julian Saporiti, a singer/song-writer, researcher, and professor, came to CC and performed a series of songs with his colleague Emilia Halvorsen. Saporiti and Halvorsen are both doctorate students at Brown University. Saporiti was a visiting professor who taught Intro to Asian American Studies during block 8 last year. He is a leading voice behind No-No Boy which is a multimedia project that merges music and history, particularly various Asian and Asian American narratives. On the evening of October 22nd, Saporiti and Halvorsen performed a series of songs relating to different Asian and Asian American histories, such as Japanese internment, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and the fall of Saigon. To complement their song and story performances, a slideshow played behind them to ...