Graduate Student Conference
February 24, 9am-5pm and February 25 10am-6pm
UMC Aspen Rooms UMC 247
This year’s conference will feature 12 panels dedicated to a variety of topics and fields in graduate-level Asian Studies, including literature, history, media studies, cultural studies, linguistics, sociology, and religious studies. Each panel consists of three to four presentations (15 mins each) followed by discussion sessions (5-10 mins each), where students and faculty have the opportunity to ask questions and learn about the state of the field.
Keynote Speakers​:
Professor Wai-Yee Li, Harvard University
"Chronicling Confucius"Ìý
Sima Qian (145-ca. 85 BCE), one of China’s greatest historians, gives us the first chronological account of the life of Confucius in his monumentalÌýHistorical RecordsÌý(Shiji). Scholars have often questioned its historical accuracy. I will not weigh in on issues of veracity but will focus instead on the power of storytelling and on the complex, ambiguous, and polyvalent construction of narrative in a textual universe where textual units often have fluid boundaries. I will discuss the following issues. 1. The consequence of chronology: how does chronology supply motives and contexts? How does our understanding of a saying or a story change when it is linked to a specific historical moment? 2. Chronicling Confucius draws attention to temporality, contingency, and expediency, expediency being a mode of reasoning and action tied to our embeddedness in time and confrontation with contingency. 3. Confronting contingency leads to uncertainty and sometimes failure. How does Sima Qian turn a broad arc of striving and setbacks into ultimate vindication? Is this vindication based on the cohesion or the fissures of the narrative? How does Sima Qian parry divergent perspectives as he weaves together accounts from different sources flourishing between Confucius’ lifetime and his own?
Professor Zev Handel, University of Washington
"The Development of Japanese Scripts From Chinese Characters in Comparative Context"Ìý
Chinese characters originated in China over 3,000 years ago. ÌýPrior to their creation, East Asia was completely devoid of writing. By the time of the Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE), China already had a long literary tradition, a flourishing culture, and a sophisticated government bureaucracy. Over subsequent centuries, Chinese writing exerted an enormous influence on surrounding peoples and places, including the areas of modern-day Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. ÌýEventually the Chinese-character script was adapted to write the language spoken in these places. The adaptation of Chinese characters to the writing of Japanese, and their ultimate transformation into theÌý°ì²¹²ÔÂá¾±Ìý²¹²Ô»åÌý°ì²¹²Ô²¹Ìýscripts, is thus but one instance of a set of script adaptations that took place across East Asia. This talk presents a theoretical framework for understanding that adaptation in comparative context, and explains the ways in which the Japanese case is similar to and different from other historical adaptations of Chinese characters.
Ìý
CUBASGA 2023
February 4-5, 2022
Keynote speakers:
Professor Tina Lu, Yale UniversityÌý
Professor Sabine Frühstück, UC Santa BarbaraÌý
CUBASGA 2022
February 19-20, 2022
Keynote speakers:
Professor Lucas Bender, Yale UniversityÌý
Professor Fabio Rambelli, UC Santa BarbaraÌý
CUBASGA 2021
January 30-31, 2021
Keynote speakers:
Professor Xiaofei Tian, Harvard University
Professor Wiebke Denecke, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CUBASGA 2020
February 14-15, 2020
Keynote speakers:
ProfessorÌýDavid C. Schaberg, UCLA
ProfessorÌýDavid L. Howell, Harvard University
CUBASGA 2019
February 15-16, 2019
Keynote speakers:
ProfessorÌýChristopher Rea,ÌýUniversity of British Columbia
ProfessorÌýTomiko Yoda,ÌýHarvard University
CUBASGA 2018
February 23-24, 2018
Keynote speakers:
Professor Michael Nylan,ÌýUniversity of California, Berkeley
ProfessorÌýDavid Atherton,ÌýHarvard University
CUBASGA 2017
February 3-4, 2017
Keynote speakers:
Professor Wai-yee Li, Harvard University
Professor Michele Mason, University of Maryland College Park
CUBASGA 2016
February 19-20, 2016
Keynote speakers:
Professor Adam Kern, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Professor Ronald Egan, Stanford University
CUBASGA 2015
February 27-28, 2015
Keynote speakers:
Professor Michael Emmerich, University of California
Professor Ding Xiang Warner, Cornell University
CUBASGA 2014Ìý
March 7-8, 2014
Keynote speaker:
Professor William G. Boltz, University of Washington
CUBASGA 2013
March 8-9, 2013
Keynote speakers:
Professor Michael Puett, Harvard University
Professor Sharalyn Orbaugh, University British Columbia
CUBASGA 2012
March 2-3, 2012
Keynote speaker:
Professor R. Joe Cutter, Arizona State University
CUBASGA 2011
February 18-19, 2011
Keynote speakers:
Professor Michael Nylan
ProfessorÌýMichael Dylan Foster
CUBASGA 2010
February 26-28, 2010
Keynote presenters:
Professor Martin Kern, Princeton University
ProfessorÌýJanet Ikeda, Washington & Lee University
CUBASGA 2009
Friday March 6th, 2009 - Saturday March 7th, 2009