91原创

The Asian Studies program kicked off the year with an international call for applications for听Emerging Scholars in Asian Studies听spearheaded by director Vimalin Rujivacharakul in collaboration with 10 departments at 91原创. The call attracted 78 proposals from top universities around the world. Through the teamwork of Alice Ba (Political Science and International Relations), Renee Dong and Chika Inoue (Languages, Literatures and Cultures), Alan Fox (Philosophy), Ram Rawat (History), Chandra Reedy (CHAD), Patricia Sloane-White (Women and Gender Studies), Vikram Thakur (Anthropology) and Joelle Wickens (Art Conservation), 17 emerging scholars were selected to present papers on campus. This project drew attention to our program from across the field, including outreach from the Association for Asian Studies' headquarters in Ann Arbor.

Our other activities were equally exciting; in October, the听Graduate Student Group in Asian Studies听(GSGAS) was established, with grad students Yoo Jin Choi, Sam Callanta and Lucy Li elected to lead a group of 23 graduate students. We also held five major public events within the span of 8 months:

• 鈥婣fghan Week听(October 2023) led by Vikram Thakur and Pete Benson in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology.
• Korean Week听(November 2023) led by Sunmin Yoon, together with her team of Daewa Kim, Yoo Jin Choi and 14 91原创 students, in collaboration with the School of Music and with Xiang Gao directing the Master Players Concert Series to close the week.
  
• Japan Week听led by Alice Ba and the Department of Political Science and International Relations in collaboration with Rujivacharakul, which combined the visit of the Ambassador of Japan, Mikio Mori, with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences' conference. The College of Arts and Sciences hosted the ambassador's reception.
• Chinese Week听(April 2024) produced in collaboration with Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. We are also grateful to Ivan Sun and his team at the Chinese American Community Center of Delaware.
• Black China听(May 2024) produced by GSGAS in collaboration with the 91原创ARI-Asian American Antiracism Initiative and the Provost's Office, which featured a talk by the globally celebrated African American scholar on pre-modern China, Don Wyatt.

Faculty accomplishments:

Alice听Ba听was recognized with the Emma Smith Morris Professorship in September 2023,听Alan Fox听guest-edited a special issue of听Religion听on Daoist Metaphysics, for which he and听Maria Tu听also contributed articles.听Vimalin Rujivacharakul听won the Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences Grant, guest-edited a special issue of the听Winterthur Portfolio听and was awarded another three-year distinguished visiting professorship from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.听Sunmin Yoon听received the Korea Foundation Grant to support employment of contract faculty members and, in 2023, together with her two co-editors, won the Honorable Mention for the Ellen Koskoff Edited Volume Prize for their book,听Mongolian Sound Words听(Illinois, 2022)听from the Society for Ethnomusicology.听Haihong Yang听was elected the 2023-2024 president of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, and听Rachael Hutchinson听was awarded a College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Fellowship for the project 鈥淭ranslating Japanese Videogame Theory," 2023-2025.

At the close of May 2024, we have 45 Asian Studies students in total. During the 2023-2024 academic year, the Asian Studies program gained 26 new students: 12 new majors (four of whom converted from Asian Studies minors), 10 new Asian Studies minors, and 6 Asian Studies minors who converted to Asian Studies with Language minors.

Between December 2023 and May 2024, 17 of our students graduated in total. Winners of the David Pong Awards for outstanding undergraduate students in Asian Studies this year are: Alex Dwornikowski, Anna Wilson, Angela Hoang, Krystal Diaz and Isabella Lam.

We are proud of our faculty members and students!

Faculty Publications, 2023-2024

Alice Ba.听2023 鈥淒iversification's Challenges: ASEAN & its Myanmar Predicament."听International Affairs听99(3). Oxford University Press.

Alice Ba. 2023 鈥淭he United States and ASEAN: Bilateralism and Regionalism in a Changing Asia." In听Routledge Handbook of US policy in the Indo-Pacific, eds., Oliver Turner, Nicola Nymalm and Wali Aslam. Routledge.

Alan Fox. 2023 鈥淢etaphorical Metaphysics in the Dao De Jing."听Religion.听MDPI.

Rachael Hutchinson. 2024 鈥淐olonial Moments in Japanese Videogames: A Multi-directional Perspective." in听Made in Asia/America: Why Video Games Were Never (Really) About Us, ed. Christopher Patterson and Tara Fickle. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Frank Mondelli.听2023 鈥淎esthetic In-Access: Notes from the CripTech Metaverse Lab."听Leonardo听57(2). MIT Press.

Frank Mondelli. Mark Bookman, and Setsuko Yokoyama听2023 鈥淧utting Virtual Reality to Disability Activism: Co-Creation and Intersectional Pedagogical Usage in Japan."听International Journal of Disability and Social Justice.听May. ScienceOpen.

Ramnarayan S. Rawat.听2023听鈥淗ow to Write New Histories of Caste: A Dalit History of Chamars."听Oxford Handbook of Caste in Modern World,听eds. S. Jodhka and J. Naudet. Oxford University Press.

Chandra L. Reedy.听2023 鈥淏lack Coal Cinder Ceramics: An Unusual Technological Choice in Sichuan Province, China."听Techn茅: Science in the service of art history and the preservation of cultural heritage听55, Techn茅 Journal Open Access, Ministry of Culture of France.

Chandra L. Reedy. 2023. 鈥淏ody Relics in Tibetan and Mongolian Traditions."听Research on Early Chinese Lacquer Buddhas, edited by Donna Strahan and Blythe McCarthy. London: Archetype Publications.

Chandra L. Reedy.听2024. 鈥淭he Disappearing Technology and Products of Traditional Tibetan Village Blacksmiths."听Heritage听7. MDPI.

Vimalin Rujivacharakul. 2023. 鈥淏uildings of the Ocean: Ephemerality and Monumentality,"听Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians听82(3). University of California Press.

Vimalin Rujivacharakul. 2024 鈥淎sian Aesthetics and America: Problems and Promises."听Winterthur Portfolio听57(2-3). University of Chicago Press.

Maria Tu. 2023 鈥淩eversal is the Movement of the Way."听Religion.听惭顿笔滨.鈥�