Archives of Asian Art, vol. 64, no. 1 (2014)

Posted on July 29, 2015June 14, 2017 by pwilson6

The table of contents below contains links to the MUSE edition of each article and shows either an abstract or a sample image from each of the main entries.

Asia Society Statement
Melissa Chiu, 1

From Studiolo to Chaekgeori, A Transcultural Journey: An Introduction to Sunglim Kim’s “Chaekgeori: Multi-Dimensional Messages in Late Joseon Korea”
Jerome Silbergeld, available only online

Chaekgeori: Multi-Dimensional Messages in Late Joseon Korea
Sunglim Kim, 3

Chaekgeori, Korea, 19th century. Ten-panel screen, ink and color on silk. National Museum of Korea, Seoul. — *Chaekgeori*, Korea, 19th century. Ten-panel screen, ink and color on silk. National Museum of Korea, Seoul.

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Asian Theatre Journal, vol. 32, no. 1 (2015)

Posted on July 29, 2015 by pwilson6

32.1.article_plate01f — Lord Takadēra and entourage in Manzai Tichiuchi

From the Editor, iii

PLAYS

Manzai Tichiuchi (Vendetta of Performers of “Myriad-Year” Felicity): A Kumi Odori by Tasato Chōchoku, as Staged by Kin Ryōshō in 1982
Nobuko Miyama Ochner, 1

In addition to a translation of the play Manzai Tichiuchi, or Vendetta of Performers of “Myriad-Year” Felicity, this article gives background on this 1759 work by Tasato Chōchoku, the kumi odori genre in which he wrote, and the practice of the art, and the performance of this particular work in the Okinawan community in Hawai‘i.

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Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, vol. 4, no. 1 (2015)

Posted on July 27, 2015 by pwilson6

(De)Memorializing the Korean War: A Critical Intervention

Editor’s Introduction
Guest Editor Suzy Kim (Rutgers University), 1
The purpose of this special issue is twofold: first, to engage in a critical intervention into the memorialization of the Korean War among the chief participants—the two Koreas, the United States, and China—to disrupt monolithic understandings of its origins, consequences, and experiences; and second, to do so as a necessary step toward reconciliation by placing divergent public memorials in conversation with one another.

ARTICLES

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Asian Perspectives, vol. 53, no. 2 (2014)

Posted on July 27, 2015 by pwilson6

ARTICLES

Ceramic Firing Structures in Prehistoric and Ancient Societies of the Russian Far East
Irina S. Zhushchikhovskaya, Yury G. Nikitin, 121
Archaeological records reveal the history of pottery and roof-tile firing devices in the southern part of the Russian Far East, the neighboring Korean Peninsula, and northeast China. Chronological parameters are from the first millennium B.C. through the thirteenth century A.D., including the Palaeometal period of the Prehistory epoch, Pre-State period, and Early States epoch. Different types of firing kilns varied in complexity of form and technology, including the tunneled sloping kiln, manthou kiln, and vertical up-draught kiln. These specific characteristics reflect the involvement of the ancient southern Russian Far East in the processes of cultural interaction within the larger East Asia region.
Keywords
southern Russian Far East, ceramic firing kilns, Prehistory epoch, Pre-State period, Early States epoch

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Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 54, no. 1 (2015)

Posted on July 27, 2015 by pwilson6

ARTICLES

Finiteness in Sundanese
Eri Kurniawan, William D. Davies, 1
The topic of finiteness is rarely broached in the closely related Indonesian-type languages, in which verbs have no morphological tense marking, nouns have no overt case marking, and there is only limited morphological agreement. As they are the typical morphological manifestations, the relevance of finiteness is difficult to discern. Sundanese is no exception to this. There is evidence, however, that finiteness is critical to the licensing of subjects in Sundanese. What distinguishes Sundanese from many other languages is that finiteness is covert rather than being overtly marked, just as has been proposed for Chinese, Lao, Slave, and others.

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Biography Vol. 38, no. 1, 2015

Posted on July 21, 2015 by pwilson6

Auto/biography in Transit

Guest Editors: Jason Breiter, Orly Lael Netzer, Julie Rak, & Lucinda Rasmussen

EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

Introduction: Auto/Biography in Transit
Jason Breiter, Orly Lael Netzer, Julie Rak, Lucinda Rasmussen, v

The essays in this special issue engage with a range of issues relating to Auto/Biography in Transit, the title of the 2014 International Auto/Biography Association (IABA) conference held in Banff, from which the issue emerged. The essays have been divided into two areas of inquiry: Documents and Displacements. Those in the first section address the status of the document as a technology of the self, or think about how cultural producers document their lives. Essays in the second section explore critical approaches and texts that signify how both the study of life writing and its objects of inquiry are themselves in transit, and have the potential to change our ideas about the field itself.

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Biography, vol. 37, no. 4 (2014)

Posted on July 17, 2015 by pwilson6

Editors’ Note, iii

ARTICLES

Literary Biography as a Critical Form
Philip Holden, 917
The recent proliferation of formally innovative literary biographies suggests that the genre has an important critical function. Literary biographies are more than simply an ancillary genre; rather, they ask questions regarding the manner in which readers relate to the implied authors of the literary texts they encounter, and their use of this relationship in their own projects of individualization in modern society.

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Biography, vol. 37, no. 3 (2014)

Posted on July 17, 2015 by pwilson6

Editors’ Note, v

ARTICLES

Antjie Krog and the Autobiography of Postcolonial Becoming
Elizabeth Rodrigues, 725

Imagination disrupts documentary, as Antjie Krog compares the experience of attending the opening hearings of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission to being reborn. Figuratively placing herself back at the beginning of human development, in the early pages of Country of My Skull Krog registers the profound personal effects of the TRC’s public process of national redefinition, and equates its beginning with the beginning of a new life—or potential beginning, as, fittingly, her rebirth is not yet narrated. Before her, and before the South African nation, stands an imperative of transformation so profound that the comparison to physical birth seems apt, both appropriately extreme and appropriately impossible. No person and no country can literally go “back”; self and nation must attempt immediate change in medias res. Krog’s bold imagining invites us to consider how her autobiographical works stage the narrative of development in the context of postcoloniality as a process that cannot rely on inborn or teleological trajectories for its beginnings and ends but must actively and urgently construct its horizons.

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The Confessions of a Number One Son

Posted on July 14, 2015 by uhpressnews

NEW RELEASE

The Confessions of a Number One Son
written by Frank Chin
edited with an introduction by Calvin McMillin

“Chin takes the reader on a twisted trip, packed both with raunchy comedy and poignant tenderness. . . . McMillin did an excellent job of keeping Chin’s writing intact while cutting out repetitions or segments that went nowhere [and] should also be applauded for compiling one of the best biographical sketches of Chin, to date. The publication of “Confessions” affirms Chin’s rightful place as a literary giant, not only within the confines of Asian American literature, but in the global literary world.” —Nichi Bei Weekly

“Suspense builds as the novel becomes a darkly comic struggle with illusions, expectations and secret desires. . . . [Chin] writes fluidly, creates strong characters, and has a playwright’s ear for dialogue.” —Honolulu Star-Advertiser

“A spontaneous mix of reality and fantasy in this book contrasts with the underlying message about the damage people of color have endured because of racial prejudice. . . . Chin’s unique characters, with names like Gravelly Lake Ponders and Lily, the forty-three-year-old ex-nun, interact with convincing craziness.” —Foreword Reviews

“This heretofore unknown work captures the birth of a consciousness that is neither Asian or white American, but a third thing we witness being forged in the mind of its author. Its publication now should spur renewed interest and a critical reevaluation of the entirety of Frank Chin’s work, and cement his literary legacy.” —The International Examiner

Pacific Science, vol. 69, no. 2 (2015)

Posted on July 6, 2015 by pwilson6

April 2015 issue of Pacific Science now available on BioOne

ARTICLES

Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 11. Cinchona pubescens (Red Quinine Tree) (Rubiaceae)
Heinke Jäger, 133

Abstract: Cinchona pubescens Vahl (red quinine) is an evergreen tree ranging in height from 10 to 25 m with broad leaves and white or pink fragrant flowers arranged in clusters. Growing at altitudes between 130 and 3,300 m, it is one of 23 species in the genus Cinchona and has a natural distribution from Costa Rica to Bolivia. Cinchona pubescens has been cultivated in tropical regions (e.g., in South America, Africa, China, India, and Indonesia) for its quinine-containing bark and has become invasive in some regions. This is especially the case in the Pacific region, where C. pubescens has invaded humid highland areas of Galápagos, Hawai‘i, and Tahiti. It shades out and reduces cover of native plant species and adversely affects endemic birds. In addition, it changes microclimate and nutrient cycling in the soil, especially phosphorus, in Galápagos. Characteristics that make it such a successful invader include production of numerous, windborne seeds and vigorous vegetative reproduction by resprouting from underground stems and fallen trees. In Galápagos, C. pubescens is currently being manually controlled by uprooting the trees and by applying herbicides to cuts in the bark. However, this method requires continuous hand pulling of seedlings to be successful. Disturbance by control actions appears to facilitate establishment and invasion by other nonnative plant species, especially blackberry (Rubus niveus). Quinine and other alkaloids extracted from Cinchona bark are still being used for medicinal purposes today and the wood is increasingly used as construction material in Galápagos. Ironically, C. pubescens is now considered rare and endangered in its native range in Ecuador.

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Celebrating the “Wonderfully Subversive Power of Libraries and Librarians” as Robert Ji-Song Ku’s Dubious Gastronomy Wins APALA Literature Award for Adult Nonfiction

Posted on June 29, 2015 by UH Press Marketing

APALA-raffle_bracelet — One of the raffle items at the APALA awards dinner—a bracelet with mini book covers of the winning titles.

In conjunction with the American Library Association annual conference in San Francisco, the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) literary awards were presented at a lively dinner ceremony on Saturday, June 27. Dubious Gastronomy: The Cultural Politics of Eating Asian in the USA by Robert Ji-Song Ku, associate professor of Asian American studies at Binghamton University–SUNY, received the top honor in the adult nonfiction category. While Professor Ku regrettably was unable to attend the event, his prepared remarks were read by UH Press development director Colins Kawai, who accepted the award on his behalf. The speech is worth sharing here:

“It is a privilege and an honor to win the 2014-15 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in the adult non-fiction category. I am especially honored to receive this award from an association of librarians because, you see, I was practically raised by librarians since I was eight years old when my family immigrated to Hawaii from Korea in the early 1970s.

Having to work several jobs between them from before sunrise to long after sunset, my parents could not afford any sort of childcare, after-school programs, or summer camps for their three children. My mother’s solution was to drop us off at the public library for hours on end. And this is how I fell in love with books, which plunged me into the world of dinosaurs, great white sharks, and faraway galaxies. It also led me to C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth, Thomas Hardy’s Wessex, and Maxine Hong Kingston’s girlhood among ghosts, white tigers, and shamans.

I believe it was the filmmaker Michael Moore who said of librarians: “They are subversive. You think they’re just sitting there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They’re like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn’t mess with them.”

I couldn’t agree more. The fact that I went on to earn a PhD in English literature, become a professor of Asian American studies, and author books about Asian Americans is a testament to the wonderfully subversive and revolutionary power of libraries and librarians. No, I don’t mess with librarians; I give them props!

I thank the University of Hawai‘i Press for publishing my book, and especially my editor, Masako Ikeda, for believing in my book from the very get-go. I thank my family—my wife Nancy and twin boys Eliot and Oliver—for everything under and above the sun. But most of all, on this day, I thank the members of APALA for bestowing upon me this incredible honor.”