EALCTalks! Fall 2023

Andrew F. Jones (EALC), "Slow Reading or Not at All: Fei Ming's Poetics of Reticence" 

This paper close-reads the fiction of Fei Ming (1901-1967). Known for the recondite lyricism of his prose, Fei Ming's work has been chided for his "obscurity," lauded for his refusal to accede to the nation-building imperatives of the new literature of the May 4th era, seen as a "pastoral modernist," and interpreted in terms of his immersion in Buddhist thought and premodern Chinese poetics. I ask here if it is possible to read Fei Ming's aesthetic reticence not as a repudiation of contemporary debates about enlightenment, literary realism, and the “woman question,” but as an ethical response to the dilemmas of literary representation.

 Friday, October 6th, noon to 1pm, 3401 Dwinelle Hall

 Khephra Owl (Educational Sciences), "How to Overcome Challenges English Speakers Face When Learning Japanese" 

Japanese is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn for native English speakers. However, it is also deemed a critical language by the US government, as Japan is one of the greatest economic powers in the world. By interviewing both Elementary and Intermediate-level Japanese learners, I wanted to identify the most challenging aspects of learning Japanese from the perspective of Native English speakers. Using a variety of literature on Second Language Acquisition and analyzing JFL (Japanese as a Foreign Language) curricula at the higher education level, I have developed some recommendations for how to improve the JFL curriculum in US higher education.

 Friday, October 20, noon to 1pm, 3401 Dwinelle Hall 

Rosalie Liu (Group in Asian Studies), "Under the Webcam: Surveillance, Voyeurism, and Tracking in Spider Lilies" 

Recipient of the 2007 Teddy Award Best Feature Film, 刺青, or Spider Lilies, was one of Taiwanese director Zero Chou’s most controversial yet critically acclaimed directorial works. Scholarship has focused mainly on its representation of queer women characters and their romances, tending to treat the film as a coded response to gender and sexuality politics in early 2000s Taiwan. Little attention has been paid to the repetitive themes of surveillance, spectacle, voyeurism, and the complex viewer-subject relationships in Spider Lilies. I will share an ongoing project that aims to theorize and grapple with how digital technologies intervene and complicate screen representations of surveillance and queer women in Spider Lilies.

 Friday, November 3, noon to 1pm, 3401 Dwinelle Hall 

Thomas Crone (EALC and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität-Erlangen), “Origins of Chinese Textual Criticism: The Whys and Hows of an ‘Interdisciplinary’ Practice”

  Chinese textual criticism (jiaochou 校讎 or jiaokan 校勘) emerged during and around the Han Dynasty. In my talk, which draws on my current research project, I will explore the underlying causes of this new way of handling and understanding texts from a comparative cultural perspective and by reviewing evidence provided by recently discovered manuscripts.  

Friday, November 17, noon to 1pm, 3401 Dwinelle Hall