Description

China’s participation in contemporary globalization has intensified since its entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001. As the volume of goods labeled “Made in China” grows, many artifacts “faked in China” have also come into transnational circulation. Meanwhile, numerous domestic actors have sought to transform China from a manufacturer of foreign goods into a creator of its own brands – a nation-branding project best captured by the slogan “From Made in China to Created in China.” These different ways of engaging the globalizing Intellectual Property Rights regime have generated competing visions for the nation, at a time when new media technologies have become the daily means of communication for many Chinese. The stories of counterfeit cultural artifacts such as the shanzhai mobile phones, or “bandit” phones made in informal sectors, prompt us to complicate the dominant narrative of China’s economic rise from the perspective of cultural change.

Fan Yang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She is the author of Faked in China: Nation Branding, Counterfeit Culture, and Globalization (Indiana University Press). Her current research examines how China is imagined in contemporary U.S. media.

Description

A new, independent documentary film by MATSUI Hisako (with English subtitles), “What are you afraid of?” features Prof. Ueno and several other prominent feminists in Japan, and by doing so, shows the 40+ years of history of feminism in Japan. Women’s history was long neglected in Japan, and this film plays an important role in documenting and remembering the earlier efforts of feminists in Japan. This is a rare opportunity to view this independent documentary chronicling the lives of early feminists.
The information on the film can be found here: http://feminism-documentary.com

Q& A: Chizuko Ueno

Description

Japan is a rapidly ageing society with the world’s second longest life expectancy. The increase of the care burden has become a serious political issue. Since the implementation of the Long Term Care Taking Insurance in 2000, Japan has accumulated 16 years of experience. Recently the Japanese government has shifted its policy towards ageing in place and dying at home, which is welcomed by the elderly. But how can it be realized? I will examine this policy change in light of the practice of medical practitioners and care providers.

Light refreshment will be provided.

Dr. Chizuko Ueno is one of the most popular sociologists in Japan, who is well-known for her contributions in pioneering the field of gender studies in Japan. She is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo, Specially Invited Professor at Ritsumeikan University, and President of the Non-Profit Organization Women’s Action Network (http://wan.or.jp/). Born in 1948, Dr. Ueno finished her Doctoral courses at Kyoto University, and later received her Ph.D. at the University of Tokyo. She has been invited to be a visiting professor at several universities across the globe, including University of British Columbia, Columbia University, Uni. Bonn, and El Colegio de Mexico. Dr. Ueno is a prolific writer both for academic and general public audiences, and some of her many books include: Patriarchy and Capitalism (1990), The Erotic Apparatus (1998), The Politics of Difference (2002), A Thought for Survival (2006), Misogyny in Japan (2010), and A Sociology of Care (2011). English translation is available for Nationalism and Gender (2004) and The Modern Family in Japan: Its Rise and Fall (2009, by Transpacific Press). Several of her books and papers have been translated into Chinese, Korean, French, and Spanish.

Dr. Sheila Neysmith’s scholarship focuses on feminist theory and praxis. She is interested in how knowledge is constructed and used in policies, programs, and praxis. The substantive area of her research for many years has been the paid and unpaid caring labour done by women. Related to these questions is her ongoing engagement with policy issues that affect women as they age. Her current research and writing examines how ageism impacts social policies and service systems – and thus the quality of women’s lives.

Description

It has never been easy to write the history of Vietnam. This small country’s role in one of the most violent wars of decolonization of the 20th century and in one of the Cold War’s longest conflicts has meant that its past has been endlessly abused for all sorts of purposes, both inside and outside the country. It is perhaps only now, in the early 21st century, that the events which created the modern state can be seen from a more dispassionate, historical perspective. To illustrate this point, Christopher Goscha examines two themes that have been left out of standard accounts of Vietnam – the question of Vietnamese colonialism and collaboration. He will also suggest why it might be useful to revisit the question of periodizing Vietnam’s ‘modern history’ in terms of this country’s colonial encounter with the French in 1858 in order to push it further back in time or leave it open.

Christopher Goscha is associate professor of international relations at the department of history at the Université du Québec à Montréal. His works focuses on colonial Indochina, the wars over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and the Cold War in Asia. He recently published Vietnam, A New History (Basic Books, 2016) and is currently working on a social history of colonial Saigon and Hanoi in a time of war (1945-54).