Past Events at the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies
October 2014
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Thursday, October 16th Placing the Dead in Times of Solitarization in Japan
This event has been relocated
Date Time Location Thursday, October 16, 2014 1:00PM - 3:00PM Seminar Room 208N, Munk School of Global Affairs
1 Devonshire Place+ Register for this Event Print this Event Bookmark this Event
Series
Reimagining the Asia Pacific
Description
At a moment when the population is declining, marriage and birth rates are down, one-third of people live alone while one-fourth are 65 or older, and cases of “lonely death” (of solitary people whose bodies are discovered days, or weeks, after death) are reported daily, the social ecology of existence is undergoing radical change in 21st century Japan. While long-term bonds—to company, family, locale—were once the earmarks of its “group-oriented society,” today it is living, and dying, alone that marks Japan’s new era of “single-ification” and “disconnected society” (muen shakai). How the rise of single-ification affects the management of death—both those already dead as well as those at risk of dying in/from solitude—is the subject of this talk. Looking at new practices of burying/memorializing the dead, new trends in both single and solitary lifestyles, and the case of a Buddhist priest working to keep alive those contemplating self-death (suicide), Allison considers how the neoliberal shift to “self-responsibility” plays out in the everyday rhythms of being with/out others for post-social Japanese.
Anne Allison is a Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Women’s Studies at Duke University. A specialist in contemporary Japan, she studies the interface between material conditions and desire/fantasy/imagination across various domains including corporate capitalism, global popular culture, and precarity. Allison is the author of Nightwork: Sexuality, Pleasure, and Corporate Masculinity in a Tokyo Hostess Club (1994), Permitted and Prohibited Desires: Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan (1996), Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination (2006), and Precarious Japan (2013).
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Disclaimer: Please note that events posted on this website are considered to be public events – unless otherwise stated – and you are choosing to enter a space where your image and/or voice may be captured as part of event proceedings that may be made public as part of a broadcast, webcast, or publication (online and in print). We make every effort to ensure your personal information is kept and used in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). If you have any questions please get in touch with our office at munkschool@utoronto.ca or 416-946-8900.
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Tuesday, October 28th Vincent Who? Screening with Film Director Curtis Chin in Attendance
Date Time Location Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:30PM - 5:30PM External Event, Media Commons
3rd Floor, Robarts Library
130 St. George StreetRegistration Full Print this Event Bookmark this Event
Description
VINCENT WHO? – In 1982, at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments, Vincent Chin was murdered in Detroit by two white autoworkers who said, “it’s because of you mother** that we’re out of work.” When the judged fined the killers a mere $3,000 and three years of probation, Asian Americans around the country galvanized for the first time to form a real community and movement. This documentary features interviews with the key players at the time, as well as a whole new generation of activists. “Vincent Who?” asks how far Asian Americans have come since then and how far we have yet to go.
The screening will be followed by a trailer on Curtis Chin’s new film, Tested, and a Q & A session with the director.
Curtis Chin is an award-winning writer and producer who has written for ABC, NBC, Fox, the Disney Channel and more. As a community activist, he co-founded the Asian American Writers Workshop and Asian Pacific Americans for Progress. In 2008, he served on Barack Obama’s Asian American Leadership Council where he participated in helping the campaign reach out to the AAPI community. He has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, NPR, Newsweek and other media outlet. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at New York University.
If you are attending a Munk School event and require accommodation(s), please email the event contact listed above to make appropriate arrangements.
Disclaimer: Please note that events posted on this website are considered to be public events – unless otherwise stated – and you are choosing to enter a space where your image and/or voice may be captured as part of event proceedings that may be made public as part of a broadcast, webcast, or publication (online and in print). We make every effort to ensure your personal information is kept and used in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). If you have any questions please get in touch with our office at munkschool@utoronto.ca or 416-946-8900.