Past Events at the Dr. David Chu Program in Asia-Pacific Studies
January 2023
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Thursday, January 12th The Filipino Subjunctive: A Transpacific Counterhistory of the Philippine Commonwealth
Date Time Location Thursday, January 12, 2023 4:00PM - 5:30PM Seminar Room 208N, The event will take place in room 208N, Munk School, 1 Devonshire Place, Toronto. + Register for this Event Print this Event Bookmark this Event
Series
Race and Anti-Racism across the Asia-Pacific
Description
Event series: Race and Anti-Racism across the Asia-Pacific
Abstract:
In the Philippines, the United States’ first overseas colony, direct occupation had supposedly come to an end with Filipinization: the appropriation of native leadership into colonial governance. But Filipinization also informed the everyday conduct and political imaginations of those outside of structures of power, namely, migrant workers across the Pacific. In this talk, I suggest that American counterinsurgency informed how people across the Pacific imagined how the future citizens of an independent Philippines might behave. This provisional subject—the Filipino subjunctive—emerges from these transnational imaginaries, and the creative labors of everyday life. Together, this fledgling community asked: What would it look like to become Filipino, and who would pay the price to make this nation yet-to-come?
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Along with Prof. De Leon’s talk, there will be a graduate student luncheon held at 12:00-1:45pm; location: TBD. For this graduate luncheon, students will have the opportunity to engage in informal conversation with Professor De Leon to discuss all things graduate school-related including writing, fellowship applications, publishing in journals, selecting post-docs, hitting the job market as a graduate of a Canadian institution, opportunities for PhDs beyond traditional academic presses, and other general advice. Those interested in registering for this lunch should email Melanie Ng at melanie.ng@mail.utoronto.ca. Attendance will be restricted to U of T graduate students.
Adrian De Leon is an award-winning writer and public historian at the University of Southern California, where he is an Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity. A graduate of the History Department at U of T, his dissertation was recognized with the Governor’s Gold Medal in 2020. He is also a host for PBS Digital Studios and the Center for Asian American Media. His first academic book, Bundok: A Hinterland History of Filipino America, is forthcoming with the University of North Carolina Press.
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.
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Friday, January 13th Documentary screening of "Comfort" and Conversation with the Director Emmanuel Moonchil Park
Date Time Location Friday, January 13, 2023 7:00PM - 9:30PM External Event, The event will take place at OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Main Floor Auditorium. Print this Event Bookmark this Event
Description
*No registration required*
The Centre for the Study of Korea, University of Toronto and the Korean Office for Research and Education, York University in partnership with OCADU University’s Art & Social Change, Faculty of Art presents:
COMFORT
a documentary by Emmanuel Moonchil Park.
"COMFORT 보드랍게" (2020), tells the life story of KIM Soonak, a survivor of the "comfort women system" and so much more. After the war, she engaged in the US military camptown sex trade, and also worked as a maid. Weaving interviews of activists, archive footage, animation, and the recital of testimonies, the film reconstructs the life stories of the late KIM Soonak. It won the Documentary Award at the 2020 Jeonju International Film Festival and the Beautiful New Docs Award at the 2020 DMZ International Documentary Film Festival.
Emmanuel Moonchil Park is a filmmaker based in Daegu, South Korea. His films over the last decade have offered insightful and nuanced social commentaries on gender and activism. His first feature, MY PLACE (2013), tells the story of his sister’s single motherhood and his family’s reverse migration from Canada to Korea. It screened at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in 2014 and has won multiple awards including the Jury Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival. BLUE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (2017), traces the anti-THAAD peace movement in Seongju, where local residents and activists organized a fierce opposition to the US military’s installation of an anti-ballistic missile defense system. It won the Best Documentary award at the 2017 Jeonju International Film Festival. QUEER053 (2019) tells the remarkable story of how Daegu, a notoriously conservative city, became the site of an annual queer culture festival second only to Seoul.
This is the first event in a programme series connected to the exhibition of The Statue of the Girl of Peace at OCAD University by the artists Kim Seo-Kyung and Kim Eun-Sung. The statue is a symbol of the flight for justice led by surviving ‘comfort women’ and their allies for redress from the Japanese government.
Friday, January 13, 2023, 7 PM – 9:30 PM
OCAD University, 100 McCaul St., Main Floor Auditorium
Screening, Reception and Post-Screening Talk with the DirectorThe Statue of the Girl of Peace is on view at OCAD University (100 McCaul Street) in the main lobby from January 5 – April 28, 2023.
The Statue of the Girl of Peace
Oil on fiberglass-reinforced polyester (FRP) and stone powder 160x 180x 125 cm
2017 (The original bronze statue 2011)
On Wednesday, January 8, 1992, thousands of protestors rallied in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea to demand redress from the Japanese government for the large-scale system of sexual servitude setup and operated by the Japanese Imperial rule during World War II. The Japanese military abducted an estimated 200,000 girls and women from across the Asia-Pacific region who were euphemistically called “comfort women” and forced into sexual slavery. In 2011 the artists installed the bronze ‘Statue of Peace’ in front of the embassy where it remains today. The statue is a powerful symbol of the redress movement, there are version of the statue sited around the world, from Germany to the United States, Australia and Canada.
The Wednesday Demonstrations have turned into a weekly protest in Korea and are led by the remaining survivors. The Statue of the Girl of Peace was created on the occasion of the 1000th protest as a tribute to the spirit and the deep history of the Wednesday Demonstrations, which continue today. The survivors’ ongoing fight for justice is a fight against militarized gender-based sexual violence everywhere.
The empty chair beside the statue is an invitation to you to sit beside the Girl and support the call for redress for the so- called ‘comfort women’. Please take a photo and share it on social media using the hashtags: #statueofpeace #justiceforcomfortwomen
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.