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York Centre for Asian Research Update Issue 37, Friday, January 27, 2006
OCGS approves Graduate Diploma in
Asian Studies
The Ontario Council on Graduate Studies (OCGS) has finally approved the YCAR proposed Graduate Diploma in Asian Studies (GDAS) at its meeting of December 19, 2005. GDAS answers the need among students at York who are looking for more Asian content in their studies, and among prospective employers who are looking for graduate students with certifiable expertise in Asian Studies. The core course, GEOG 5700/GS ANTH 5500: The Making of Asian Studies - Critical Perspectives, commenced this Winter 2006 with Dr. Philip Kelly as course convenor. The course examines the construction of Asian regions, identities, economies and institutions using perspectives from across the social sciences and humanities. For more information on GDAS, contact Dr. Wendy Wong, Diploma Program Coordinator, at x 44066 or email her at wsywong@yorku.ca.
YCAR brownbag seminar series for the next two weeks
Mondays, 12-1:30 pm, York Lanes 270B, York University, Keele Campus, unless otherwise indicated
January 30 – Raju Das, Assistant Professor,
Department of Geography
”Class Contradictions of the
Post-Colonial Indian State”
Dr. Das proposes a historical geographical materialist approach to the understanding of the Indian state and its spatiality. In this approach, interventions of the state must be seen as influenced by its dominant class base, and by the geography of the balance of class/caste forces both within the state as well as outside it. The state cannot be looked at merely in class terms; it is immensely influenced by its territorial-democratic form as well as the interests and ideologies of the relatively autonomous state elites. He demonstrates the usefulness of this approach in understanding one of the most important redistributive-developmental policies of the post-colonial state and draws out implications of his conceptual approach for examining the Indian state’s contradictory nature and crisis-proneness, its turn to neoliberalism and its failure to promote a socially and spatially equitable development.
February 6 – Joan Judge, Associate Professor,
Modern Chinese History
"The Precious Raft of History: The Chinese Women's Question and the Politics
of Time at the Turn of the 20th Century"
The
women’s question and the question of history are central to understanding a key
moment in the unfolding of Chinese modernity, the last decades of imperial rule
at the turn of the twentieth century. Reform-minded men and women of this period
were simultaneously anxious about China’s national fate and inspired by new
global possibilities. They imagined their collective future by projecting new
figurations of woman—as good wife and wise mother, as mother of citizens, as
female citizen— based on creative appropriations of the Chinese past. They also
translated new ideas, foreign influences, and their own emergent nationalist
aspirations into the register of history. This “host” language of Chinese
history is more difficult for us to learn than the “guest” language of the
modern West which is, after all, a “dialect” of our own. Familiarity with the
historical Chinese lexicon is, however, crucial to understanding this critical
juncture in Chinese culture. As we analyze the complex ways the lexicon was used
in retelling women’s biographies, we find that the past did not function as a
reified, homogenous “tradition” but as a heterogenous cultural resource which
fueled a complex of competing and overlapping historical imaginaries. Dr.
Judge's paper maps those imaginaries and traces their impact on the lives of
turn-of-the-century women. It distinguishes four chronotypes or approaches to
the past in historical Chinese and recent Western female biographies featured in
a range of genres. It further illuminates related national and cultural
questions that have continued to vex Chinese thinkers through the beginning of
the twenty-first century.
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CRS invites you to its brownbag seminar
Wednesday, February 1st, 2006, 12:30 - 2:00pm, 305 York Lanes
Guest Speaker: Jorge Silvestri, "Early settlement needs of newcomers (refugees and independent immigrants) from the perspective of a frontline Settlement Counsellor"
This presentation will address refugee and independent migration to Canada from the perspective of a Settlement Counsellor. It will address various aspects of migration to Canada - reasons, expectations, challenges and early needs. How do newcomers try to accomplish their goals? Expectations are usually very different from reality. The presentation will discuss the success and failure of integration, education, employment, housing and raising a family in a new society. It will discuss how settlement agencies respond to the needs of newcomers and the success and failure of their programs. Jorge Silvestri has over 15 years of experience working in the settlement sector. During this time, he has undertaken different responsibilities including frontline settlement services delivery, program management, fundraising, administration and logistics.
Forum on
Refugee Youth: The Canadian Experience
Thursday February 2, 2006, 7:00pm - 8:30pm, Hart House Music Room, 7 Hart House Circle. Speakers include:
DR. FRANCIS HARE, *Professor at Ryerson University* - Dr. Hare is conducting research on the issue of refugee children living under the child welfare system
MR. RICHARD MWANGI, *Member of Speaker's Bureau, Passages to Canada* - Mr. Mwangi is a former refugee youth who, from 1993-1997, lived alone under the provincial welfare system.
MR. PRINCE SIBANDA, *Settlement Coordinator at the Canadian Red Cross First Contact Program* - Mr. Sibanda coordinates NGO social support for refugees, including orphans, who have recently arrived in Toronto.
Presented by LINCC UT (www.linccanada.org) and East Meet West. Please direct enquiries to: linccuoft@linccanada.org.
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Japan Foundation presents New
National Theatre Tokyo poster exhibition, 1997-2006
January 4 - March 4, 2006,
The Japan Foundation, Toronto,
131 Bloor Street
West, Suite 213
Gallery Hours: Monday to
Friday,11:30 AM - 4:30 PM Thursday until 7 PM Closed: Saturdays and Sundays.
Special Saturday Openings: Jan. 7 & 14, Feb. 4 and March 4, Noon - 5 PM. Free
admission.
The New National Theatre, Tokyo (NNTT) is a state-operated theatre facility complex for Western and contemporary style performing arts, including opera, ballet, theatre, and dance. With its state-of-the-art facilities the NNTT houses three auditoriums which celebrated its inaugural opening in 1997: Opera House (1814 seats), Playhouse (1038 seats), and The Pit (340-440 variable seats). The NNTT has become a new attraction of Tokyo's cultural life.
These performances are promoted with excellent printed materials. The NNTT inherited its high standard of graphic design from earlier national theatres. For the inaugural opera season, Kazumasa Nagai created a series of five enigmatic posters. The late Ikoo Tanaka supervised all posters in the Drama department until his sudden death in 2001. Nobuyoshi Kikuchi, a book designer, continues to add fresh spirit to theatre posters.
This 90-piece exhibition gives a retrospective view of the first ten years of the NNTT's activities through their striking yet elegant posters. For more info, contact Mr. Toshi Aoyagi, Program Officer, at (416) 966-1600 x 229 or email him at taoyagi@jftor.org.
Letter from Taiwan from Judith Nagata
In the second week of December, eight Canadian scholars (left photo: Judith Nagata with other Canadian scholars) from six universities, among whom I was the YCAR rep., were plucked from winter and the prologue to Christmas to take a familiarization tour of Taiwan, courtesy of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Organization and that country’s government. Our visas, travel and hotel accommodations were all of the “diplomatic” class, as were our obligations and itinerary, which for a week took us to a wide spectrum of political, non-governmental, civil society and human rights organizations across Taipei, leavened by a zoom to the top of the world’s current tallest building and ritual visits to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and the National Palace Museum.
Our courtesy calls to various ministries and political representatives revealed much about the contrasts and contradictions in modern Taiwanese public life. One day’s schedule called for back-to-back meetings with representatives of the DPP, the incumbent party of Chen Shuiban, which first came to power in 2000, and the old-timers of the Kuo Min Tang (KMT), which since 1945 has been the only party in town, with a bureaucracy, political machine and self-confidence to match. Our KMT host displayed the smooth, comfortable style of a well-endowed and long-ruling institution, whose measure of present and future success is by trade figures with China, and the beauty of a city by the number skyscrapers, projected on a screen in a well-padded party headquarters worthy of Canadian Liberals. The visit to the DPP headquarters on the other hand resembled the frenetic activity, chaos and electricity of university frosh week, in an endearing kind of way. In to the meeting room bounced a young lady, who could have been a graduate student, wearing a baseball cap and speaking impeccable American, who declared herself to be the DPP PR officer, fresh from a contentious meeting about improving party policy and image. The passion, sense of vision and the desire to preserve the party’s freshness and freedom from corruption pouring from this dedicated supporter left all of us breathless, painfully aware of the contrast with Canada’s elections, grinding on at home. This is the difference between youthful enthusiasm and what the political scientists call “mature” democracy. The problem for most democracies is that they seem to be become mature too quickly, and remain eternally middle-aged. It was revealing to discover that many of the DPP’s ministers and political officials are also academics, schooled in the US and Canada, who returned after the lifting of martial law in the late 1980s to offer their services—a ready-made, politicised, international-oriented intellectual elite, with democratization in their veins, and much political theory to match. Even the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who hosted a lunch, was a professor of political science, and his luncheon address would have been worthy of any seminar. Other calls brought us to organisations concerned with development aid—in a world where Taiwan is not widely recognized as full-status political partner--, and with human rights groups, ever more active as the martial era recedes into the distance, and almost all of which are staffed by remarkably youthful, often female and English-speaking personnel, -- a new Taiwanese political generation.
Towards the end of our visit, came the opportunity to reinforce a point which regularly cropped up in conversations with members of all organizations: the issue of relations with China. As with Canada-US relations, this is the sub-theme of most things in Taiwan, about which diplomacy in word and deed is essential. Our entire group was flown to Kinmen Island, which remarkably still belongs to Taiwan, although within spitting distance of the China coast. There we were given tours of underground tunnels, bunkers and supply routes, and treated to more technical information about the status of the missiles on both sides of this mini-strait, and warned that these beaches are not for swimming—the only beach toys there being landmines. Just in case we had not got the message, an “experiential” exhibit in the war museum on the island exposed us to a wrap-around film of shock and awe, rockets’ red glare, with explosions to match, and a floor which shook on impact. At a loss for the requisite awe, I shouted to my companions that the whole scene resembled a wild disco—and we all started to jive. Yet Kinmen Island is also a nature reserve, with birds flying into a spectacular sunset, with missiles lined up on the beach below. Is this a metaphor for Taiwan?
IDRC
awards competitions for graduate students and researchers
The International Development Research Centre
(IDRC) is holding the ffg competitions:
1. John G. Bene Fellowship in Community Forestry. Deadline for receipt of
complete applications is March 1, 2006. More info @
http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-23378-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
2. Canadian Window on International Development Awards. Deadline for receipt of
complete applications is April 1, 2006. More info @
http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-23376-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
3. IDRC Doctoral Research Awards (2 competitions). First competition: Deadline
for receipt of complete applications is April 1, 2006. Second competition:
Deadline for receipt of complete applications is November 1, 2006. More info @
http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-23374-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
4. Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health Training Awards (under revision - final
announcement to be posted in February 2006). Deadline for receipt of complete
applications is May 2006. Candidates are advised to visit the Internet site for
any changes. More info @
http://www.idrc.ca/awards/ev-88112-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
5. The Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship (under revision - final announcement
to be posted in February 2006). Deadline for receipt of complete applications is
October 1, 2006. Details can be found on
http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-23379-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
6. Centre Internships. Deadline for receipt of complete applications is
September 12, 2006.
Details will be posted on
http://web.idrc.ca/ev.php?URL_ID=24327&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC
7. IDRC Evaluation Research Awards. Deadline for receipt of complete
applications is January 15, 2007.
Details will be posted on
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-86762-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
External research awards competitions in full swing
The
Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada is pleased to announce its new Asia
Pacific Research Grants Program. As part of the Foundation's Canada Asia Pacific
Research Network (CAPRN), the grants program will fund research
activities, conferences, graduate and media fellowships, and special
initiatives. These activities will in turn assist in the enhancement of Canadian
capacity for public policy research and analysis focusing on the Asia Pacific
region.
The Asia Pacific Research Grants will be available in six categories: Canada in
Asia Publications Series; Policy Research Grants; Conference Support;
Post-Graduate Research Fellowships; Media Grants; and Special
Initiative Funding. All grants will be awarded on a competitive basis.
Applications may be submitted in English or French. Detailed information is
available at:
http://www.asiapacificresearch.ca/grants/2006_07/index.cfm
All grants will be awarded on a competitive basis. The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada reserves the right to cite the results of research funded under the grants program, and grant recipients may be called upon for media and outreach activities coordinated by the Foundation. Applications may be submitted in English or French. Applications for all programs may be e-mailed to researchgrants@asiapacific.ca or mailed to Research Grants Program, 890 West Pender St., Suite 220 Vancouver, B.C. V6C 1J9.
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CIDA’s
Canadian Partnership Branch (CPB) has launched a Call for Proposals for the
2005-06 Stand-Alone Public Engagement Fund (SAPEF). This initiative was
implemented by CIDA “to mobilize citizens in dialogue and participation to
advance global citizenship and to enhance Canadians’ ability to contribute
effectively to global poverty reduction.” A summary is provided below.
Complete details may be obtained by contacting ORS at ext. 55055,
research@yorku.ca or go to
http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cida_ind.nsf/vall/AD1905A8B4BDD51285256DE4005B2487?OpenDocument.
Note: If you currently
hold Canadian Partnership Branch funding that include public engagement
activities, please contact Carol Mundle (819- 997-9264,
carol_mundle@acdi-cida.gc.ca)
to verify whether you are eligible to apply to the program.
OBJECTIVES: To secure public
understanding and informed action by Canadians on international cooperation and
to secure sustained support for Official Development Assistance (ODA) by
supporting eligible organizations which undertake effective public
engagement activities. To build greater
public understanding of international development issues and increased support
for
VALUE: Minimum - $10,000 Maximum - $50,000 DURATION: Up to 12 months
DEADLINE:
______________________
The Institute for
Advanced Studies in the Humanities is inviting applications for Visiting
Research Fellowships of between two and six months, tenable in the period: June
2006 - September 2008. A summary of this program is provided below.
For complete details, please contact ORS at
research@yorku.ca, ext. 55055 or consult
the following web site:
http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/visiting.fellowships.html
OBJECTIVE: To allow scholars to
undertake advanced study in
Fellows are allocated a private office in the Institute with all the usual
research facilities and are expected to play a full part in the activities of
the Institute. Institute Fellows undertake
individual research and contribute to the work of the Institute and the
VALUE: Not applicable, DURATION: 2 – 6 months, DEADLINE:
_________________________
The Office of Research Services just
received information from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada (SSHRC) regarding updates to its International
Opportunities Fund (IOF), which is designed to help Canadian researchers
develop, participate in, and lead diverse international collaborative research
activities.
The next deadline for IOF
applications has been set for
OBJECTIVES:
To help Canadian researchers to initiate and develop international
research collaborations; to facilitate
Canadian participation or leadership in current or planned international
research initiatives that offer outstanding opportunities to advance Canadian
research.
Development Grants are
available to support activities such as workshops, seminars, and planning
meetings that are expected to lead to significant international collaboration.
Project Grants are
available to help secure Canadian participation in current or planned
international research initiatives and networks. VALUE: Up to $25,000 for
Development Grants or $75,000 for Project Grants. DURATION: 1 year.
DEADLINES:
Dining out becomes popular on New Year's Eve - by Shu Yi, China Daily, 2006-01-20
Much like Christmas in the West, Chinese New Year is predominantly a family affair. And a family reunion in China normally revolves around a huge banquet of food prepared and enjoyed at home on the eve of Spring Festival. However, China's rapidly developing economy has brought a change of lifestyle, which is affecting the way in which Chinese people celebrate this great occasion. For example, food is getting simpler compared to the vast array of once-a-year dishes that used to be prepared.
Left:
Fish balls are symbolic of "reunion" since the round shape portrays
"togetherness."
The traditional family banquet on New Year's Eve may now take place in a restaurant as most modern urbanites have become accustomed to the hustle and bustle of city life and have little time for the laborious preparation of the myriad traditional dishes. Contemplating the imminent Lunar New Year's Eve, 68-year-old Wang Fu is adamant: "Things aren't what they used to be." The grandmother from Guangzhou of Guangdong Province laments that, "in the past, it's the most looked forward to day of the year."
Four generations would gather at home and prepare for the elaborate dinner with someone doing the washing-up, another chopping meat and the master chef (generally the eldest daughter) working away at the stove, Wang recalled. "That's the real meaning of a family reunion," she said. But all those days are long gone and now only nostalgic memories remain.
Over the past few years, Wang's family have given up the tradition of eating at home, opting to have the big dinner at a decent restaurant instead. Actually more and more families in major metropolises such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou have chosen to dine out for the biggest meal of the year. As the holiday eating craze is about to begin, many people still find it difficult to decide where to have dinner. "I called some of my favourite restaurants like Donglaishun (one of the most famous hotpot restaurants in Beijing) and Quanjude (famed for Peking roast duck) last week. To my surprise, all of them are already booked up," said Zhang Huan, a lawyer in Beijing. "I should have called earlier."
Several months prior to Spring Festival, Beijing's catering industry was already gearing up for the business of the festival feast. Over 500 restaurants in the capital city had been fully booked by the end of December, local media reported. Statistics from the catering industry show that many of these popular restaurants are "laozihao," or restaurants with a long history offering Chinese traditional dishes. Peng Cheng, a spokesperson of Quanjude, which boasts a history of about 140 years preparing varied dishes revolving around Peking duck, said the restaurant started taking reservations for the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner several months ago. Up to now most of the private rooms in its five restaurants have been booked, Peng said. Hongbinlou Restaurant, a "laozihao" of Muslim dishes in Beijing, was also embracing the booming business.
Over 800 seats have already been booked by diners on the Lunar New Year's Eve, according to Yang Hao, a manager of the restaurant. Ever since Hongbinlou started the service of providing a New Year's Eve dinner in 1999, the business has been growing by 20 per cent every year. About 90 per cent of the reservations were made by large families, according to Yang. In Guangzhou and Shanghai, most of the leading star restaurants have already secured a full house for the night. Most restaurants offer set menus at prices that may be as much as double or treble those of regular dinners. Feasts that cost between 1,000 and 2,000 yuan (US$123 to US$246) for a table of eight to 12 people are the most popular, Yang said.
Apparently undeterred by the expense of dining out, growing numbers of locals are heading to restaurants to celebrate the most important festival of the year. "One or two thousand yuan is not much considering all the time and effort a New Year's Eve dinner might cost. After all it only happens once a year," said Pan Simin, a middle-aged housewife from Beijing who decided to dine out with her extended family this year.
Restaurants of all types of cuisine have all joined the trend, catering for people seeking an unusual dinner. Many of them offer fixed menus for the New Year's Eve dinner, which usually offers a balance of popular poultry, seafood and meat dishes in a succession of courses. Almost every dish has a symbolic meaning or a name that sounds like Chinese characters for fortune, happiness, longevity and prosperity.
Fish is a typical main course, because it symbolises a profitable year ahead. Vegetables embody the freshness of "evergreen" and store good fortune in their roots. Fish balls and meat balls symbolize "reunion" since their round shape portrays "togetherness." In addition to these symbolic dishes, each restaurant has its own selling point. Roast duck, the signature dish of Quanjude, is still popular among Beijing diners in spite of the outbreak of bird flu worldwide and many customers have ordered the dish for their New Year's dinner, said Peng.
Yet, Quanjude also presents a number of new dishes particularly for diners who are worried about bird flu, such as barbecued ribs, roast eel with brandy, fungus fish ball soup and braised ox tail. Fengzeyuan Restaurant, famed for its Shandong food, has a series of sea cucumber dishes as the highlights of its menu. For spicy-food lovers, Emei Restaurant, known as the "first Sichuan restaurant" in Beijing, is a good choice. Its "gongbao" dishes (with chilli and peanuts) can definitely heat up taste buds of any picky diner. For those who still want to eat at home, Shanghai Old Restaurant, located in the western part of the capital, is offering "take-out" set-dinners, Shanghai style.
Postscript: According to our Chinese visiting
scholar Xiadong Nie,
people
will Bai Nian to each other on New Year's Day. Bai means to bow or kneel to show
respect, together with some greeting and good words. One custom is to eat
dumpling on the first day, noodle on the second day, and Hezi, a kind of pie, on
the third day. The fifth day is the birthday of Wealth Bodhisattva. Accordingly
everybody wants to get up early to be the first person burning incense to the
Bodhisattva. From the thirteenth day to the eighteenth day is Lantern Festival.
In the middle of it, the fifteenth day is the Fifteenth Day Festival. The end of
Lantern Festival on the eighteenth day of the lunar year in January is the
formal end of the celebration. For
more info on Toronto's celebration of Chinese New Year, visit
http://www.torontocelebrates.com.