Events this week
Documentary: “Comfort” conversation with the director
CAS Event
Thursday, March 25, 6-7:30pm
Zoom Meeting ID: 991 1007 2628
Passcode: Comfort
Conversation with the Director, Moonchil Park
The documentary, COMFORT (보드랍게, 2020) features KIM Soonak (1928-2010), a survivor of Japanese military sexual slavery, as its main subject. After the WWII, she engaged in prostitution, US camptown sex trade, as well as working as a maid. Weaving together interviews of activists, archive footages, animation, and the recital of testimonies, the film reconstructs the life stories of the late KIM Soonak.
Moonchil Park, the director, is a documentary filmmaker in Korea, who has made numerous documentary films on important social issues, including “Blue Butterfly Effect” (2017) which documented anti-THAAD protest activities of residents of Seongju, Korea, and “Queer053”” (2019) which documented the queer festival in Taegu, Korea. His films have been shown in multiple international film festivals with critical acclaim.
The film is available for viewing from March 18-27. The film can be accessed at password: soonak
This event was co-sponsored by the Department of History at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Anti-Asian Violence, Silence, Race and Patriarchy
Wednesday, March 24, 6pm - 7:30pm MDT
Please join us for an engaged discussion with CU Boulder faculty and community activists on the horrific Atlanta murders of March 16th and the historic and ongoing violence(s) directed at the Asian/Asian American communities.
CU in the Community: Unmask the Racism
Thursday, March 25 at 1pm EDT
Join the Volunteer Resource Center virtually on Thursday, March 25th from 1:00 PM -2:30 PM MST for a unique service opportunity with Unmask the Racism. Unmask the Racism is a CU student led initiative that aims to raise awareness about anti-Asian sentiment/racism due to COVID19 and to show support for Asian and Asian American communities.
, your confirmation email will include the Zoom link.
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference
SPECIAL PLENARY SESSION:
Race and Racisms in Asia/Asian Studies
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
(ACCOUNT CREATION REQUIRED)
Thursday, March 25, 2021
5:30pm – 7:00pm EDT
TheAssociation for Asian Studies 2021 Virtual Annual Conference will feature a special live plenary session, "Race and Racisms in Asia/Asian Studies." Please join us for this important conversation! While you will need to create an account at the conference platform to watch the plenary, conference registration is not required.
Session Abstract: Due to its imperialist origins, the field of Asian Studies both inherits and perpetuates racist hierarchies premised on white supremacy and Black abnegation. Scholars of Asia must therefore confront the uncomfortable fact that studying Asia is neither anti-racist nor apolitical. After all, “Asia” and “Asian” are not neutral categories. Historically and today, these terms have paired phenotype (“yellow” skin) with supposedly distinctive modes of governance (“Oriental despotism”) or ostensibly immutable ethical orientations (“Confucian values”). Anti-Black racism and ethnic, caste, and religious discrimination have also featured in Asian societies past and present, while essentialist notions of indigeneity and occupational purity have dictated who has a voice in both politics and academe. Although exclusionary thinking and hierarchies of difference are rife, a more inclusive and equitable Asian Studies is possible. This panel brings together scholars working on various regions and time periods to discuss how the straightforward profundity of saying that Black Lives Matter can fundamentally reorient Asian Studies teaching and research. Asian Studies may be intrinsically political, but our work can strive for justice rather than oppression.
Session Participants: Veronika Kusumaryati (Georgetown University), Adeana McNicholl (Vanderbilt University), Ramnarayan Rawat(University of Delaware), Chinua Thelwell (William & Mary), Jolyon Thomas (University of Pennsylvania), and Don J. Wyatt (Middlebury College)
Session link at conference platform: