Colleagues who are members of the MLA: If you have not affiliated with FIVE Forums, you may do so before October 15 and then vote in the upcoming Forum election for those five. I encourage you to consider one outside your comfort zone, such as TC Anthropology and Literature. I could use your vote! I am running for the TC Anthropology and Literature Forum Exec Ctte and am asking for your vote! Here is a little information about me. As a Chinese specialist, I may be unfamiliar to most of you but I’ve actually been a member of the MLA for 30 years and now am a Life Member. I am Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies and Chair of East Asian Studies at the University of Alberta. My research encompasses literature and film. I am the author most recently of The Sinophone Cinema of Hou Hsiao-hsien (Cambria, 2016) and a co-editor of the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Literature (5 vols.) due out in January. I am currently writing a book on filiality (intergenerational relations, respect for one’s elders, ancestor worship, kinship structure) in modern and contemporary Chinese literature and film, a topic traditionally considered the province of anthropology and ethnography. This study arises from his previous discussions of Hou Hsiao-hsien and Chinese/Taiwanese authors such as Bai Xianyong and Wang Wenxing, on whom I previously have published articles. I also have published an extended review article of Steven Sangren’s book Filial Obsessions in the most recent issue of China Review International. I have another review article on three recent books on filiality in the Qing dynasty that is forthcoming from CLEAR: Chinese Literature, Essays, Articles, and Reviews. I view serving on the Literature and Anthropology Forum Executive Committee as an opportunity more broadly to pursue such topics as family relations, kinship, the relationship of gender identity to biological and social reproduction, and ritual, as well as such efforts as linking literary and cinema studies scholarship with certain sectors of social science, such as cultural anthropology. I also see it as an opportunity for the Forum to branch out a bit and into non-Western literary and cultural studies. Previously, I served on the East Asian Division Executive Committee, the LLC Modern Chinese Forum (founding chair), the Delegate Assembly (three terms), the Elections Committee (one year as chair), and the Advisory Board of PMLA. I also have been President of the Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature and President of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association. I sincerely hope I can make it on to the Anthropology and Literature Forum. This will push me in new directions, allow me to bridge the gap between East Asian Studies and what have been more mainstream studies in the MLA, and meet a lot of new people. Thank you for considering this!

Christopher Lupke, Ph. D.  陸敬思
Professor and Chair, Department of East Asian Studies
Faculty of Arts
University of Alberta
3-32A Pembina Hall
Edmonton, AB T6G 2H8, Canada
780-492-1131
lupke@ualberta.ca

Source: China Daily (8/29/19)
Beijing hosts meet to discuss future of academic publishing
By Fang Aiqing | chinadaily.com.cn

Scholars and publishers attend the meeting themed “University Publishing in the Context of Globalization——Past and Future”. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The meeting themed “University Publishing in the Context of Globalization——Past and Future”, saw university publishing directors, publishing professionals and authors share their experiences on promoting academic dialogue and social progress, analyzing the opportunities and challenges university presses are facing, and also exploring development and cooperation prospects. Continue reading →

Although she is not mentioned in the article below, Bonnie McDougall was also among the honorees for her outstanding contributions to the translation and publication of Chinese books, in addition to her work in promoting cultural exchanges and training translators in Chinese literature.–Alison Bailey <abailey@mail.ubc.ca>

Source: China Daily (8/22/19)
China recognizes 15 in prestigious book awards
By Mei Jia

Awardees.

The Special Book Award of China, the top publishing award from the Chinese government, was given to 15 foreign translators, publishers, writers and Sinologists in Beijing on Tuesday to honor their contributions in bridging cultures and fostering understanding.

They include Polish publisher Andrzej Kacperski, who set up sections of Chinese titles in 100 Polish bookstores and hosted Reading About China book exhibitions; Staburova Jelena, the Latvian researcher of Chinese language and literature; and both the Nepali and Uzbek translators of Volume 1 of the global best-seller Xi Jinping: The Governance of China. Continue reading →

Dear MCLC list members,

My colleagues and I are facing the closure of our department, and we would like to ask for your help.

The University of Alberta is trying to merge our interdisciplinary Department of East Asian Studies with Modern Languages and Cultures (MLCS), a department dedicated to European languages and literatures.  That department has three times the number of faculty as we do, meaning that any merger would put control of East Asian teaching and research at our university in the hands of Europeanists.

Although this move is being pursued by Dean Lesley Cormack of the Faculty of Arts during a period of severe budget pressure, she has admitted in writing that closing our department would not result in any cost savings to the University.  Instead we believe that, by forcibly merging our department into the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, Dean Cormack is hoping to make up for  the relative weakness of European-language classes by grouping them with our much healthier registrations in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.  While we would be glad to support and advocate for our colleagues in that department, killing off our own department to keep them afloat is the wrong solution.  And this merger would indeed do great harm to interdisciplinary research and teaching about Asia at our university: our area-studies model would largely be stripped down to language teaching, and our resources handed over to a department dedicated to European culture.
Continue reading →

Source: The Boston Globe (9/18/19)
Kay Ann Johnson

JOHNSON, Kay Ann Age 73, of Amherst, MA, passed away on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 from complications of metastatic breast cancer. Born in Chicago, IL, she was the daughter of Helen Johnson and D. Gale Johnson, renowned agricultural economist, professor, and former provost of the University of Chicago. Kay earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a professor of Asian studies and political science at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA for over 40 years. She authored three scholarly books, and her research on China’s one-child policy and adoption practices both within China and abroad has been foundational to the examination of the policy and its impact on countless people. She was also a dedicated and extraordinary teacher who supervised hundreds of undergraduate theses at Hampshire. In addition to the widescale impact of her scholarship, Kay was also one of the first parents to adopt a child from China, and contributed greatly to both the New England and New York chapters of Families with Children from China. Her humanitarian efforts also included an instrumental role with Fu Ai, an organization providing medical support to orphans affected by HIV and AIDS in Fuyang, China. Kay is survived by her husband, Bill Grohmann of Amherst, MA; her son, Jesse Johnson, 33, of Hefei, China, and his partner, Mutong; and daughter, LiLi Johnson, 28, of Madison, WI, and her partner, Andrew; her brother, David of Sinking Springs, PA and wife, Jennifer. A Memorial Service will be planned for the fall. For those wishing to make a donation in Kay’s memory, contributions can be made to the Hampshire Fund in her name at donate.hampshire.edu

Posted by: Rebecca Karl <karl.rebecca22@gmail.com>

Below is the election announcement of Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature from Daniel Fried, president of ACCL (2017-2019).

Yunwen Gao yunwengao@cuhk.edu.hk

Dear ACCL members:

As we have successfully concluded our biennial conference, it is my final responsibility to supervise the election of our next President.  To that end, I have attached a nomination form to this message, and would ask that you all consider either nominating yourself, or encouraging a colleague to seek election.

The primary duty of the President is to arrange the biennial conference; however, the next President should also expect to work on additional measures to strengthen the Association, such as completing an ACCL website and regularizing membership registration.  The President will have the assistance of a Treasurer, Communications Director, and Executive Committee, all of whom are appointed as outlined in our constitution. Continue reading →

“6.4”30周年致老一代留学生伙伴们

几位老留学生

还记得1989年6月4日凌晨那场发生在北京的震惊世界的大屠杀吗？如果你当时在中国，你可能参加了北京或其他城市的抗议活动；如果你当时在美国，你可能参加了全美学自联或当地学生会组织的游行示威。如果你是在1990年4月11日之前抵达美国，你可能是《1992年中国学生保护法案》（CSPA）的受益者。

三十年过去了，对于我们大多数人来说，“6.4”已经成为尘封的记忆。在此期间，“天安门母亲”却从来没有停止抗争。她们要求中国政府平反“6.4”，承认他们的孩子不是“暴徒”，而是反对腐败、争取民主的爱国青年。但是，她们的声音如此微弱，很少被人听到，投给政府的信函亦石沉大海。还有许多遇难者留下了年轻的妻子和年幼的孩子，多年来，他们的遗孀承受着巨大的精神和经济压力，独自把孩子养大，甚至身患重病时也无法放弃微薄的劳动收入。许多孩子由于幼年丧父而始终生活在阴影之下，难以像普通孩子那样享受无忧无虑的快乐生活。 Continue reading →