POSTPONED: Nationalism, Identity, and Civil Society in Northeast Asia
Seminar and book launch (reception to follow from 5:30-6:30 pm).
Presented by
Description
This event has been postponed until further notice.
This inter-disciplinary seminar will explore the intersections between nationalism, identity, and civil society in contemporary Northeast Asia. The speakers will examine how citizens' groups and other domestic actors throughout the region have mounted sustained campaigns to protect or recover disputed islands, how online nationalist campaigns have targeted celebrities for perceived slights and insufficient national consciousness, and how historical memories can both complicate local identities and build a sense of shared history with neighbours. These three areas highlight the links between domestic politics, debates about national identity, and bitter international disputes. They underscore the importance of going beyond a focus on the nation-state and beyond material explanations in our analysis of a rapidly changing strategic environment.
This event is co-hosted by the Centre for Strategic Studies and the School of Languages and Cultures.
Speaker Bios
Alexander Bukh is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations. He was born in Moscow, grew up in Israel, and spent over 20 years living in Asia (mainly Japan but also Thailand and Korea), before moving to New Zealand. Previously he was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsukuba University, Japan.
Stephen Epstein is an Associate Professor in the School of Languages and Cultures, where he directs the Asian Languages and Cultures Programme. His research focuses on contemporary Korean society, and he is currently working on a variety of projects addressing popular culture and the media in South Korea. He served as director of the Asian Studies Institute between 2003-2008, and also served as the 2013-14 president of the New Zealand Asian Studies Society.
Shin Takahashi is a lecturer in Japanese studies and also teaches Asian Studies at the School of Languages and Cultures. His main fields of expertise are modern and contemporary Japanese history (political, social, intellectual, transnational), and history and cultural memory of WWII in East Asia. He previously taught at Kumamoto University’s Centre for Policy Studies and the Faculty of Global Human Sciences at Kobe University.
Please RSVP to: sue.rogers@vuw.ac.nz
For more information contact: Sue Rogers
sue.rogers@vuw.ac.nz 04 463 5434