September 10, 2021
Here, thanks to your contributions and Nikki’s behind-the-scenes technical wizardry, we have the inaugural edition of the ALC departmental newsletter. I appreciate the opportunity it affords to celebrate the members of our community and their inspiring work.
Erin Brightwell
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TOBIRA 1: Beginning Japanese, a new Japanese textbook written by some of the UM Japanese faculty members, was published in July 2021. The slogan for this beginning Japanese textbook for a new generation is: “Rediscover yourself through Japanese language learning. Connect with the world.” Congratulations to all of the faculty members involved in this publication!
https://www.9640.jp/nihongo/en/detail/?870
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NEWS AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
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PhD Candidate Randeep Hothi shares news of several upcoming events. He will be presenting a paper, “The Techno-poetics of Event Formation and Repetition at Sikh Television Stations,” in a session titled “Poetics Reconsidered: Poetry, Tradition, and Metradition” for the American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore. He will also be presenting a paper, “Transporting Sikhism - Truck Drivers and Devotion across American Roadways,” in the Co-Sponsored Session: Sikh Studies Unit and Asian North American Religion, Culture, and Society Unit at the American Academic of Religion’s Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Lastly, Randeep will be conducting an interview with Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at Columbia University Elizabeth Povinelli for “Communication, Media and Performance,” hosted by at Indiana University. Kudos to Randeep for maintaining such an active scholarly profile, particularly during these tough times.
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Kunisuke “Kuni” Hirano successfully defended his dissertation over the summer and is now lecturing at Musashi University and Chūō University (both in Tokyo). Congratulations and we wish him success on this next stage of his career!
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Christi Merrill (PI), Syed Ali, Pinderjeet Gill, Faijul Hoque, Arvind-Pal S. Mandair, and Vidya Mohan have been awarded a two-year New Initiatives/New Instruction (NINI) Grant for their project “Decolonizing the Curriculum in South Asian Languages and Cultures Courses.” The project aims to develop and pilot multilingual, collaborative projects in and across South Asian languages and cultures courses. The members will retool digital applications for engaging with South Asian materials in UM collections based on course needs, with a focus on works written in non-roman writing systems. This draws on and contributes to ongoing efforts to make sites of translation and other multilingual exchange accessible in Michigan and the broader Midwest. It also follows a demand from students at both the undergraduate and graduate level to offer nuanced perspectives on the complex and oftentimes contentious subjects taught here such as ethnic violence, caste conflict, or gendered discrimination. Congratulations on securing support for this exciting intervention!
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NEW (AND NEW-TO-IN-PERSON) FACULTY
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Yamato Kitahashi joined the Japanese Language Program this fall. Yamato is originally from Osaka, Japan and earned a B.A. in English Culture at University of the Ryukyus and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics at Texas Tech University. Prior to coming to Michigan, he worked at TTU for a year as a Japanese instructor. In his free time, he enjoys working out and growing plants. He writes that he is very excited to work with all of the great professors here at Umich; and we are very excited to have him!
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Ungsan Kim is a familiar face to many of us but began his new position remotely: after completing his two-year LSA Collegiate Fellowship, he joined the ALC faculty in fall 2020 as Assistant Professor of Asian Cinema. In this academic year, he will teach courses on Korean cinema, Asian horror cinema, and contemporary Korean directors. We’re glad to have Ungsan officially on board as full-time faculty!
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