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One Year On: A Symposium Commemorating '311', the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011
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A year has almost passed since what Japanese call ‘311’ - or the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 – a tsunami and nuclear disaster that shocked the world. As people in Japan prepare to commemorate the first anniversary of the event, Danish scholars studying Japan and their Japanese counterparts studying in Copenhagen have decided to join together to hold a three-part symposium dedicated to 311. This symposium intends to ask - What challenges have the Japanese faced over the past year? How are they coping with and responding to them? What did they learn? What insights and implications can they share with us, and what can we share with them?
The three-part symposium consists of:
- Key note speech: “Reflecting on a year since 311: what we did and what we learned” by Professor Chiharu Takenaka, Rikkyo University (Tokyo, Japan), who will talk about activities that she undertook in the year since the earthquake by involving students, NGOs, journalists, and afflicted local communities in providing support to the disaster victims and developing a healing and learning process for all involved.
- Panel discussion #1: “Civil engineering dimension of 311” by Dr. Anni Greve (Roskilde University) & Dr. Kazuyoshi Nishijima (DTU) will explore issues on city planning, debate about safety regulations of buildings and nuclear plants, and challenges of the conceptualization of risks.
- Panel discussion #2: “Civil society dimension of 311” by Dr. Annette Hansen (Aarhus University) & Dr. Aki Tonami (NIAS) will examine mobilization of support for the disaster victims through social media, international aid and collaboration, and the evolution of voluntary groups in Japanese society since the Kobe earthquake in 1995.
Throughout the symposium, time is set aside for discussion among the panellists and with the floor. We cordially invite all those who are able to gather with us to reflect and learn, as well as to commemorate the anniversary of the disaster that took lives of so many people.
The symposium is organized and hosted by the Copenhagen 311 Committee (Chair: Professor Takashi Suganuma, Rikkyo University & Roskilde University), with close support from NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Asia Research Centre of Copenhagen Business School, Roskilde University Department of Society & Globalization, and NIHONJINKAI / Den Japanske Forening i Danmark.
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required.
Please write to Katrine Herold <Katrine.Herold@nias.ku.dk> no later than Wednesday, 7 March 2012 at 12.00 noon.
Time: 13:00 – 16:00, Thursday, 8 March 2012
Venue: Alexandersalen, Copenhagen University
Bispetorvet 1-3, 1167 Copenhagen
Coffee, tea and snacks will be served prior to the event.
4th Annual Asian Dynamics Initiative Conference "Rising Asia - Anxious Europe"
The Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI) is pleased to announce the international conference Rising Asia -Anxious Europe to be held at the University of Copenhagen on 2-3 May 2012.
The conference will take place over two days featuring distinguished keynote speakers and paper presentations from an inter-disciplinary group of scholars, focusing on Europe's ‘new' relationship with Asia or the changes in Europe and Asia against the backdrop of such changing relationships.
Rising Asia - Anxious Europe is the fourth in a series of annual conferences initiated by ADI in 2008. ADI is a cross-faculty and interdisciplinary effort to meet the current challenges and demands for better knowledge of and deeper insights into Asian matters.
Abstracts (no more than 250 words) should be submitted by 15 January 2012 to the organizing committee via Marie Yoshida marie.yoshida@nias.ku.dk
For more information please follow the link below
http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english/rising_asia_anxious_europe/
Kashgar Revisited
Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Death of Ambassador Gunnar Jarring
Workshop organized by the Asian Dynamics Initiative, University of Copenhagen
10-12 May 2012
Convenors:
Ildikó Bellér-Hann, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
Jun Sugawara, Research Fellow, ILCAA, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Birgit Schlyter, Professor, Stockholm University
Although Uyghurs have been under the political control of the Chinese centre for several centuries, linguistically and culturally they are closely related to those Turkic speaking Central Asians who for two decades have been the titular groups of their independent nation states. Islam binds them to the global Muslim community. Entangled in multiple ties of connectedness, Uyghurs face new challenges posed by Chinese policies but also by international events and global trends. While pan-Turkism or radical Islamism hold no attraction to the majority of Uyghurs, they tend to respond to repressive religious and cultural policies as well as to Beijing's discriminatory development strategies with a strengthening of ethnic awareness. Difference vis-à-vis the Han is cultivated through appealing to tradition, thus everyday and ritual expressions of cultural identity become inextricably entangled with the political. History, literature and language all become arenas of contestation which, however, due to strict censorship, often assumes the form of ‘hidden transcripts'. How do Uyghurs respond to and participate in shaping new transnational trends and how do they reproduce and perpetuate their cultural traditions in the face of increasing threat? How can new historical research become a potential resource for explaining contemporary developments and expressing nationalist sentiments? Which direction should research on Xinjiang and the Uyghur take in the future?
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