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The Association for Asia Pacific Studies(AAPS) is currently seeking lecturers and presenters for the Fall 2005/Spring 2006 Speaker Series.
READ ALL ABOUT IT! RECENT WORKS ON ASIA
TESS URIZA HOLTHE
WHEN ELEPHANTS DANCE
(Classic Penguin)
A Filipino folk saying observes—"When elephants dance, the chickens must be careful." This should give some idea of what readers can expect in this acclaimed novel.ARTHUR A. LEVINE
CONFUCIUS: THE GOLDEN RULE
(Scholastic)
A biography of China's great Sage aimed at young audiences. New York Times critic Elizabeth Spires observes: "Adults looking for a book that makes sense of our confused and troubling time might so well to introduce their children to the life of Confucius," since he himself lived in a critical transitional period in Chinese history.YOKO TAWADA
WHERE EUROPE BEGINS
(New Directions)
a collection of short stories from a Japanese who has lived in Germany for 22 years, focusing on the tortures and torments of a cross-cultural existence.MAXINE HONG KINGSTON,
TO BE THE POET
(Harvard University Press)
"I have almost finished my longbook. Let my life as a Poet begin . . . I won't be a workhorse anymore; I'll be a skylark."MINEKO IWASAKI, with Rande Brown
GEISHA, A LIFE
(Astria Books)
The author observes: "If want you to know what it is really like to live the life of a geisha . . . onew tha IO ultimately had to leave. It is a story that I have long wanted to tell."ROBINSON MISTRY
FAMILY MATTERS
(Alfred A. Knopf)
New York Times critic John Sutherland describes it as "King Lear in Bombay," the story of how a family struggles to deal with a languishing patriarch. However, he also notes that it reflects a more cosmic theme: "Does family matter in the modern age? Particularly in the increasingly strife-torn extended family that is India?"JULIE OTSUKA
WHEN THE EMPEROR WAS DIVINE
(Alfred A. Knopf)
A novel about the Japanese-American experience in the relocation camps seen through the story of one family—wife, husband and two children. New York Times critic Michael Upchurch hails it as carefully researched and an "accomplished novel."JOHN LANCHESTER
FRAGRANT HARBOR
(G. P. Putnam's Sons)
A novel set mainly in the aftermath of China's return to Hong Kong, following the trials and travails of western immigrants to this exotic and often unexpected locale. New York Times critic Janet Maslin describes it as "an attempt to dramatize Asian history on an extremely personal level. . . . [it] can count a lengthy time span as its greatest achievement."LATIFA
MY FORBIDDEN FACE
GROWING UP UNDER THE TALIBAN: A YOUNG WOMAN'S STORY
(Hyperion)
A first hand account of gender discrimination and oppression under the Taliban, written by sixteen year old girl from a middle-class family, who has since escaped.DAVID GILMOUR
THE LONG RECESSIONAL:
THE IMPERIAL LIFE OF RUDYARD KIPLING
(Straus & Giroux)
This biography takes a fresh look at an author long identified with Victorian chauvinism and western imperialism (e.g. "The White Man's Burden"). Gilmour cites some facts that may surprise contemporary audiences: Kipling's criticism of British imperial governance, his satires on British living in India, his predictions of the decline and fall of the empire, with the ensuing Hindu-Muslim conflicts, as well as Germany's role in inciting "the Great War."NAJMIEH BATMANGLIJ
SILK ROAD COOKING: A VEGETARIAN JOURNEY
(Mage)
Iranian-born chef Batmanglij offers an array of recipes reflecting the melding of ingredients and flavors across history's ancient highway. "One of the best kept secrets of cooking is the role played by the Silk Road—this vast, thousand-year connection from East to West. . . . [it] represents a hidden culinary bond—a sign of early and peaceful communication—linking distant, and sometimes hostile, cultures." One of the key ingredients revealed by the author is roses, used to flavor wine, jam, syrup, sorbet and tea.RISK AND REWARDS: STORIES FROM THE PHILIPPINE MIGRATION TRAIL
(Inter Press Service Asia-Pacific & Ford Foundation)
Thirty-six stories are included in this shocking expose of the real life trials and tribulations faced by Filipino workers who go abroad in search of economic prosperity. Some 800,000 people follow this path each year, providing a significant financial resource for their homeland ($7.4 billion in 1998). In addition to the risk of physical abuse and even death, such workers pay a heavy emotional toll in the break-up of families and relationships.JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
The author has very solid credentials for his work, being a Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Clinton. He discusses the worldwide reactions against globalizing trends on many fronts, such as the way in which IMF policies undermine democracy, U.S. hypocrisy in pushing for open markets while practicing protectionism, and the debt status of struggling economies.
[for an insightful interview with the author, see "Questions for Joseph E. Stigiltz: Think Global," nytimes.com]ANDREW MARSHALL
THE TROUSER PEOPLE: A STORY OF BURMA--IN THE SHADOW OF THE EMPIRE (Counterpoint)
A travel diary combines insights on the recent past, to provide a picture of Burma (aka Myanmar) and its people in all walks of life. The itinerary is set as Marshall sets out to follow the first steps of Sir J. George Scott, "a natural imperialist" who arrived in the Victorian period. Special attention is paid to certain tribes—such asthe Padaung, Palaung, Shan, and Wa—of interest to Scott himself, including human rights issues.DOROTHY AND THOMAS HOOBLER
THE CHINESE AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM
Introduction, Bette Bao Lord
(Oxford University Press)
This excellent reference source includes historic photos and illuminating text on a variety of topics related to the entrance of Chinese into America. Included are chapters on the Chinese homeland, the process of leaving, initial reception in America, cultural adjustment, and integration. Brief bios of prominent Chinese-Americans are also given, such as Yo-Yo Ma, I. M. Pei, and Connie Chung. There's even a recipe for Yung Sun Tom's Buddha's Delight!LINDSEY COLLEN, THE RAPE OF SITA
(The Feminist Press)
Banned in its homeland, Mauritius, impetus for death threats by Hindu Fundamentalists, a controversial novel Is now available in America. The complex social and political relationships among African, Indian, and "Western" culture are reflected in the story of oppression and colonial influences, embodied in the character of Sita. The author consciously interweaves the well-known story of the mythological Sita, from the Indian epic, The Ramayana.DONALD KEENE, EMPEROR OF JAPAN: MEIJI AND HIS WORLD 1852-1912
(Columbia University Press)
A famous scholar in the field of Japanese literature has ventured into the realm of history to tell the story of one of Japan's most influential leaders. His research materials included some 100,000 poems by the Meiji emperor, as well as a memoir by one of his chamberlains and an official history done by the Imperial Household Agency. Speaking of his subject Keene observed: "as far as I know, he was he most selfless leader among other Japanese emperors despite the fact that he lived in a hard time of Japanese history. . . . he never took advantage of his position, power."
[for more, see "New Book Focuses on Humanity of Emperor Meiji," The Rafu Shimpo, April 16, 2002)
AMIT CHAUDHURI, REAL TIME: STORIES AND REMINISCENCE
(Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)
The author, hailed by the New York Times as "one of the bright young names in Indian fiction," offers up stories that largely are set in the India of twenty to thirty years ago in which he was raised, dominated by "a bourgeoisie engrossed, enclosed, in its own rituals of status."
[for more, see "Seeing India, Business Class," nytimes.com]MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ, PLATFORM
Literature mirrors the racist, right-wing world of French politics in this best-selling novel. A bizarre "solution" is also offered for global conflicts in a fictional chain of resorts/brothels where an "ideal exchange" is found—those of the so-called Third World barter their bodies for economic survival. Their clients, "who have everything they want except that they no longer manage to find sexual satisfaction," derive their own benefits from this capitalist coup, until Islamic terrorists strike.
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