An Intellectual History of China, Volume Two, translated by Michael S. Duke and Josephine Chiu-Duke (2018)

An Intellectual History of China, Volume Two, translated by Michael S. Duke and Josephine Chiu-Duke (2018)

Publication title: An Intellectual History of China, Volume Two: Knowledge, Thought and Belief From the Seventh Through the Nineteenth Century

Publication year: 2018

Author: Translated by Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael S. Duke

About the book

A history of traditional Chinese knowledge, thought and belief from the seventh through the nineteenth centuries with a new approach that offers a new perspective. It appropriates a wide range of source materials and emphasizes the necessity of understanding ideas and thought in their proper historical contexts. Its analytical narrative focuses on the dialectical interaction between historical background and intellectual thought. While discussing the complex dynamics of interaction among the intellectual thought of elite Chinese scholars, their historical conditions, their canonical texts and the “worlds of general knowledge, thought and belief,” it also illuminates the significance of key issues such as the formation of the Chinese world order and its underlying value system, the origins of Chinese cultural identity, foreign influences, and the collapse of the Chinese world order in the 19th century leading toward the revolutionary events of the 20th century.


Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas translated by Michael S. Duke (1993)

Publication title: Raise the Red Lantern: Three Novellas

Publication year: 1993

Author: by Su Tong and Translated by Michael S. Duke

About the book

The brutal realities of the dark places Su Tong depicts in this collection of novellas set in 1930s provincial China — worlds of prostitution, poverty, and drug addiction — belie his prose of stunning and simplebeauty. The title novella, “Raise the Red Lantern,” which became a critically acclaimed film, tells the story of Lotus, a young woman whose father’s suicide forces her to become the concubine of a wealthy merchant. Crushed by loneliness, despair, and cruel treatment, Lotus finds her descent into insanity both a weapon and a refuge.

“Nineteen Thirty-Four Escapes” is an account of a family’s struggles during one momentous year; plagued by disease, death, and the shady promise of life in a larger town, the family slowly disintegrates.

Finally, “Opium Family” details the last years of a landowning clan whose demise is brought about by corruption, lust, and treachery — fruits of the insidious crop they harvest.


Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University: Counting for Nothing? edited by Sunera Thobani (2021)

Publication title: Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University: Counting for Nothing? 

Publication year: 2021

Editor: Sunera Thobani

About the book

Coloniality and Racial (In)Justice in the University examines the disruption and remaking of the university at a moment in history when white supremacist politics have erupted across North America, as have anti-racist and anti-colonial movements. Situating the university at the heart of these momentous developments, this collection debunks the popular claim that the university is well on its way to overcoming its histories of racial exclusion.

Written by faculty and students located at various levels within the institutional hierarchy, this book demonstrates how the shadows of settler colonialism and racial division are reiterated in “newer” neoliberal practices. Drawing on critical race and Indigenous theory, the chapters challenge Eurocentric knowledge, institutional whiteness, and structural discrimination that are the bedrock of the institution.

The authors also analyze their own experiences to show how Indigenous dispossession, racial violence, administrative prejudice, and imperialist militarization shape classroom interactions within the university.

Doing Ethnography in the Wake of the Displacement of Transnational Sex Workers in Yokohama by Ayaka Yoshimizu (2021)

Publication title: Doing Ethnography in the Wake of the Displacement of Transnational Sex Workers in Yokohama

Publication year: 2021

Author: Ayaka Yoshimizu

About the book

Doing Ethnography in the Wake of the Displacement of Transnational Sex Workers in Yokohama reflects on the politics, poetics, and ethics of remembering the lives of transnational migrant sex workers in postcolonial Japan. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the port city of Yokohama, the book focuses on the “water trade” in the Koganecho neighbourhood where exploitative and stigmatised labour took place, involving sexual services performed by migrant women. In recent years the city has sought to rebrand Koganecho, evicting transnational migrant sex workers who had been integral to postindustrial development and erasing their past presence. The author explores Yokohama’s memoryscapes in the aftermath of displacement through embodied knowledge, engaging her senses and ethics as a colonizer-researcher as she navigates the elusive past through traces that remain in the present. She examines the city’s built environment, official historical narratives, films, and photographic works. With few brothels and workers remaining, Yoshimizu fills the gap with her own interactions, encounters, and imaginings. Yoshimizu also writes through the imagery of water in ways that are informed by the local usage and imaginations—the ocean, flowing rivers, swamps, humidity, alcohol, the fluidity of relationships, and transient lives. The water also offers a way to sense the “ghost”, or the displaced lives and the effects of displacement, that, like humid air, stick to those who occupy or inhabit the site of displacement today. This interdisciplinary work makes a valuable contribution to sensory studies, memory studies, migration studies, and Asian studies.

Lecturer in Chinese Language

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Application deadline: February 20, 2022

Date of posting: January 13, 2022

 

The University of British Columbia, Vancouver Campus, invites applications for a full-time Lecturer position in Chinese Language, for three years with a possible renewal/extension, commencing Sept 1, 2022. In accordance with the Collective Agreement between UBC and the UBC Faculty Association, lecturer positions at UBC are appointments without review (i.e. non-tenure track), renewable for successive terms subject to availability of funds and demonstration of excellence in teaching and service. This position will entail a probationary first year. We seek an exceptional teacher of Mandarin Chinese Language courses at all levels with a track record of employing innovative pedagogies and active engagement in scholarly teaching. The workload for these positions includes teaching plus service. The full-time teaching load for a Lecturer is 24 credits (eight 3-credit equivalent courses) per year. Courses will range from first-to fourth-year undergraduate courses in non-heritage and heritage Mandarin language courses.

A master’s degree or higher degree in Teaching Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language, or a closely related field is required. Other requirements include: native or near-native fluency in both Mandarin Chinese and English; a evidence of excellent and extensive teaching experience in all levels of Chinese courses in both heritage and non-heritage streams at the post-secondary level in North America; evidence of teaching excellence in delivering courses of different formats and accommodating students of different proficiency levels; demonstrated excellence in course materials design and curriculum development, both individually and in a team environment; experience with teaching parallel sessions of the same course and coordinating parallel sessions; experience with mentoring and training of TAs ; experience with initiating and organizing co- and extra-curricular activities; experience with student placement; evidence of training and strong background in standard language proficiency frameworks, e.g. ACTFL/CEFR and language assessment theory and practice; evidence of pedagogical innovation, such as community-based learning and/or implementation of a variety of teaching technologies; a strong track record of full participation and valuable contribution in team work and program affairs; and evidence of keeping abreast with recent developments in the field and applying language pedagogy theories in practice.

The successful candidate will be expected to maintain an excellent record of teaching, active engagement in professional development and team-based curriculum design/development of teaching materials, perform instructional responsibilities in coordination with other instructors in parallel sections and other levels, as well as participate fully in program affairs and service. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. These positions are subject to final budgetary approval.

The application dossier should include an application letter, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, sample teaching videos for two different levels, (for example, one in beginner level and one in an intermediate or advanced level, and preferably in two different streams, i.e. heritage and non-heritage streams), lesson plans for each of the lessons shown in the sample teaching videos, and other evidence of teaching effectiveness. It should include a statement about the applicant’s experience working with a diverse student body and contributions or potential contributions to creating/advancing a culture of equity and inclusion. Applicants should also provide the names and contact information for three referees who could provide confidential letters of recommendation on the application portal. At the same time, applicants should arrange to have three confidential letters of recommendation sent directly to asia.jobsearch@ubc.ca by Feb 20, 2022. Applicants are required to upload their teaching demos to YouTube as unlisted public videos and to send the links as part of their application submission. All application materials should be submitted online at http://asia.ubc.ca/careers. The deadline for receipt of application materials is Feb 20, 2022.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.

This position is subject to final budgetary approval. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Given the uncertainty caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, applicants must be prepared to conduct interviews remotely if circumstances require. A successful applicant may be asked to consider an offer containing a deadline without having been able to make an in-person visit to campus if travel and other restrictions are still in place.

 

Assistant Professor in Modern Persian Literature and Culture

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Application deadline: December 3, 2021

Date of posting: October 5, 2021

 

The Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia (Vancouver Campus), invites applications for a tenure-track appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in the field of Modern Persian Literature and Culture.

 

Requirements include: a Ph.D. in modern Persian Literature or a closely related subject (or the expectation of having successfully defended the dissertation before July 1, 2022); evidence of excellence or strong potential in research and undergraduate and graduate teaching; organizational and leadership skills; a strong track record of participation in team work and program affairs; and experience in community outreach and program building. Preference will be given to applicants with the ability to teach courses in English about modern Persian Literature in English Translation, History of Modern Persian Literature, Modern Persian Society and Culture through Literature and Film, and/or Iranian Cinema. Applicants are expected to have native or near native proficiency in Persian, and the successful candidate will be expected to work closely with tenure‐stream Asian Studies faculty in South Asian and Persianate and Islamic history and culture, and with any future hires in the area of Persian/Iranian Studies. Information about the Department can be found on its website, www.asia.ubc.ca.

 

The application dossier should include: a letter of application, curriculum vitae, one writing sample (maximum 30 pages), two sample course syllabi, evidence of teaching effectiveness, a one‐page statement about your experience working with a diverse student and faculty body and your contributions or potential contributions to creating/advancing a culture of equity and inclusion, and the names and contact information for three confidential references. The deadline for receipt of applications is December 3, 2021. The anticipated start date of employment is July 1, 2022. All application materials should be submitted online at http://asia.ubc.ca/careers. Inquiries may be sent to asia.jobsearch@ubc.ca.

 

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.

 

This position is subject to final budgetary approval. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

 

Given the uncertainty caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, applicants must be prepared to conduct interviews remotely if circumstances require. A successful applicant may be asked to consider an offer containing a deadline without having been able to make an in-person visit to campus if travel and other restrictions are still in place.

From Rural China to the Ivy League: Reminiscences of Transformations in Modern Chinese History co-translated by Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael S. Duke (2021)

Publication title: From Rural China to the Ivy League: Reminiscences of Transformations in Modern Chinese History

Publication year: 2021

Author: Co-translated by Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael S. Duke

About the book

A leading authority in the field of Chinese Studies, Professor Yü Ying-shih received the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity in 2006 and the inaugural Tang Prize in Sinology in 2014. These awards represent a recognition of his contributions over six decades to the fields of Chinese history, thought, politics, and culture during which time he published over thirty books, forty-one monographs, and hundreds of articles. The awards also serve to highlight his efforts in redefining Chinese intellectual and cultural traditions, imbuing them with new life. These awards honor the way in which Professor Yü has put his intellectual convictions into practice; for example, his criticism of the violent suppression of the Tiananmen democracy movement of 1989 and his decades-long commentaries on Radio Free Asia. Over the years, his works have had great influence throughout the Chinese-language world where he has been hailed as a paradigm of Chinese humanism.

Professor Yü’s book, originally published in Chinese, covers the period from his childhood in rural Anhui Province China to his professorship at Harvard University, and it has been read extensively in Chinese, both in serial form in the Mingbao Monthly and in book form. The book sold more than 10,000 copies in the first month after its publication by Yunchen Publishing Company in Taipei, Taiwan, in late 2018. The book was awarded the twelfth Hong Kong Book Prize in June 2019.

This book, expertly translated by Professors Michael S. Duke and Josephine Chiu-Duke (University of British Columbia), is much more than the memoir of the scholar who has been hailed as the most important living Chinese historian of our times—it is also an invaluable record of a history of our times, witnessing the cultural, political, and social transformations of what Professor Yü notes as the period of the most violent turmoil and social upheaval in modern Chinese history. This complex period is now made accessible to English-language readers, who will also benefit from the helpful notes by the translators. The book also includes rare photos from Professor Yü’s personal collection.

Persian Literature as World Literature co-edited by Mostafa Abedinifard, Omid Azadibougar and Amirhossein Vafa (2021)

Publication title: Persian Literature as World Literature

Publication year: 2021

Author: Co-edited by Mostafa Abedinifard, Omid Azadibougar and Amirhossein Vafa

About the book

Confronting nationalistic and nativist interpreting practices in Persianate literary scholarship, Persian Literature as World Literature makes a case for reading these literatures as world literature-as transnational, worldly texts that expand beyond local and national penchants. Working through an idea of world literature that is both cosmopolitan and critical of any monologic view on globalization, the contributors to this volume revisit the early and contemporary circulation of Persianate literatures across neighboring and distant cultures, and seek innovative ways of developing a transnational Persian literary studies, engaging in constructive dialogues with the global forces surrounding, and shaping, Persianate societies and cultures.

Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast by Sebastian Prange (2018)

Publication title: Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast

Publication year: 2018

Author: Sebastian Prange

Book cover of Dr. Prange’s publication, Monsoon Islam

About the book

Between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, a distinct form of Islamic thought and practice developed among Muslim trading communities of the Indian Ocean. Sebastian R. Prange argues that this ‘Monsoon Islam’ was shaped by merchants not sultans, forged by commercial imperatives rather than in battle, and defined by the reality of Muslims living within non-Muslim societies. Focusing on India’s Malabar Coast, the much-fabled ‘land of pepper’, Prange provides a case study of how Monsoon Islam developed in response to concrete economic, socio-religious, and political challenges. Because communities of Muslim merchants across the Indian Ocean were part of shared commercial, scholarly, and political networks, developments on the Malabar Coast illustrate a broader, trans-oceanic history of the evolution of Islam across monsoon Asia. This history is told through four spaces that are examined in their physical manifestations as well as symbolic meanings: the Port, the Mosque, the Palace, and the Sea.

Assistant Professor of Teaching in Arabic Language and Culture (Tenure-Track)

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Application deadline: September 24, 2021

Date of posting:  August 17, 2021

The Department of Asian Studies, at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver campus seeks to make a full-time appointment in the field of Arabic Language and Culture at the rank of Assistant Professor of Teaching, tenure-track, with responsibility for teaching courses and developing curriculum in Arabic language and culture.

Requirements include: advanced proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic; a Ph.D. in Arabic Language, Arabic Applied Linguistics, Arabic language pedagogy, or a closely related field; exceptional organizational and leadership skills; evidence of substantial experience and excellent teaching ability in Arabic for both heritage and non-heritage learners at the post-secondary level in North America and experience preparing teaching materials independently or collaboratively; and potential for full participation in team work and program affairs. Individuals with experience in community outreach, program coordination, and teaching innovative Content-Based Instruction (CBI) curriculum for advanced learners of Arabic are particularly encouraged to apply. We seek an exceptional teacher with experience in and/or promise for employing innovative pedagogies, such as community-based learning, flexible and/or online learning, and curriculum/program design. The successful candidate will be expected to maintain an excellent record of teaching, service, and educational leadership.

The application dossier should include: application letter, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, a one-page statement about your experience working with a diverse student body and your contributions or potential contributions to creating/advancing a culture of equity and inclusion, and evidence of teaching effectiveness. Applicants should also prepare one sample teaching video, uploaded to YouTube (or equivalent platform) as an unlisted video, with links sent as part of their application submission.

In addition, applicants should arrange to have three confidential letters of recommendation (preferably by language teaching professionals) that may be submitted upon request.

The deadline for receipt of complete applications is September 24, 2021. The anticipated start date of employment is July 1, 2022.

All application materials should be submitted electronically through the Department’s careers website,
https://asia.ubc.ca/department/careers/. Inquiries may be sent to asia.jobsearch@ubc.ca.

Other hiring information:

The starting salary for the position will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position is subject to final budgetary approval.

As this is a tenure-track position in the Educational Leadership stream, the successful candidate will be reviewed for reappointment, tenure, and promotion in subsequent years, in accordance with the Collective Agreement. For a description of the Assistant Professor of Teaching rank and criteria for reappointment and promotion, visit: https://hr.ubc.ca/working-ubc/faculty-collective-agreement-andpolicies.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Given the uncertainty caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, applicants must be prepared to conduct interviews remotely if circumstances require. A successful applicant may be asked to consider an offer containing a deadline without having been able to make an in-person visit to campus if travel and other restrictions are still in place.