A Global Perspectives Symposium Spring 2018
"The Poetics of Passing: Interrogating Self-Fashioning
as the Other in Zainichi Cultural Production"
April 20-21, 2018
Film Series in conjunction with the symposium: "Passing" in Global Cinema, March 28-April 18, 2018
The Symposium
Two Days of Powerful Conversations
April 20-21, 2018
10:00 am-6:00 pm
The symposium, “The Poetics of Passing: Interrogating Self-Fashioning as the Other in Zainichi Cultural Production,” seeks to illuminate “zainichi” as a locus for theorizing the notion of passing. Since Koreans and Japanese represent different ethnic groups that cannot be differentiated racially, rethinking received notions of passing through an in-depth study of zainichi literary and visual narratives can help us further theorize hegemonic discourses on passing, as well as the consequences, effects, means, and strategies of passing (or not passing).
This two-day symposium will consist of four panels with 12 presenters, 4 moderators, and 8 discussants (detailed program here) together with an open discussion forum each day.
Jonathan Glade
Catherine Ryu
Christina Yi
Symposium Organizers
About Zainichi
Zainichi (lit. “residing in Japan”) Koreans constitute one of the largest diasporic communities in Japan. The historical origin of this ethnic minority group lies in Japan’s colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945). Despite the important role zainichi Koreans have played in Japanese (-language) literary and cultural production, scholarship on their work remains underrepresented in North America as well as in Japan. This symposium, “The Poetics of Passing: Interrogating Self-Fashioning as the Other in Zainichi Cultural Production,” seeks to address this lacuna.
