East Asian Studies

East Asian Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of East Asia about their new books.

Scott W. Gregory, "Bandits in Print: The Water Margin and the Transformations of the Chinese Novel" (Cornell UP, 2023)

May 13, 2024

Bandits in Print

Scott W. Gregory

Bandits in Print: "The Water Margin" and the Transformations of the Chinese Novel (Cornell UP, 2023) uses the classic novel The Water Margin (Shuihu Z…

South Korea after the 2024 Parliamentary Elections

May 10, 2024

South Korea after the 2024 Parliamentary Elections

Sabine Burghart

How do election campaigns in South Korea look like? Why have satellite parties become an important instrument of power politics? What do the election …

Jeremy Garlick, "Advantage China: Agent of Change in an Era of Global Disruption" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

May 9, 2024

Advantage China

Jeremy Garlick
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

China’s rise to global prominence is a pretty good contender for the most important world development in the past 30 years. But now the question is ho…

Ian Johnson, "Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future" (Oxford UP, 2023)

May 9, 2024

Sparks

Ian Johnson
Hosted by Ed Pulford

Even as most contemporary states look to history in order to legitimize their existence in some way or other, the past – and narrations of it – hold p…

Kristine Ohkubo and Kanariya Eiraku, "Talking About Rakugo 1: The Japanese Art of Storytelling" (2022)

May 7, 2024

Talking About Rakugo 1: The Japanese Art of Storytelling

Kristine Ohkubo and Kanariya Eiraku
Hosted by Jingyi Li

Rakugo is a live performance art that has penetrated the borders of Japan and continues to gain popularity overseas. The rakugo stage once dominated b…

Richard M. Jaffe, "Seeking Sakyamuni: South Asia in the Formation of Modern Japanese Buddhism" (U Chicago Press, 2019)

May 5, 2024

Seeking Sakyamuni

Richard M. Jaffe
Hosted by Samee Siddiqui

Though fascinated with the land of their tradition’s birth, virtually no Japanese Buddhists visited the Indian subcontinent before the nineteenth cent…

Reiki and the Subtle Body, with Justin B. Stein

May 4, 2024

Reiki and the Subtle Body

Justin B. Stein
Hosted by Pierce Salguero

Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Justin B. Stein, a specialist in modern Japanese religion and the preeminent historian of Reiki. We discuss Justin’s…

Shu Yang, "Untamed Shrews: Negotiating New Womanhood in Modern China" (Cornell UP, 2023)

May 2, 2024

Untamed Shrews

Shu Yang

If you are familiar with traditional Chinese literature, you have likely come across the figure of the “shrew,” a morally threatening woman who is eit…

Bryan K. Miller, "Xiongnu: The World's First Nomadic Empire" (Oxford UP, 2024)

May 1, 2024

Xiongnu

Bryan K. Miller

In Xiongnu: The World’s First Nomadic Empire (Oxford UP, 2024), Bryan K. Miller weaves together archaeology and history to chart the course of the Xio…

Melody Yunzi Li, "Transpacific Cartographies: Narrating the Contemporary Chinese Diaspora in the United States" (Rutgers UP, 2023)

April 30, 2024

Transpacific Cartographies

Melody Yunzi Li
Hosted by Linshan Jiang

Transpacific Cartographies: Narrating the Contemporary Chinese Diaspora in the U.S. (Rutgers University Press, 2023) examines how contemporary Chinese…

Andre Schmid, "North Korea's Mundane Revolution: Socialist Living and the Rise of Kim Il Sung, 1953-1965" (U California Press, 2024)

April 30, 2024

North Korea's Mundane Revolution

Andre Schmid

Histories of North Korea typically focus on one man — Kim Il Sung — and one narrative — his grand rise to absolute power. Andre Schmid’s new book, Nor…

Hiromi Ito, "Tree Spirits Grass Spirits" (Nightboat Books, 2023)

April 28, 2024

Tree Spirits Grass Spirits

Hiromi Ito
Hosted by Jingyi Li

A collected series of intertwined poetic essays written by acclaimed Japanese poet Hiromi Ito--part nature writing, part travelogue, part existential …

Philipp Demgenski, "Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City" (U Michigan Press, 2024)

April 22, 2024

Seeking a Future for the Past

Philipp Demgenski
Hosted by Yadong Li

In Seeking a Future for the Past: Space, Power, and Heritage in a Chinese City (U Michigan Press, 2024), Philipp Demgenski examines the complexities a…

Stephen Morillo, "War and Conflict in the Middle Ages" (Polity Press, 2022)

April 20, 2024

War and Conflict in the Middle Ages

Stephen Morillo
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In War and Conflict in the Middle Ages (Polity, 2022), Dr. Stephen Morillo offers the first global history of armed conflict between 540 and 1500 or a…

Robin Visser, "Questioning Borders: Ecoliteratures of China and Taiwan" (Columbia UP, 2023)

April 18, 2024

Questioning Borders

Robin Visser
Hosted by Li-Ping Chen

Indigenous knowledge of local ecosystems often challenges settler-colonial cosmologies that naturalize resource extraction and the relocation of nomad…

Jonathan Chatwin, "The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

April 18, 2024

The Southern Tour

Jonathan Chatwin
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour has become a milestone in Chinese economic history. Historians and commentators credit Deng’s visit to Guangzhou Pr…

Cathy Yue Wang, "Snake Sisters and Ghost Daughters: Feminist Adaptations of Traditional Tales in Chinese Fantasy" (Wayne State UP, 2023)

April 17, 2024

Snake Sisters and Ghost Daughters

Cathy Yue Wang
Hosted by Linshan Jiang

Contemporary Chinese film and literature often draw on time-honored fantastical texts and tales which were founded in the milieu of patriarchy, parent…

Astrid Møller-Olsen, "Sensing the Sinophone: Urban Memoryscapes in Contemporary Fiction" (Cambria, 2022)

April 16, 2024

Sensing the Sinophone

Astrid Møller-Olsen
Hosted by Tong He

Through an original framework of literary sensory studies, Sensing the Sinophone: Urban Memoryscapes in Contemporary Fiction (Cambria, 2022) provides …

Adam Kabat, "The River Imp and the Stinky Jewel and Other Tales: Monster Comics from Edo Japan" (Columbia UP, 2023)

April 14, 2024

The River Imp and the Stinky Jewel and Other Tales

Adam Kabat
Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Adam Kabat’s The River Imp and the Stinky Jewel and Other Tales: Monster Comics from Edo Japan (Columbia UP, 2023) is an in-depth introduction to the …

Xiaofei Kang, "Enchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in Chinese Communist Propaganda, 1942-1953" (Oxford UP, 2023)

April 9, 2024

Enchanted Revolution

Xiaofei Kang
Hosted by Yadong Li

China’s communist revolution has an intricate relationship with gender and religion. In Enchanted Revolution: Ghosts, Shamans, and Gender Politics in …