Video East Asia

A Decade of Fukushima: Socio-Technical Perspectives on Surviving the Nuclear Age in Japan

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:44:45 +0000

A Decade of Fukushima: Socio-Technical Perspectives on Surviving the Nuclear Age in Japan Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/26/2021 - 10:44

WORKSHOP PROGRAM

THURSDAY, 18 MARCH, 2021

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM Keynote Presentation

Nuclear Compensation: Hope, Responsibility, and Collaboration around Fukushima

HIROKAZU MIYAZAKI, Northwestern University

Discussant: Kathryn Goldfarb, University of Colorado

[video:https://youtu.be/DguYOutXJ-Y]

FRIDAY, 19 MARCH, 2021

3:00 PM – 3:05 PM Welcome

TIM OAKES and KATHRYN GOLDFARB, University of Colorado

3:05 PM – 3:45 PM Suspending Damage: Atomic Livelihood in the Age of Decommissioning

RYO MORIMOTO, Princeton University

Discussant: Tim Oakes, University of Colorado

[video:https://youtu.be/2sU49-cNjxs]

3:45 PM – 4:25 PM Living in Paradox: Technopolitics of Health and Well-Being in Fukushima

HIROKO KUMAKI, Dartmouth College

Discussant: Donna Goldstein, University of Colorado

[video:https://youtu.be/hjfqqag2Eh4]

4:40 PM – 5:20 PM Sound Trucks as Technology of Antinuclear Protest

NORIKO MANABE, Temple University

Discussant: Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, University of Colorado

[video:https://youtu.be/Bkv3IAbB_RQ]

5:20 PM – 6:00 PM Hidden Vulnerability: Power, Structure, and Nuclear Disaster in Fukushima

SULFIKAR AMIR, Nanyang Technology University

Discussant: Darren Byler, University of Colorado

[video:https://youtu.be/kgrcbaxub1o]

This was first of three workshops organized for the project “A Tale of Two Asias: Living In and Beyond the Nuclear Age,” hosted by the Center for Asian Studies. Funding for the project is being provided by the Albert Smith Nuclear Age Fund at the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ.

About the project

March 2021 marks ten years since the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Not only did the triple reactor-core meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant create an unprecedented public health and economic challenge for all of Japan, but it also marked a shift in the trajectory of Japan’s nuclear industry. Whereas before the Fukushima disaster Japan was expected to produce up to 50% of its electricity needs from nuclear energy by 2020, that number currently stands at 20%, roughly 2/3 of what it was a decade ago. While the future remains uncertain, Japan’s reliance on nuclear power to meet the majority of its energy needs is no longer guaranteed. Japan, of course, remains the only country in the world to have experienced wartime nuclear bombing. Long an ambassador for nuclear disarmament, Japan now sees itself questioning the peacetime production of nuclear energy as well.

Three years after the Fukushima disaster, China’s President Xi Jinping announced his signature foreign policy initiative: the ‘Belt & Road’. Designed in large part to address China’s oversupply of domestic infrastructural construction capacity, much of the BRI focuses on developing energy infrastructure connectivities across Asia and beyond, with nuclear power being a significant part of this infrastructure development. With 47 existing reactors which already account for 1/5 of global nuclear power generating capacity, China proposes to build at least 30 new reactors across Asia, as part of the BRI, by 2030. This in addition to the 43 new reactors already planned for construction within China. In contrast to Japan, then, China’s future reliance on nuclear power is guaranteed. Indeed, China increasingly presents itself as a model of how to live in the nuclear age, while in Japan there has been much greater emphasis on living beyond the nuclear age.

The Center for Asian Studies will host a series of three focused workshops exploring this “tale of two Asias.” Already engaged in a broader examination of Asian infrastructure development through the China Made project (see https://chinamadeproject.net/), we will explore Japanese and Chinese modes of living in the nuclear age through a technopolitical lens, including considerations of the impacts of energy infrastructures on everyday life, social movements and cultural engagements with nuclear energy development, and the political implications of infrastructural risk and vulnerability. Collectively, these workshops will ask: What are the technopolitical dimensions of efforts to both survive in and move beyond the nuclear age in Asia? What do we learn from paying particular attention to the Japanese and Chinese contexts of these efforts?

About the workshop

“A Decade of Fukushima” was held during Spring 2021, to coincide with the 10^th Anniversary of the March 11, 2011 disaster, and will explore socio-cultural and technopolitical dimensions of Japan’s post-disaster efforts to survive and flourish in the nuclear age. We approach ‘technopolitics’ in a broad and inclusive frame, drawing for instance on work by Hecht (2012a and 2012b) and Mitchell (2002). For Von Schnitzler (2016, 10) technopolitics “refers to the ways in which political actions are embedded within technical forms and, conversely, the ways in which the technical shapes political questions. Thus, techno-politics may denote the ways in which large-scale engineering or infrastructure projects function as vehicles or expressions of larger political goals and forms of power, but it also and more broadly foregrounds the materiality of politics and political expression.” We are particularly interested in bringing this perspective into conversation with social movements and cultural practices in post-Fukushima Japan.

While there has already been a significant amount of scholarship on different social and cultural dimensions of post-disaster Japan, we seek to foreground analyses that interrogate the intersections between cultural practices and technical or scientific processes in Japan’s efforts to address nuclear disaster risks, vulnerabilities and resiliency; energy needs and stability; and ecological security and sustainability. At the same time, a central workshop objective is to provide a set of innovative accounts that help us understand the novel ways that Japanese people live within, seek to survive, and mobilize to move beyond the nuclear age. The workshop aims to provide an audience less familiar with the Japanese experience with a compelling window into the insights that Japan’s engagements with the technopolitics of nuclear energy, and with the risks and vulnerabilities of nuclear disaster in particular, might provide for people living within sociotechnical nuclear regimes in places like the US and Europe. Ultimately, we all live in the nuclear age; we hope the workshop papers will help us envision a path toward greater sociotechnical possibilities in the nuclear age.

Paper presenters

Sulfikar Amir, Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Nanyang Technical University

Hiroko Kumaki, Postdoctoral Fellow in Anthropology, Dartmouth College

Noriko Manabe, Associate Professor of Music, Temple University

Hirokazu Miyazaki, Kay Davis Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern University

Ryo Morimoto, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University

Discussants

Darren Byler, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Asian Studies

Kathryn Goldfarb, Assistant Professor, Anthropology

Donna Goldstein, Professor, Anthropology

Tim Oakes, Professor of Geography and Director, Center for Asian Studies

Miriam Kingsberg Kadia, Associate Professor, History

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Uyghur Voices: "Never Again" is Now

Anonymous — Fri, 01 May 2020 16:53:33 +0000

Uyghur Voices: "Never Again" is Now Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/01/2020 - 10:53

Wednesday, March 4 at 5pm
CASE Building, Chancellor's Auditorium, 4th floor

Since 2017, as many as 800,000 - 1.8 million Uyghurs and Kazakhs have been “disappeared” into a widespread system of “reeducation camps” in the Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang). Nearly all Uyghurs and Kazakhs in China have an immediate family member who is interned in this camp system. This process resonates with the most horrific moments in modern history. In the past such camp systems have resulted in generational trauma and social elimination. They shattered families, destroyed native forms of knowledge and, at times, resulted in mass death. Come for a heartfelt presentation by Uyghurs whose family members have disappeared into this system. Guest speaker Mustafa Aksu, representative from the Uyghur Human Rights Project, will present and Dr. Sarah Tynen (University of Colorado) and Dr. Darren Byler (University of Colorado) will moderate the event.

[video:https://youtu.be/RFNy5OyRBvY]

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China Town Hall 2019

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:47:26 +0000

China Town Hall 2019 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/09/2020 - 10:47

Monday, November 18
Event begins promptly at 4pm
Wolf Law 207

A national discussion on the topic of the current Sino-American relationship and the impact it is having on us, on our businesses, our educational institutions, our communities, our states, our country. George Stephanopoulos will moderate this year’s webcast discussion; he will be joined by NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins, Melanie Hart, Center for American Progress, Ely Ratner, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies, Center for a New American Security and Yasheng Huang, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Following the webcast, a panel on how the US-China relationship impacts CU research and education, moderated by the Director of the Center for Asian Studies, Tim Oakes, featuring Waleed Abdalati, Diana Salazar, Jimmy Ilseng, Tim Weston, and Emily Yeh.

(Our video does not include the national broadcast)

[video:https://youtu.be/8Epnjf8tMYo]

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Hong Kong on the Brink

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:42:34 +0000

Hong Kong on the Brink Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/06/2020 - 09:42

with Jeffrey Wasserstrom
CAS Event
Wednesday, October 23 at 5:00PM

This talk will focus on patterns of protest and the tightening of political controls in Hong Kong. It will pay close attention to the 2014 Umbrella Movement but focus even more on the dramatic events of this year, including the candlelight vigil held on the 30th anniversary of the June 4th Massacre, Jeff Wasserstrom has been visiting Hong Kong regularly since 1987, and will draw on his work as a specialist in the history of anti-authoritarian movements in various parts of the world and his work on global cities of Asia. His talk will provide a preview of ideas he is exploring in his book Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, forthcoming in the Columbia Global Reports series in February. The talk will be followed by a commentary and discussion moderated by CAS Director and Professor of Geography, Tim Oakes.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom is the Chancellor’s Professor of History, University of California Irvine. He holds a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz, an M.A. from Harvard and a PhD from Berkeley, and while a student also spent a year apiece at the University of London and Shanghai's Fudan University. A former editor of the Journal of Asian Studies, his most recent books are Eight Juxtapositions: China through Imperfect Analogies from Mark Twain to Manchukuo (Penguin 2016) and the co-authored third edition of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know ( Oxford 2018). In addition to writing for scholarly periodicals, he is a regular contributor to newspapers (including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal) and magazines (such as the Atlantic and TIME). He has spoken at literary festivals in Europe and Asia, consulted on documentary films about the Tiananmen protests and the Umbrella Movement, testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and also served as a keynote speaker at State Department-organized orientation sessions for China-bound Fulbright students and scholars.

This event is co-sponsored by the History Department and the International Affairs Program.

[video:https://youtu.be/0MxkGvJguJI]

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The Cosmo-logics of K-pop: Media Intimacies and Populist Soft Power

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 06:00:00 +0000

The Cosmo-logics of K-pop: Media Intimacies and Populist Soft Power Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/19/2019 - 00:00

A talk with Michelle Cho, Assistant Professor of East Asian Popular Culture at the University of Toronto

Much of the rising transnational popularity of K-pop today has been correlated to the growth of its digital distribution and consumption. Over and above its status as a genre of music, K-pop is a media phenomenon that pairs transmedia delivery with the cultivation of visible fan communities whose engagements can be registered on globally popular media platforms, especially social networking and video-sharing sites. I call this K-pop’s “cosmo-logic.” This term evokes discourses of globalization, world-making, and cosmopolitanism, yet, more specifically, denotes the operations of South Korean culture industries’ claims to both universal appeal as spectacle and the unique ability to indigenize global culture through creative juxtaposition, adaptation, and repetition. In my analysis of K-pop’s cosmo-logics, I focus on fandom as a particular form of populism in two, somewhat opposed senses, first, in fandom’s assertions of a visual and affective commons and its gift economy and, second, in the resemblance between the affective excesses of fandom and those of the mass or the crowd. If contemporary geopolitics are defined by the rise of various populisms, as many have argued, I propose that media fandoms such as those that have fueled K-pop’s crossover success be understood as part of this zeitgeist.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCEDQ7RrQPc]

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Roundtable on Xinjiang

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 06:00:00 +0000

Roundtable on Xinjiang Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/21/2019 - 00:00

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oauLhZ_4pAg]

Thursday, March 21 at 11:00-1:00
Center for Community Flatirons Room, ��ƷSM��ӰƬ

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is engaged in the mass detention of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, the “autonomous region” in northwestern China which is home to several Turkic groups. It has been estimated that up to one million people have been detained without trial. In the camps, labelled by Chinese authorities as "re-education" facilities, the detainees are forced to abandon their native language and religious beliefs – instead learning Mandarin Chinese and studying the Chinese Communist Party doctrine.

Outside of the camps, Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang are subjected to a dense network of surveillance and ethnic discrimination. Beijing justifies its policies in Xinjiang by citing security concerns, particularly the “three evil forces” of terrorism, extremism, and separatism. To counter them, the PRC has launched what it calls a "people's war on terror." As part of such efforts, Xinjiang has become a de-facto police state.

What do we know about the situation in Xinjiang, and where is it headed? How is the build-up of the police state in Xinjiang intersecting with China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative? How is the situation in Xinjiang impacting Chinese society at large, and how is it perceived outside of the territorial boundaries of Xinjiang?

With:
Dr. Darren Byler (University of Washington)
Prof. Rian Thum (University of Nottingham)
Prof. James Leibold (La Trobe University)
Prof. James Millward (Georgetown University)
Sarah Tynen (��ƷSM��ӰƬ)

Moderated by:
Prof. Tim Oakes (��ƷSM��ӰƬ)
Dr. Alessandro Rippa (��ƷSM��ӰƬ)

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The US-China Trade War: A Panel Discussion on Its Implications for China, the US, and Beyond

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 06:00:00 +0000

The US-China Trade War: A Panel Discussion on Its Implications for China, the US, and Beyond Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/10/2018 - 00:00

CAS Event
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at 5pm
Eaton Humanities 250, ��ƷSM��ӰƬ

A panel discussion about the US-China Trade War featuring Robert F. McNown, Keith E. Maskus, and Karen Gerwitz. Moderated by Tim Oakes, Center for Asian Studies Director.

Robert F. McNown, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, will discuss alternatives to the tariffs weapon to influence some of China's policies that may be inconsistent with WTO rules. In particular, how could the U.S. collaborate with economic allies, working within the WTO framework, to deal with some of China's practices that are troublesome to many of China's trading partners?

Keith E. Maskus, Professor of Economics and former Associate Dean for Social Sciences at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, will talk about the history of how this episode evolved (it has longstanding roots), how the trade war may affect both economies, and offer some thoughts about where this all might go. As it is likely that the Trump Administration’s true goal here is to eviscerate the World Trade Organization, Keith would offer some thoughts on that also.

Karen Gerwitz, President, World Trade Center Denver, and Scott Larson, Senior Vice President, Legal and General Counsel at Terumo BCT will offer insights on the impact the trade war is having on Colorado business.

[video:https://youtu.be/CQtzStSiO5w]

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Ai Weiwei: Global Artist, Borderless Humanist, Contemporary Emperor

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Ai Weiwei: Global Artist, Borderless Humanist, Contemporary Emperor Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/20/2018 - 00:00

CAS Event
Thursday, September 20, 2018, 5 p.m.
Eaton Humanities 250, ��ƷSM��ӰƬ
Ai Weiwei is one of the most compelling figures working in the spheres of international art and political activism. His extraordinary range of creative activities is unparalleled among his peers—from provocative large-scale museum exhibitions that reference traditional Chinese art forms to candid Instagram posts at impoverished refugee camps around the world, Ai’s fearless spirit and commitment to human rights is widely recognized as the heart of his artistic practice. In recent years, Ai’s outspoken stance regarding freedom of expression has established him as leader in the conversation concerning humanity today. This evening lecture will present a brief overview of Ai’s personal history with a focus on his singular narrative within the field of global contemporary art and beyond.
Taliesin Thomas has worked in the field of contemporary Chinese art since living two years in rural China (1999-2001). Since 2007 she is the founding director of AW Asia in New York. AW Asia is a private arts organization that promotes the field of contemporary Chinese art through institutional loans, museum acquisitions, curatorial projects, and publishing. Thomas works closely with Ai Weiwei’s studio to oversee the management of the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (2010) sculpture series and world tour. Thomas has lectured widely on contemporary Chinese art including The Ringling Museum of Art, FL; The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, CA; School of Visual Arts, NY; The Warhol Museum, PA; Brattleboro Museum, VT; University of South Florida, Tampa, FL; and the Universidade de Lisboa/Faculdade de Belas-Artes, Lisbon, Portugal; Bennington College, VT; and the former Chelsea Art Museum, NY. She has published in ARTPULSE magazine, Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (JCCA), and ArtAsiaPacific magazine. Thomas holds an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Columbia University and she is a Ph.D. candidate in Art Theory and Philosophy with the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts concurrent with her professional role in the art world.

[video:https://youtu.be/BGgo2nDB3Ks]

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An Evening with Shunsaku Hayashi

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 13:59:03 +0000

An Evening with Shunsaku Hayashi Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/17/2018 - 07:59

[video:https://vimeo.com/264503960]

"Japanese painter and animator, Shunsaku Hayashi from Osaka, presented his three most recent short films: Railment, Interstitial, and Down Escalation along with a selection of some work Shunsaku Hayashi made while a student at Goldsmiths, University of London. Shunsaku Hayashi uses an incredible array of traditional animation and painting techniques as well as his own unique style to convey a sense of contemplation and isolation within the viewer while visually stunning them into oblivion."

Shunsaku Hayashi (b.1992) is a Japanese artist mainly working on painting, animation and experimental film. He studied at Goldsmiths, University of London as a trainee under the Japan Cultural Ministry Abroad Research Fellowship for up-and-coming artists from 2012 to 2015. His recent animation REMEMBER won Golden Horseman for Animated Film at 28th FILMFEST DRESDEN, and it was shortlisted for several international competitions. His newer work, RAILMENT and INTERSTITIAL have been winning major awards at festivals around the world. Most recently INTERSTITIAL was awarded the Best Animation Award at Slamdance Film Festival and RAILMENT was awarded with the CreativeFuture Innovation award also at Slamdance.

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Small Hydropower and the Low-carbon Frontier in China with Tyler Harlan

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 14:15:04 +0000

Small Hydropower and the Low-carbon Frontier in China with Tyler Harlan Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 04/16/2018 - 08:15

[video:https://youtu.be/wsUbpztWv28]

Sustainability scholars typically talk about the ‘greening’ of development as a process of low-carbon transition, which entails the eventual replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy. I argue that it is also a process of low-carbon extraction, which subjects resource frontiers to land and water enclosures and economic volatility associated with traditional extractive industries. This presentation makes this argument using the example of small hydropower (SHP), China’s first and most widespread renewable energy technology. I trace how SHP has been re-framed from a tool of rural electrification in remote villages in western China, to a renewable energy that generates electricity for the national green economy. I suggest that SHP represents a broader transformation of rural western China into a ‘low-carbon frontier’, characterized by the rapid growth of renewable energy infrastructure far from urban centers. I show how the frontier is simultaneously constructed as a site of ecological degradation and of untapped low-carbon value, which enables energy firms and local governments to profit from natural resources at the expense of local livelihoods. This presentation thus demonstrates the innate role of the ‘frontier’ in green development transformations, and the ways that local resources and technologies can be re-purposed for broader economic and environmental goals.

Tyler Harlan is a postdoctoral fellow in sustainability in the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. He studies the political economy and uneven socio-environmental impacts of China's green development transformation, and the implications of this transformation for other industrializing countries. He received his PhD in Geography from UCLA, an MPhil in Resource Management and Geography from the University of Melbourne, and a BA in Anthropology and East Asian Studies from Vanderbilt University.

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