After experiencing the first two days of the Association for Asian Studies 2021 virtual conference, I have come to realize the profound problem of trying to organize major events during COVID-19. The papers that I have attended have been great, the audio and powerpoints have been clear, and the mechanism for asking questions and fostering…
I couldn’t be more thrilled to take part in the 2019 Mechademia, which has the theme of Queer(ing) this year. My paper will take some of the previous work I’ve done on the Ainu video game character Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown to explore ideas of fetish with the indigenous body in doujinshi. I’m still refining…
Well, another large national conference has come to a close. I’m amazed at how after only a few days of attendance, you begin to feel like you live at the conference… This year, the College Art Association Conference was in New York, and while exhilarating, it always leaves me a bit tired. It makes me…
I can’t believe the national Popular Culture Association conference is upon us again — I feel like I was just putting my paper together for last year’s conference. I’m excited to be presenting on a Game Studies panel dedicated to (Re)defining Gaming. The presentation is coming together and I’m ready to hop in the car…
It is the day before the last day of the American Historical Association conference 2018. I’ve got my chai in hand, my presentation finished, and my swag from the exhibition hall in tow. All in all a great time. It has been a great conference for making new connections and reconnecting with some old friends…
This year I am thrilled to be in attendance at Mechademia at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. The theme this year is Science Fictions. The CFP explains this notion in the following terms: Science fiction gives us free rein to imagine a different world, giving us insight into what in our own world…
This really has been a crazy year for conferences/symposia. I will be giving a paper titled, “Chun-Li’s Qipao: Intersections of Gender, Race, and Fashion in Capcom’s Street Fighter II” on Friday, April 14th at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA). Our panel is Game Studies 8: Performing Identity. You can find us in Pacific…
Well, back to the grind after a crazy week of Asian pop culture madness. Mechademia was a lot of fun, and the weekend felt like such a whirlwind! Hard to believe it came and went. Here are some general reflections on the conference. This year’s theme was “worldbuilding,” and the papers of the conference took…
I am continuing my journey down the rabbit hole of Japanese arcade fighting games with a presentation at Mechademia: Conference on Asian Popular Cultures at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. The program is forthcoming, but I will be presenting “Fighting Stereotypes: Reimagining Gender and Race in Street Fighter II (1991) and Samurai Shodown…
Well, I returned from the Console-ing Passions Conference at Notre Dame without any hardship, and I had a wonderful time exploring topics that are very much foreign territory for me. I think we, as academics, can learn a ton by attending and participating in events that are outside of our field, even if slightly. Here…
This paper is a bit of a “break” from my recent research on visual and material culture in the late Meiji period. I will be chairing a panel at Console-ing Passions (International Conference on Television, Video, Audio, New Media and Feminism) on Japanese visual culture, with papers presented by Colleen Laird from Bates College (“Screened and Not…
I am thrilled to present some of the work I’ve been doing on Japanese artist Kondō Kōichiro at the Art Historians of the Twin Cities symposium this April 2nd (Saturday). I’ll be exploring the work of Kondō Kōichiro, who traveled to Hokkaido in 1917 and depicted the Ainu in the village of Shiraoi in manga…
It is that time of year again! This year’s annual Visual Studies Graduate Conference, themed “Recomposition,” is taking place at UC Irvine on April 3rd in Humanities Gateway 1030. Several colleagues of mine will be presenting papers if you are in the area. The conference adopts the following interpretation of “recomposition”: This theme explores cultural…
California has cooled down a bit, but I would be lying if i said that I didn’t miss Sapporo right now. Every time I sit down to work on my dissertation, I find myself quietly reminiscing about the sweet (and spicy) smell of soup curry, a famous Sapporo dish. I’ve been back in the States…
The schedule has been announced, my flight is booked, and my lodging decided! My preparations for the 18th Annual Asian Studies Conference Japan at Sophia University in Tokyo is (more or less) complete! The panel is called “Landscape as Object and Frame in Japanese Literary and Visual Culture” (Sunday, 6/22, 10:00am, Room 209). The contrast…
Although I am not in California at the moment, I wanted to pass around the 2014 Visual Studies Graduate Conference announcement. The conference, titled “(Un)Making the Visual Subject,” is being held on April 4th, 2014 at UC Irvine. It features talks from Bert Winther-Tamaki, Eyal Amiran, and Zeinabu Irene Davis, followed by a screening of…
As with most things in life, exciting events always happen while you are away! There is no way I can make it back to Irvine for the Japanese Arts and Globalizations (JAG) conference, “Commensurable Distinctions: Intercultural Negotiations of Modern and Contemporary Japanese Visual Culture,” but sending my best wishes for its success! Aside from having…
I have the privilege of presenting “Untangling a “Hairy” Encounter: Making Sense of Ainu Representation at the World’s Fair” at a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930. Very excited to think through these different “encounters.” Schedule after the cut! Saturday, May 18, 9 AM – 5:00 PM Helmut…
I am thrilled to be presenting “Discovering Hokkaido: Postcards, Train Travel, and the Mapping of Tourist Space” at the 6th Annual Visual Arts Graduate Conference, The Nature of Space, at the University of California, San Diego on March 9th (Structural and Materials Engineering Building, 9:00am-3:30pm). My panel is “Spaces of Imagination/Projection” (respondent: Norman Bryson; 12:30-2:00pm),…
