Übung FS2018. Global Movements and Japanese Art: Roles of Commodities and Trade Routes. Prof. Hans B. Thomsen

Transcription

1 Übung FS2018 Global Movements and Japanese Art: Roles of Commodities and Trade Routes Prof. Hans B. Thomsen Please note: Meeting times and places are irregular, for details, see below

2 Persons in Charge: Prof. Dr. Hans Bjarne Thomsen Rämistrasse Zürich Office hours: Mi (Sign up with Doodle at KGOA Assistants (for general questions): Alina Martimyanova Sabine Bradel Natasha Fischer-Vaidya Course Abstract: This class will work closely with the spring 2018 exhibition at the Johann Jacobs Museum: A Painting for the Emperor: Japanese Labourers on Sugar Plantations in Hawai i (February 8 - May 31, 2018), which was curated by a team that includes Prof. Thomsen, Prof. Dr. Martin Dusinberre (UZH Chair for Global History), and Roger Buergel, Director, Johann Jacobs Museum. For information on the museum, please see: We will deal with the main themes of the exhibition, for example, the global movements of commodities and how this trade fosters new forms of art and changes older traditions. The intersecting points of contact between various cultural zones will here be represented by coal and sugar: we will demonstrate how these commodities touch, engender, and influence the performing, visual, and culinary arts at various sites across the globe. Other themes will include the exploration between labour and art, the cultural roles of Japanese immigrants, and the artistic response by a noted Japanese contemporary artist, Aiko Tezuka. A part of the course will focus on the performing arts of Japan and will include musical performers, including dancers and singers, who will re-enact the performative art forms of the late 19 th century Japan and that of the Japanese immigrants in Hawai i. Through the lens of gender studies, we will also explore the women in these narratives: how women worked in the coal mines, how they participated in the Hawaiian cane fields, how they travelled from Japan to Hawai i as picture brides, and how they took part in song, dance, and entertainment in Japan as well as Hawai i. The objects and clothing worn by early Japanese immigrants and picture brides to Hawai i from the Barbara Kawakami Collection will also be a part of the exhibition. Through the visual and performative art forms demonstrated in this exhibition and the corresponding events, we hope to better understand the Japanese men and women around the year 1900, with their hopes, joys, aspirations, sufferings, and hard work.

3 Course Outline Feb 8 (Thu), 19:00-20:30, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Session 1. Exhibition opening. Viewing of objects, musical program, and welcome speeches by the Japanese Ambassador. Apero and entertainment provided. Reading assignment: DUSINBERRE (2017) and text for the two songs OLAT Forum comment is optional; Feb 20 (Tue), 19:00-20:30, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Session 2. Panel discussion: The Charm and Misery in Doing an Exhibition across Disciplines with Prof. Thomsen, Prof. Martin Dusinberre, and Director Roger Buergel. Moderated by Dr. Sophia Prinz. Reading assignment: BRACKEN & OUGHTON Comment on OLAT Forum by Midnight 21/2 Feb 21 (Wed), 10:15 11:45, UZH location TBA Session 3. Introductions to class, OLAT site, and class syllabus. Identifying locations of Handapparat and texts. Discussions of main themes of the class and exhibition. Format of the final paper described. Reading assignment: DUSINBERRE (2016) Comment on OLAT Forum by Midnight 22/2 March 5 (Mo), :00, KOL-F-104 Session 4. Lecture Series: The Pacific and the Modern World Prof. Gregory Cushman (University of Kansas): Guano and the Opening of the Anthropocene. Reading Assignment: CUSHMAN (selection) Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 6/3 March 6 (Tue), 19:00-20:30, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Session 5. Thematic guide to exhibition: The Photographs of Eduard Arning. Led by Christina Wild and Prof. Dusinberre. Reading assignment: FUKUOKA and SCHINDELBECK Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 7/3 March 14 (Wed), 10:15 11:45, UZH location TBA Session 6. Discussions of the themes and events. What can we say so far? What have we learned from the texts and the sessions? Comment on OLAT Forum by Midnight 15/3; no reading assignment March 26 (Mo), :00, KOL-F-104 Session 7. Lecture Series: The Pacific and the Modern World Prof. David A. Chang (University of Minnesota): Why Study Pacific Worlds from Pacific Perspectives? Looking Out from Hawai i s Shores

4 Reading assignment: CHANG (2016, selection) Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 27/3 April 3 (Tue), 19:00-20:30, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Session 8. Thematic guide to exhibition: by Global Music Japanese Plantation and Mining Songs. Introduced by Prof. Thomsen and Prof. Dusinberre. Performed in music, song and dance by the KO-KIRAKU musical group. Reading assignment: ODO, FRANKLIN (pp. xvii-xxvii and 17-38) Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 4/4 April 17 (Tue) Session 9 (a). 14:15 15:45, KOL-F-117. Guest lecture by Prof. Yukari Takai (University of Windsor, Canada). Many Ties of Intimacy: Japanese Women and Men in Hawai i, (working title) Session 9 (b). 19:00-21:00, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Movie Screening: The Picture Bride (1994), a prize-winning film production that describes the lives of Japanese picture brides of the early 20th century and the often-difficult circumstances that met them on Hawaiian plantations. Introduced by Prof Thomsen and Prof Takai Reading assignment: TANAKA Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 18/4 April 18 (Wed), 18:00-20:00, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Session 10. Japanese Drums and the Japanese Kimono. An evening with traditional Japanese drum music by a local taiko group ( Also: introductions to the Japanese kimono by Prof Thomsen and local kimono expert Chie Frey-Arima. A charity kimono fashion show and apero will round out the events. Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 19/4; no reading assignment April 29 (Sun), 15:00-16:30, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Session 11. Artist talk. Aiko Tezuka, a well-known international contemporary textile artist will discuss her work, an artistic response to the exhibit, within the contexts of the 19 th exhibit and her family history. Reading assignment: sample the texts and interviews at Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 30/4 May 7 (Mon), :00, KOL-F-104 Session 12. Lecture Series: The Pacific and the Modern World Prof. Mariko Iijima (Sophia University, Tokyo): Coffee Webs: Remapping the Movements of People, Objects, and Knowledge across the Asia-Pacific. Reading assignment: TBA Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 8/5 May 8 (Tue), 19:00-21:30, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008)

5 Session 13. Thematic guide to exhibition: Where is the Art? with Prof. Thomsen and Director Buergel. Reading assignment: YONAN Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 9/5 May 14 (Mo), :00, KOL-F-104 Session 14. Lecture Series: The Pacific and the Modern World Prof. Takashi Fujitani (Toronto University): The Transpacific Western: Indigeneity, Race and Violence in the Frontiers of the U.S. and Japan Reading assignment: KITAMURA (Selection) Comment on OLAT Forum by midnight 15/5 May 23 (Wed), 10:15 11:45, UZH location TBA Session 15. Final discussion session No OLAT Forum comment; no reading assignment May 30 (Wed), all day, Johann Jacobs Museum (Seefeldquai 17, Zurich 8008) Optional session. International symposium on the themes of the JJM exhibition. All students are invited to attend part or all of the sessions. No reading assignment - OLAT posting not required (unless you want to) Relevant Texts Required readings are listed in this syllabus. Suggested optional reading will be announced in class and on the OLAT site. Some, but not all, texts will be uploaded to the OLAT site. In addition, a number of books are located in the libraries listed below and a Handapparat will be set up at the KHIST Library. As always, JSTOR ( is an excellent source for articles on just about any subject. KHIST Bibliothek ( Kunsthaus Bibliothek ( OAS Bibliotheken ( Rietberg ( Historisches Seminar Bibliothek ( Völkerkundemuseum Bibliothek ( The Übung is a collaborative project, and participants are urged to list books, texts, links, etc in their OLAT Forum texts, so as to inform other members of the class. For technical questions on any of the above, please contact any of the KGOA assistants. Class Format Location. During the semester, we will meet during irregular times at three locations: n Regular class meetings at 10:15 11:45, UZH location TBA n Global History lecture series at :00, KOL-F-104 n Johann Jacobs Museum meetings at various times, Seefeldquai 17, Zurich

6 OLAT and OLAT Forum. Please refer regularly to OLAT ( for additional information, such as unusual meeting times, syllabus, contact information, internet websites, etc. As this class will require participants to attend a variety of events, it is important that we keep each other informed as to impressions gathered. Therefore, everyone is required to submit an OLAT Forum posting at times listed in the syllabus. Students are asked to post his or her comments on the texts and/or the classes on the OLAT Forum site. You should feel free to look at the responses of other students and refer to them in your comment. For technical questions, please see the assistants Course Credit. To get credit for the course, participants need to n Take part in the events n Read the assigned texts n Regularly provide comments on the class OLAT Forum n And write a 5-page research paper. The papers can be written in German or English. This paper will be due June 20, 2018 Sprachen. Das Seminar wird als zweisprachiges Seminar Deutsch-Englisch durchgeführt, weshalb Hörverständnis des Englischen erforderlich ist. Vorträge, schriftliche Arbeiten und Diskussionsbeiträge können auf Deutsch erfolgen. Sample Bibliography (Many, but not all, of the below texts will be made available on class OLAT site) Louise BRACKEN and Elizabeth OUGHTON. Interdisciplinary Research: Framing and Reframing. Area, Vol. 41, No. 4 (December, 2009), pp (JSTOR) Alice Yun CHAI. Women's History in Public: Picture Brides of Hawaii. Women's Studies Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 1/2 (Spring - Summer, 1988), pp (JSTOR) David A. CHANG (2011). Borderlands in a World at Sea: Concow Indians, Native Hawaiians, and South Chinese in Indigenous, Global, and National Spaces. The Journal of American History, Vol. 98, No. 2 (September, 2011), pp (JSTOR) David A. CHANG (2016). The World and All the Things upon It: Native Hawaiian Geographies of Exploration. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, (Copies in the ZB and the UZH Historisches Seminar) John E. CROWLEY. Sugar Machines: Picturing Industrialized Slavery. The American Historical Review, Vol. 121, No. 2 (April, 2016), pp (Download link: Gregory T. CUSHMAN. Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, (Copies in the ZB, UZH Historisches Seminar, and the ETH Grüne Bibliothek)

7 Jan DE VRIES. The limits of globalization in the early modern world. The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 63, No. 3 (August, 2010), pp (JSTOR) Martin DUSINBERRE (2016). Writing the On-Board: Meiji Japan in Transit and Transition. Journal of Global History, Vol. 11, No. 2 (July, 2016), pp (JSTOR) Martin DUSINBERRE (2016). Circulations of Labor, Bodies of Work: a Japanese Migrant in Meiji Hawai i. Historische Anthropologie, Vol. 24, no. 2 (2016), pp (OLAT) Martin DUSINBERRE (2017). Japan, Global History, and the Great Silence. History Workshop Journal, Vol. 83, No. 1 (April, 2017), pp (Download link: Carol C. FAN. Asian Women in Hawai'i: Migration, Family, Work, and Identity. NWSA Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp (JSTOR) Maki FUKUOKA. Selling Portrait Photographs: Early Photographic Business in Asakusa, Japan. History of Photography, Vol. 35, No. 4 (2011), pp (Copies available in the ZB, UZH Völkerkundemuseum, Landesmuseum, ETH, and numerous locations) J. H. GALLOWAY. The Sugar Cane Industry: An Historical Geography from its Origins to Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (Copy in the ZB) Luke GARTLAN (2009). Samuel Cocking and the Rise of Japanese Photography. History of Photography, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May, 2009), pp (OLAT) Luke GARTLAN (2016). A Career of Japan: Baron Raimund von Stillfried and Early Yokohama Photography. Leiden and Boston: Brill, (Copies available in the KHIST Library and at the ETH) Ian JACKSON. Review: Coffee from Anus to Zed. (Reviewed Work: Coffee: A Bibliography: A Guide to the Literature on Coffee by Richard von Hünersdorff, Holger G. Hasenkamp) Taxon, Vol. 54, No. 4 (November, 2005), pp (JSTOR) Hiroshi KITAMURA. Screening Enlightenment: Hollywood and the Cultural Reconstruction of Defeated Japan. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, (Copy in the ZB) Wayne S KIYOSAKI. Talk Pidgin; Speak English: Go Local; Go American: The Japanese Immigrant Experience in Spreckelsville, Maui. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, (Copy in the KGOA) Chana KRAUS-FRIEDBERG. Across the Pacific: Transnational Context in the Japanese Plantation Workers' Cemetery in Pāhala, Hawai'i. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Vol. 15, No. 3 (September, 2011), pp (JSTOR) FRANKLIN ODO. Voices from the Cane Fields: Folksongs from Japanese Immigrant Workers in Hawai'i. New York: Oxford University Press, (Copies available at the AOI and at the UZH Historisches Seminar)

8 DAVID R. ODO. Expeditionary Photographs of the Ogasawara Islands, History of Photography, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May, 2009), pp (OLAT) Markus SCHINDELBECK. "Federmantel und Kalebassen. Eduard Arning, Arzt und Sammler auf Hawai'i" in Markus Schindelbeck, ed. Expeditionen in die Südsee. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung und Geschichte der Südsee- Sammlung des Ethnologischen Museums. Berlin: Reimer 2007, pp (Copies in the Rietberg Library, the ZB, and the UZH Völkerkundemuseum) Jimmy M. SKAGGS. The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion. Basingstoke: Macmillan 1994 (Copy in the ZB) Andrew F. SMITH. Sugar: A Global History. London: Reaktion Books, (Copy in the ETH Grüne Bibliothek) Ronald TAKAKI. Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, (Copies in the ZB and the UZH Historisches Seminar) Kei TANAKA. Japanese Picture Marriage and the Image of Immigrant Women in Early Twentieth-Century California. The Japanese Journal of American Studies 15 (2004): (Download link: Mio WAKITA. Selling Japan: Kusakabe Kimbei's Image of Japanese Women. History of Photography, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May, 2009), pp (OLAT) Michael YONAN. Toward a Fusion of Art History and Material Culture Studies. West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall-Winter, 2011), pp (JSTOR)