From Woodblocks to the Internet: Chinese Publishing and Print Culture in Transition
Cynthia Brokaw & Christopher Reed, Department of History

Fundamentalism and the Media
John Davidson, Department of Germanic Languages and Litereatures

Royal Court Theatre Writing Workshop and Symposium
Lesley Ferris, Department of Theatre

America in East Asia: Sumposium and Faculty Seminars on American Cultural Influences in China, Japan and Korea
Mineharu Nakayama, East Asian Studies Center

Global Dialogues: Gender and Ethnicity Across Divides: Can they Break Down Disciplinary Protocols and Influence Policy?
Ileana Rodriguez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Jewish Music Between the Wars
Tamar Rudavsky, Melton Center for Jewish Studies
 

FROM WOODBLOCKS TO THE INTERNET: CHINESE PUBLISHING AND PRINT CULTURE IN TRANSITION

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS:
Cynthia Brokaw, Department of History
Christopher Reed , Department of History

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
China has led the world in the development of printing technology. Chinese invented woodblock
printing (xylography) as early as the 8th century and, by the 11th, they had also developed a method of printing by movable type. The nature of the Chinese language and the economics of publishing, however, made xylography the dominant method of book production for the following eight centuries, up until the end of the 19th century. At that point, the introduction of Western mechanized movabletype printing transformed the Chinese publishing world and the nature of Chinese book culture by making possible the rapid reproduction of very large text runs. At the same time, the governments of both the Republic (1911-1949) and the People's Republic (1949-) made vigorous efforts, through language reform and the promotion of literacy, to expand (and to some extent manipulate) the size and nature of the reading public. Late in the twentieth century, the development of the internet – yet another revolution in the technology of text production has served to further increase the breadth and depth of information transmission. The consequences of this most recent and most dramatic transformation in communication history, coinciding with China's rise as a world power, are particularly important, as they promise to: a) change the nature of political participation in China; b) challenge the force and reach of government censorship; and c) open China to wider-ranging contacts with the world. The interdisciplinary conference will include the participation of a prominent expert on contemporary China to give a keynote address, open to the public, on the uses of print in contemporary China. The scholarly conference includes seventeen scholars (from the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and Canada), in a range of disciplines (history, political, science, sociology, literature, art history, and library science). The faculty and graduate students from the departments of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Political Science, Art History, and the Colleges of Business and Law at OSU will be invited to act as discussants for the papers and to participate in the conference discussions. The conference is intended in part to publicize more widely the opportunities in Chinese studies at OSU. The conference papers will examine the impact that the sweeping technological and sociopolitical changes of 19th and 20th-century China have had on the structure of the book (and print) trade, reading and writing practices, the concepts of authorship and intellectual property, the effectiveness of government censorship, the dissemination of texts (electronic as well as print) and ideas, and the extent and depth of political participation.

PROJECT TIMELINE: November 3-7, 2004
PROJECT SPONSORS:
Office of International Affairs
The Freeman Foundation

FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE MEDIA

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
John Davidson , Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
The increased prominence of religious fundamentalism over the past two decades has been a key element in cultural conflicts across the globe, conflicts that often escalate into violence.
Fundamentalism, as Bruce Lawrence (1989) writes, can be described as "the affirmation of religious authority as holistic and absolute, admitting of neither criticism nor reduction; it is expressed through the collective demand that specific creedal and ethical dictates derived from scripture be publicly recognized and legally enforced" (Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt Against the Modern Age, San Francisco: Harper & Row). While fundamentalists tend to be profoundly anti-modern in their rejection of philosophical rationalism, the advance of the individual, and the amplified effects of globalizing consumer culture, they see the technological advances of the modem age as a means of mobilizing their constituents and turning their "guardianship of the Truth" into an active crusade. This makes them an interesting parallel to the radical nationalists of the twentieth century (such as the National Socialists in Germany) whose reactionary modernism allowed them to make such devastating use of communications technology and mass entertainment media in their dream of grounding a new barbaric age for their Volk. Fundamentalisms have since emerged within almost all major religious traditions, which leads some to propose that, despite the differences in doctrine, these are parallel developments in that they all involve "a proclamation of reclaimed authority over a sacred tradition which is to be reinstated as an antidote for a society that has strayed from its cultural moorings" (Hadden, J.K. & Shupe, A. (Eds.) (1989) Secularism and Fundamentalism Reconsidered, Paragon House). To explore these questions, this project will engage in a series of interdisciplinary lectures on Fundamentalism and the Media: Wars on Culture - Struggles in Culture - Conflicts between Cultures. These interdisciplinary lectures will be open to all faculty and students as they build upon the OSU faculty group working on questions of "Cultural Conflict and the Media" under the CIRIT (Clusters of Interdisciplinary Research on International Themes) program. The series of interdisciplinary lectures is set to take place after the opening of the World Media and Culture Center in winter and spring 2005. The series will bringing together experts on the geographic regions represented by the Area Studies Centers, Western Europe, the US, and Canada as well as scholars interested in the complex connections between religious fundamentalism and media in contemporary cultural analysis. Meetings between students, faculty, and visiting experts will be facilitated through roundtable discussions as well as formal and informal lecture settings. This series will contribute to the reputation of OSU as a leading player in promoting scholarly exchanges and intercultural understanding in addition to access to media from around the world at the new World Media and Culture Center.

PROJECT TIMELINE: Winter and Spring Quarters 2005
PROJECT SPONSORS:
Office of International Affairs
CIRIT
College of Humanities
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures

ROYAL COURT THEATRE WRITING WORKSHOP AND SYMPOSIUM

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Lesley Ferris, Department of Theatre

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
The Royal Court Theatre is Britain's leading national company dedicated to new work by innovative writers from the UK and around the world. The theatre's pivotal role in most important theatre in promoting new voices is undisputed – the New York Times recently described it as “the most important theatre in Europe.” The Royal Court receives and considers an extraordinary quantity of new work and each year it presents an ambitious program in its two venues at Sloane Square in London. In recent years the Royal Court has also staged productions in New York, Sydney, Brussels, Toronto and Dublin. The Department of Theatre is extraordinarily fortunate that the Wexner Center for the Arts will be bringing a Royal Court production to Ohio State University in the fall of 2004. In addition to the production, OSU Theatre has the opportunity to host a week-long Royal Court Writing Workshop and Symposium. The Royal Court facilitates international work at a grass roots level, developing exchanges which bring young writers to Britain and sending British writers, actors, and directors to work with artists around the world. Their Writing Workshop and Symposium will provide our students and faculty with the rare opportunity of working directly with Royal Court Theatre artists. The Royal Court's success has inspired confidence in theatres across the world and, whereas new plays were once viewed as a risk, they are now at the heart of a revival of interest among artists and audiences alike. This project has multiple goals. First and foremost are the opportunities for the students to work with a world class theatre on the craft of playwriting. The Royal Court is known and celebrated as a writers' theatre. A central mission for the Royal Court is to find voices that are under-represented in society, thus they have run workshops in Brazil, Cuba, Slovenia. A second goal is to provide a forum for lectures and discussion on the important work of the Royal Court and how it works to develop an international community of writers. A third goal is to introduce students, faculty and the Columbus community to the work of Sarah Kane (1971-1999) as her work is relatively unknown in the United States.

PROJECT TIMELINE: Week of October 15, 2004
PROJECT SPONSORS:
Office of International Affairs
College of the Arts
Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities
Department of Comparative Studies
Department of English
Department of Theatre

AMERICA IN EAST ASIA: SYMPOSIUM AND FACULTY SEMINARS ON AMERICAN CULTURAL INFLUENCES IN CHINA, JAPAN AND KOREA

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Mineharu Nakayama , East Asian Studies Center

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
This project is an extension of Professor Alexander Stephan’s 2002 conference “Americanization and Anti-Americanism: The Impact of American Culture on Germany After 1945”, which was supported by the Mershon Center. As one of the five area studies centers of the Office of International Affairs, the East Asian Studies Center will host a one-afternoon symposium and two OSU faculty interdisciplinary seminars under the general theme titled America in East Asia. As in the case of Germany, the country upon which Professor Stephan’s project focused, East Asian countries, especially Japan and the Republic of Korea cannot be discussed without referring to the influences of American culture. In particular, it is impossible to think of the post-World War II success of Japan’s rebuilding in the free world without the US presence. Both Japan and South Korea are still under the wing of security treaties with the US and have American military bases. The presence of America, i.e., American values, has had a substantial impact on Japanese and Korean values. As a general trend during the history of these countries, pro-American views surfaced predominantly while their economic statuses were low, and with the growth of their economic statuses, anti-Americanism began to surface and strengthen. In Japan, anti-Americanism and pro-Japanese views (neonationalism) became strong during the 80's, but became weaker as the economy declined in the 90's. However, anti-Americanism is becoming strong again due to the recent Iraq war. In South Korea, anti-American sentiment has been more vocal than in Japan, but people’s feelings are recently more complex because of the security issues with North Korea. The People’s Republic of China has been changing drastically since it opened up economically, especially after Hong Kong’s return and the adoption of the two China policy. Although the PRC’s pro-American attitude is not as strong (or widespread) as that of Taiwan, it is evident, particularly in pop culture. But even as certain segments of the population embrace American values, others don't and anti-Americanism begins to surface. Although the aspects and the degrees vary, Americanization and anti-Americanism do exist in these countries. Thus, special attention to the cultural influences allows us to understand the dynamics of these countries' cultures and possibly resulting security implications.
PROJECT TIMELINE: Winter Quarter 2005
PROJECT SPONSORS:
Office of International Affairs
East Asian Studies Center
Institute for Chinese Studies
Institute for Japanese Studies
Japan-America Society of Central Ohio
 

GLOBAL DIALOGUES: GENDER AND ETHNICITY ACROSS DIVIDES, CAN THEY BREAK DOWN DISCIPLINARY PROTOCOLS AND INFLUENCE POLICY?

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Ileana Rodriguez, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
Gender and Ethnicity are two of the major categories used to organize knowledge within the
disciplines in the Human and Social Sciences. These two categories came to replace the overarching category of class and to introduce specific nuances to the identities of subjects, cultures, and their relationships – social, individual, and intimate. In many ways, gender and ethnicity claim a type of universality that was not enjoyed by class, and as such, they reorganize the world of meaning across barriers and boundaries. Gender and Ethnicity are at the center of numerous new studies refurbishing the academic fields such as feminism, cultural, postcolonial, and subaltern and area studies. Gender and Ethnicity have also re-organized well-established disciplines such as history, geography, sociology, and anthropology – just to mention a few. Although both categories have been the object of debate for over a decade, and in spite of the fact that multiple definitions have been offered to pin the concepts down, much debate about their meaning, circulation, and power is yet undisclosed. This fact alone makes them an interesting subject of study. Yet what brings them to the forefront of policy formation and civil society in so many countries are conflicts and violence in parts of the world that seem contained during the cold war and have surfaced as ethnic clashes, and violence against women and minorities (Crockatt, R. America embattled: September 11, anti-Americanism, and the global order. London: Routledge, 2003). The paradigm of globalization presents a new challenge to these two concepts. The fundamental questions to explore regarding the intersection of gender and ethnicity are many. Two in particular are addressed in this proposed lecture series: one concerns the nature of the disciplinary dialogues; the other, the crossover of disciplinary protocols, both in relation to policy. To explore these questions, this project proposes a series of interdisciplinary lectures on Global Dialogues: Gender and Ethnicity across Divides: Can they Break down Disciplinary Protocols and Influence Policy? These interdisciplinary lectures will be open to all faculty and students; however they will benefit from OSU faculty research group working on questions of "Gender and Ethnicity" under the CIRIT (Cluster of Interdisciplinary Research on International Themes). This series aims to accomplish the following goals: 1) Foster exchange of knowledge and insight across disciplinary boundaries in order to promote a comparative international dialogue about Gender and Ethnicity; 2) Explore this knowledge in relation to policy and intercultural and interdisciplinary understanding across the religions of the world; and 3) Stimulate further collaborative research
initiatives at The Ohio State University across disciplinary and institutional lines.

PROJECT TIMELINE: Fall Quarter 2004, Winter Quarter 2005
PROJECT SPONSORS:
Office of International Affairs
CIRIT
Center for Latin American Studies
Department of Spanish and Portuguese

JEWISH MUSIC BETWEEN THE WARS

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:
Tamar Rudavsky, Melton Center for Jewish Studies

PROJECT ABSTRACT:
Jewish communities in the interwar period represented a wide range of cultural and political
affiliations; the focus on the music of this period permits an examination of issues at the intersections of secular and liturgical music, popular, folk, and art music, national and religious identity, assimilation, re-localization, popular and high culture, and cultural identity.
The project Jewish Music between the Wars will feature two concerts and two lectures. The
concerts will be recorded live and additional funding will be requested from other sources so that these recordings may serve as the basis for an educational CD and booklet. The concerts and lectures will bring together internationally recognized performers and scholars in combination with local musicians and OSU students and faculty. The importance of the cross-cultural dimension of the proposed series, emerging at a time of increasing intolerance on college campuses, should not be underestimated. The proposed program, "Jewish Music between the Wars," is designed to attract a diverse academic and community audience. The concerts and lectures will combine internationally recognized performers and scholars with local musicians and OSU students and faculty. The intention of the project is to use the concerts and lectures as a mechanism through which to increase understanding of the diversity of Jewish cultural traditions that continue despite the devastating loss of composers and performers during World War II. The series will also include lectures by noted scholars Gila Flam (Jewish Music Research Centre, Hebrew University, Jerusalem), Pamela Potter (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Steve Honigsberg, renowned cellist and scholar of Jewish music. Each lecturer will design his/her presentation to cover a specific musical/cultural dimension of Jewish Music between the Wars  Flam will focus on Yiddish vocal music in Europe and later in Israel, Honigsberg on Jewish chamber music in Poland and New York, and Potter on the popular music of Yiddish theatre in Europe and New York as well as the extension of those repertoires in the popular music of early Hollywood.

PROJECT TIMELINE: Academic Year 2004-2005
PROJECT SPONSORS:
Office of International Affairs
Melton Center for Jewish Studies
School of Music
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures