Cancelled

UTCP Young Scholar Seminar Series

Speaker: Greg Dvorak (UTCP)

"Atolls and Archipelagoes: Pacific Approaches to Empire, War, and Globalization Between the Islands of Japan and Micronesia"

[Abstract]
Japan is a Pacific Island nation within the global "archipelago" of our modern world; yet it has become very detached from its Pacific neighborhood. It has even become further distant from the countries of Micronesia, who have such deep ties to Japan's prewar past. There are many creative and exciting possibilities that can unfold by rekindling these old ties and finding new links between islands, thinking beyond Japan's borders and into Oceania, especially when we consider some of the ways that Pacific thinkers and artists imagine themselves and their oceanic world. Pacific Islanders, perhaps more than anyone on earth, have survived tremendous adversity over hundreds of years of colonialism and harsh environmental conditions, but they have mastered the art of cooperation and accepting each other's differences.

How can we humans build cooperative relationships in our rapidly globalizing world? No doubt Pacific Islanders may hold the answers to this challenge. It is important to pay more attention to Micronesian nations and other countries of the Pacific Islands, especially in light of the crisis of global warming, sea level rise, and many other challenges our collective "Sea of Islands" faces in this new millennium.

poster download

Date: 17:00-19:30, Thursday 17th, 2011

Place: Seminar Room, 2nd Floor, Building 101, Komaba Campus, Univ. Tokyo.

Language: English

Admission Free; No Registration Required