Conference Program

Friday, March 29, 2024

Please note that there are two concurrent panels during the 9 am, 10:30 am, and 1 pm sessions.

8:45 – 8:55 am CT

Welcome

Megan Greene, Professor of History, KU International Affairs, University of Kansas

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329                                                                                 

9:00 – 10:25 am CT

Panel 1: Political Engagement and Political Models

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329

Moderator: John Kennedy, Professor of Political Science, University of Kansas

Presenters:

Inchul Jung, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Bio: Inchul Jung is a doctoral candidate in Contemporary History at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. His master's thesis project, carried out in 2016 at the University of Sungkyunkwan (Seoul), was on the social medicine of Salvador Allende. At the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, his object of research focuses on the relations and its visuality between the tricontinental movements and East Asia.

Paper Title: The First Conference of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America and East Asia

Abstract: The first Conference of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America held in Havana marked a new step in the development of the anticolonial movements of the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. At this historical Conference, many East Asian delegates also participated actively. 82 countries are represented, 28 from Africa, 27 from Asia, and 27 from Latin America. 83 organizations appointed 512 delegates, 150 from Africa, 197 from Asia, and 65 from Latin America. Particularly, the Cold War in the Asia-Pacific geopolitical region was the central theme, including the Vietnam War. This work explores the role of East Asian countries and the revolutionary organizations in the first Tricontinental Conference in Havana through some publications in Cuba. In this study, the solidarity activities of the delegates who came from East Asia are outlined through the magazine Bohemia, Verde Olivo, and other Cuban newspapers. This work will propose that the direct and indirect relations between Cuba and East Asia through the First Tricontinental Conference show an example of the character of Cuba's transnational solidarity.

Federico Brusadelli, University of Naples L'Orientale

Bio: Federico Brusadelli is an Assistant Professor of Chinese History at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” and a Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Chicago (Spring 2024). His research focuses on the intellectual and political history of late-imperial and republican China, with a special interest in the circulation, adaptation and translation of political concepts and models. His first book Confucian Concord: Reform, Utopia and Global Teleology in Kang Youwei’s Datong Shu was published by Brill in 2020. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Board member of the European Association for Chinese Philosophy.

Paper Title: Liberal Dangers: The Chinese Communist Party and the “Mexican Lesson"  

Abstract: In 1988, the first seriously contested presidential election took place in Mexico. The Institutional Revolutionary Party - which had governed uninterruptedly for the previous 59 years - managed to retain power (most certainly through electoral fraud), postponing its defeat by twelve years. In the global 1980s, East Asian autocratic countries were similarly dealing with waves of democratization. While South Korea and Taiwan moved to a multi-party system by the end of the decade, the Chinese Communist leadership would use its full military force in 1989 to preserve the one-Party system from the existential threat represented by students and protesters calling for a radical “political modernization". The present paper will compare the Mexican PRI and the Chinese Communist Party, aiming to contribute to the global reflection on the “mechanics of the survival and demise of hegemonic-party autocracies” (Magaloni 2006). Through the analysis of selected Chinese articles dealing with the "Mexican lesson" and its significance for the People’s Republic of China as a cautionary tale on how not to lose power (Liu 2012; Gao 2014; Yang 2014; Jin 2016), I will try to shed light on the two parties' changing understanding of "statist corporativism" from the 1940s to the 1980s, on their approaches to liberalism and neo-liberalism, and most importantly on their conceptualizations of “modernization,” "democracy” and “democratization” in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Xiaolan Rong, Macau University of Science and Technology

Bio: Xiaolan Rong is a PhD candidate in International Relations at the Institute for Social and Cultural Research, Macau University of Science and Technology. She received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Sun Yat-sen University and her master’s degree in Social Sciences (European studies) from the University of Macau. She is currently engaged in European and Latin American studies, with representative works: “La diplomacia de la República Popular China hacia Argentina: un análisis de las noticias oficiales del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (2013-2018)”, “Opportunities of EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment for China”, “EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: New Development of North-South Relationships”, "A New Starting Point for China-EU Relations", "EU-CELAC summit: Why Latin America refused to back Europe on Ukraine?".

Paper Title: PRC Diplomacy towards Argentina: An Analysis of Official Statements from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2013-2018)

Abstract: The Central Committee of the Party under the leadership of President Xi has creatively proposed to establish a major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, striving to construct a new type of international relations of win-win cooperation, as well as build the human community with a shared future. As Latin America and the Caribbean are of increasingly important strategic significance for People’s Republic of China, China has attached great importance to the diplomatic relationship with such region, so this study aims to deepen the understanding of China's foreign policies towards the region in the new era. Being the third largest economy in Latin America, Argentina has maintained a stable and sound bilateral relationship with China since 1972, which has been transformed into a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2014. Therefore, this paper selects Argentina as the representative of the region for research. Given the change of the party in power of Argentina in 2015, the study will compare the foreign policies of China towards Argentina between the era of Cristina Fernández Kirchner (2013-2015) and Mauricio Macri (2016-2018), via the analysis of official news from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in three aspects, Topics, Actors and Spaces. The research shows that, based on pragmatic diplomacy and mutual benefits, China has continued to conduct partnership with Argentina, and bilateral cooperation has not decreased but increased.

9:00 – 10:25 am CT

Panel 2: Film and Representation

Room:         503A Watson Library       

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/94695397867  Passcode: 0329   

Moderator: Hispano Durón, Associate Professor of Film & Media Studies, University of Kansas

Presenters:

María Mercedes Vázquez Vázquez, University of Hong Kong

Bio: María Mercedes Vázquez Vázquez is a Lecturer at the School of Modern Languages and Cultures of the University of Hong Kong since 1998. She received her PhD in Latin American Cinema in 2016 and published the monograph The Question of Class in Contemporary Latin America Cinema in 2018. She has contributed significantly to the curriculum development of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures (SMLC) with diverse courses on the literary and audiovisual cultures from Europe and Latin America. More recently, she has taught courses on East-Asian migrations to the Americas and intercultural competence, with a focus on the relations between Chinese-speaking and Spanish-speaking cultures. These diverse teaching experiences range from research undergraduate courses to seminars on intercultural competence in business settings. Her research interests include Latin American cinema and East-Asian-Latin American cultural connections, particularly transnational audiovisual cultures. She is also an active member of the Asia and the Americas Section of LASA (the Latin American Studies Association). Combining teaching and research interests with cinematic curatorial practices is a key feature of her academic practice. She founded the first Venezuelan Film Series and annual Latin American Film Series at HKU, which aimed to provide visibility to underrepresented Latin American filmmakers and to familiarize the Hong Kong public with Latin American visual cultures.

Paper Title: Defining “Accented Cinema” in Latin American Films about East-Asian Migrants

Abstract: This paper examines the application of Hamid Nafici’s concept of “accented cinema” to films dealing with East-Asian migrants to Latin America. The presentation will discuss films produced by ethnic Asians, as well as those directed by non-ethnic Asians. The concept will serve to differentiate between films where the migratory experience serves as the theme used by non-migrant filmmakers to enhance the host society’s understanding of its own reality, and films produced by filmmakers and institutions with migratory experiences where migration is more than just a theme. To gain a well-rounded understanding of the possible ideological underpinnings of different representations of the migratory phenomena in these different films, this study will employ textual interpretation, as well as analyses of production design and audience responses.

Lucia Rud, University of Buenos Aires

Bio: Lucía Rud is a film researcher at the University of Buenos Aires/National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET). She studied arts, film, and theater at the University of Buenos Aires and cinema direction and production at Buenos Aires Comunicación College. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires and holds an M.A. in cultural diversity from Tres de Febrero University. During the past eight years, she has been researching the transnational cultural ties between Argentina and East Asia (focused on South Korea).

Paper Title: Portrayal of Asian women in contemporary Argentine cinema

Abstract: This presentation aims to analyze six contemporary Argentine films —two feature films and four documentaries— with Asian female protagonists: Mujer conejo (Verónica Chen, 2013), Halmoni (Daniel Kim 2018), La chica del sur (José Luis García, 2013), Una canción coreana (Yael Tujsnaider, Gustavo Tarrío, 2014), Mi último fracaso (Cecilia Kang, 2014), El futuro perfecto (Nele Wohlatz, 2016), three of them directed by asian-argentine directors.

David Mai, University of Kansas

Bio: David Mai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies at the University of Kansas. As a filmmaker and visual artist, his creative work in films and audiovisual essays explores experimental forms of aesthetics. His research is centered on Asian American films, and he examines representation and spectatorship through the framework of cinematic affect and audio haptics. His notable programs include San Francisco’s Chinatown Community Development Center, San Francisco’s historic Roxie, and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Paper Title: My Soldered Lens: Asian and Latinx Representations through Personal Documentaries

Abstract: Both the Asian and Latinx communities in mainstream American media have seen an uptick with onscreen representation, but there remains a gap in the representational nuance for each community, let alone the intersections of identities. While work has been done in examining both Asian and Latinx film narratives through comparative study due to commonalities in American film traditions, along with shared histories of immigration and discrimination in the United States, research in non-mainstream film cultures have predominantly been siloed approaches. Drawing from Chanda Chevannes and Jennifer Crystal Chien in their discussions of social issue documentaries and personal stories documentaries, I seek to explore how films that punctuate the personal offer a way in which filmmakers and participants are able to share individual and community perspectives rather than societal perspectives. Moreover, Brené Brown argues that empathic engagement isn’t achieved by picking up the lens of another, since our lenses are “soldered to our faces,” empathy instead requires trust in the narratives of others. Employing Hamid Naficy’s framework of accented cinema and Laura U. Mark’s notion of haptic visuality in their surveys of postcolonial filmmaking through alternative modes of production, I aim to connect the lineages of diaristic filmmaking to discuss how my intersectional case studies and my own practice have resisted symbolic annihilation in the construction of new cinematic expressions.

10:30 – 11:55 am CT

Panel 3: Perspectives on Migration: Japan and Latin America

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329    

Moderator: Akiko Takeyama, Professor of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; Director of Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS), University of Kansas

Presenters:

Gabriel Akira, University of Sao Paulo

Bio: Gabriel Akira has a Law degree from the University of São Paulo (USP) and will start a master's program in Law at the same institution in August 2024. His research topics include nationality, Japanese immigration to Brazil and the Marxist theory of Law. He has published a number of individual and collective papers in academic journals, the most recent being a co-authored paper on "The Choice of Liberdade: Brazilian Facets of Anti-Asian Racism and the Activism's Response," which will be published in a special issue of the journal Asia Shorts entitled "Global Anti-Asian Racism" (edited by Jennifer Ho, Columbia University Press). In June 2023, he defended his undergraduate capstone project entitled "Against Brazilianness: Japanese immigration and the legal form." He is currently coordinator of the Law, Discrimination and Diversity Center (DDD/USP), an outreach program under the guidance of Conrado Hübner Mendes. He is also active in the Dinamene Collective, a self-organized collective of Asian-Brazilians. He has presented some of his work at national and international congresses and symposia. Most recently, in December 2023, he presented a paper in Quito, Ecuador, at an event organized by CALAS (Centro Maria Sibylla Merian de Estudios Latinoamericanos Avanzados en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales). He is a native speaker of Portuguese and Japanese. More information on his Lattes CV: http://lattes.cnpq.br/8515026090992073.

Paper title: Japanese Immigration in Brazil and the Legal Form

Abstract: The research analyzes the history of Japanese immigrants and their descendants in Brazil based on the notion of legal subjection (legal form). In its origins, this population group highlights some contradictions in the Brazilian racial configuration insofar as, at the same time as it is a racialized group (non-white). Japanese immigration was from the outset made up of free workers - equal subjects of law and owners. The paper seeks to answer how Japanese immigrants became subjects of law in Brazil, and how they relate to the racial position of blacks and indigenous people in the country's racial ideology. It also seeks to understand how nationality as a social form influenced this process. In the history of Japanese immigration and their descendants in Brazil, two tendencies are identified: rejection (yellow peril) and acceptance (model minority). Emphasis is placed on the specificities of Japanese capitalism, strongly marked by a particular expression of imperialism, in order to analyze the influence of the two nationalisms (Brazilian and Japanese) on the population studied. Based on the concept of legal ideology as material interpellation for the practices necessary for capital (the buying and selling of labor power), the main conclusion of the research is that Japanese immigrants and their descendants are inserted as mediators of Brazilian racial ideology, marked by the myth of racial democracy.

Ricky Law, Carnegie Mellon University

Bio: Ricky W. Law is Associate Professor of History at Carnegie Mellon University. His research focuses on modern Japanese, German, and transnational histories. He is the author of Transnational Nazism: Ideology and Culture in German-Japanese Relations, 1919–1936 (Cambridge, 2019). His latest publication appeared in The Oxford Handbook of World War II (2023). He is currently writing a book on internationalism in interwar and wartime Japan.

Paper Title:“Forget Not the Benevolence of the Homeland”: Learning Spanish and Portuguese in Interwar and Wartime Japan

Abstract: The paper explores relations between Japan and Latin America through Spanish and Portuguese learning. Of the foreign languages that the Japanese studied in the 1920s to the 1940s, Portuguese and Spanish stand out for their potential to transform Japanese lives and identity. In the 1920s and early 1930s, as Japanese emigration to Latin America rose, the reason for learning either Iberian tongue was to prepare oneself for leaving Japan. So, the languages were taught as a skill for handling pragmatic situations overseas. Prospective Japanese emigrants learned not just grammar and vocabulary but also to talk, act, and think differently from the ways they did at home. The assumption that learning Portuguese or Spanish meant quitting Japan, perhaps for good, prompted the authors of language books to urge future Japanese expatriates to remain patriotic to the homeland. Portuguese and Spanish linguists assured their students that the act of emigration itself was beneficial to resource-strapped and overpopulated Japan. Emigrants should be mindful that they would still be considered Japanese while abroad and should contribute to Japan’s reputation and wellbeing. Iberian language studies declined from the mid-1930s as the flow of Japanese emigrants shifted from Latin America to Asia. But after the outbreak of the Pacific War, some Hispanists repurposed Spanish as a tool for persuading Filipinos to embrace Japan’s imperialist project of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.

Aleena T. Sabu, Pondicherry University

Bio: Aleena T. Sabu is currently a post graduate student in Political and International relations from Pondicherry University. Her area of interest is migration and diaspora studies in Africa, Asia and Europe. She has been working as a research intern in the center for migration, mobility and diaspora studies at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi in India, to enhance his research skills in migration and diaspora studies.

Paper Title:Japanese Diaspora in Brazil and World War II: A Tale of Nationalism and Identity

Abstract: Japanese people had arrived in Brazil in 1908 as farmers for coffee plantations, and since then, a well established community of Brazilian Japanese has existed in the discourse of the Japanese diaspora. It is the largest Japanese diaspora community in the world. This paper will try to focus on the lesser known topics of how the Japanese migrants in Brazil were affected by World War II as Brazil was ruled by an authoritarian. This paper will analyze how World War II and the defeat of Japan have affected Japanese immigrants in Brazil, as Japanese people hold their nation close to their hearts. This paper aims to understand the concept of national identity and nationalism amongst the Japanese diaspora in Brazil during the World War, and the paper will look into the impact of the World War amongst the migrants and the aftermath. The research findings find that World War II had drastic effects on the society of the Japanese diaspora in Brazil, leading to a division amongst the diaspora and violence between them. There was also a forced assimilation of Japanese diaspora into the Brazilian culture. The paper concludes with the understanding of Japanese people's strong sense of identity and nationalism.

Evan Fernández, University of California, Berkeley

Bio:Evan Fernández is a Ph.D. candidate interested in the transnational history of Latin America, particularly Chile and Peru, as part of the Pacific world. His dissertation explores the Chilean sodium nitrate (salitre) industry and the sale of nitrate to Japan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Chilean-Japanese commerce in nitrate fostered a multifaceted and significant trans-Pacific relationship between businessmen and diplomats in these two states. He also works on US-Latin American relations in the twentieth century.

Paper Title: Latin America from the Pacific: A Historical Case Study in Chile

Abstract: My larger dissertation is entitled: The Promise of the Pacific: Chile, Japan, and Nation-Building with Nitrate in the Pacific World. For this conference, I propose to present from the first chapter of the dissertation which asks how numerous Chilean officials, diplomats, and businessmen attempted to reorient Chile’s national nitrate fertilizer industry towards Japan. They believed that if they could open massive, untapped fertilizer markets in Japan and contract Japanese workers to mitigate Chile’s labor shortages, they could reverse the fortunes of a formerly booming but currently fading industry and fund their state. Through the effort to build a nitrate chain with Japan, I argue that my actors developed a self-conscious notion that Chileans and Japanese could be partners in a postcolonial political economic space in the Pacific. In other words, Chile and Japan shared unique compatibilities, and potentially a mutual interdependence, in geography, commerce, economic development, and anti-western imperialism that could be leveraged and aligned to create and to resolve some of the most pressing national concerns in both states. Ultimately, I use the case study of Chile to tell a Latin American history in the Pacific.

10:30 – 11:55 am CT

Panel 4: Culture, Comparison, and Exchange from the Early Modern to the Present

Room:         503A Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/94695397867  Passcode: 0329

Moderator: Thomas McDonald, Lecturer of East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Kansas

Presenters:

Ning Chia, Independent Scholar

Bio: Ning Chia earned a PhD from The Johns Hopkins University and Professor Emerita of History at Central College. She is a historian with a research specialty in China’s Qing dynasty (1636-1911). From her teaching semester in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico in the spring of 2018 and her participation in the 2022 NEH Summer Institute “Worlds in Collision: Nahua and Spanish Pictorial Histories and Annals in 16th-Century Mexico,” she has started her research on China/Inner Asia and Mesoamerica in comparison.

Paper Title: Comparative Topics between the Histories of China/Inner Asia and Maya/Nahua Civilizations

Abstract: In my teaching semester in Méridá, Yucatán, Mexico, I developed research to compare the tribute system in Chinese civilization and Mayan civilization, which was integrated into my recent publications. I also found these comparative topics worthy of research: Jade use and function in the Mayan and Chinese civilizations; Number 9 in the traditional Mayan, Chinese, and Mongolian cultures; and Animals in the ancient Mayan and Chinese beliefs and architectures. At the NEH Institute, I extended my comparative interest in new topics as these: The rise of the New Conquest History in Mesoamerican studies and the New Qing History in Chinese studies: Common concerns and different contexts; Pictorial history (painting writing or visual writing) in the 16th-18th century Mesoamerican societies and China’s Qing dynasty; The multi-language texts in the pictorial history of Mesoamerica and Qing China; The significance of feather in social and political life: The Nahua Society and Qing China; Spanish conquest in Mexico and Spanish involvement in East Asia (focusing on Taiwan and Mainland China): Two kinds of colonial experience; and Juan González de Mendoza: His years in Mexico and his 1858 publication Historia de las cosas más notables, ritos y costumbres del gran reyno de la China. I will list the comparative issues under every one of these topics, and share my thoughts on the cooperative plan between East/Inner Asia and Latin American scholars for a ground-breaking publication.

Maria Alexandra Chua, University of Santo Tomas

Bio: Maria Alexandra Iñigo Chua holds the position of Professor of Musicology at the University of Santo Tomas, where she also serves as the Director of the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and Humanities. In 2015, she was a Research Fellow at the Departamento De Musicologia, Facultad Geografiai i Historia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Chua's scholarly pursuits are distinguished by her exploration of multifaceted aspects of music, with a primary focus on the examination of cultural hybridity and music transculturation within the context of nineteenth-century colonial Philippines. Notably, her seminal work titled, "Kirial de Baclayon año 1826: Hispanic Sacred Music in 19th Century Bohol, Philippines," published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press in 2010, stands as a cornerstone in the field of Philippine historical musicology.

Her academic contributions extend to the study of transcultural Filipino music genres, where she has authored research articles delving into topics such as villancico, danza habanera, and music printing. Chua's recent scholarly endeavor culminated in the publication of a two-volume critical music edition of Julio Nakpil, a pioneering Filipino composer of the nineteenth century. Presently, she leads the ongoing research program on the Philippine Music Industry, known as the Musika Pilipinas Project.

Paper Title: Resonances Across Borders: Transculturation, Decoloniality and Subversive Complicity in the Study of 19th Century Filipino Music Genres

Abstract: Colonialism, a transformative force in cultural dynamics, facilitated cross-cultural interactions and played a fundamental role in disseminating Western ideologies. The colonization of Las Islas Filipinas, a Southeast Asian archipelago, marked a pivotal moment in history, creating a unique hybrid culture at the crossroads of East and West. Manila, the capital of colonial Philippines, gained prominence as a global melting pot through the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade (1565-1815), earning the title of the “first global city.”

This study looks into transcultural/hybrid musical genres such as danza habaneras, marchas, paso-dobles in the Philippines during the 19th-century Spanish colonial period, serving as a critical case study for understanding border crossing and transculturation. The focus is on exploring the profound impact of Spanish colonialism on Philippine music through the lenses of transculturation, decoloniality, and subversive complicity. Hence, this paper advocates for border thinking to decenter knowledge, emphasizing transcultural local music creations as a means to uncover the subaltern aspects of the colonial experience. Grounded in the framework of relationality/interconnectedness in global music studies, critical meaning-making within social contexts and decoloniality, the research study aims to shed light on alternative perspectives in the ongoing discourse of transcultural musical influences in colonial settings.

Upasna Mishra, Jadavpur University

Bio: Upasna Mishra has completed her Master’s and Bachelor’s in Political Science with International Relations from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Presently she is pursuing her B.Ed. degree from Jadavpur University. She is also, at present, engaged as a Guest Faculty at Syamaprasad College and as a College Part Time Teacher (CPTT) at The Bhawanipur Education Society College, both of which are situated in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Paper Title:

Abstract: This academic abstract investigates the dynamic relationship between cultural exchanges, soft power, and the impact of East Asian popular culture on Latin America, as well as the reciprocal influence of Latin American culture on East Asia. Cultural exchanges serve as essential mechanisms for fostering understanding, cooperation, and influence between regions, transcending geographical boundaries and facilitating the dissemination of cultural products and ideas. East Asian popular culture, characterized by its vibrant and diverse elements such as music, films, television dramas, anime, manga, and fashion, has garnered substantial attention and popularity in Latin America in recent years. The phenomenon of "Hallyu" or the Korean Wave, exemplified by the widespread appreciation of Korean dramas, K-pop music, and Korean cuisine, has significantly contributed to shaping perceptions, preferences, and trends among Latin American audiences. Similarly, Japanese anime and manga, Chinese martial arts films, and other cultural exports from East Asia have left a lasting impact on Latin American societies, influencing artistic expressions, consumer behavior, and cultural values.

Conversely, Latin American cultural expressions, including music genres like reggaeton, salsa, and samba, telenovelas, literature, and visual arts, have also gained popularity and recognition in East Asia. The cross-pollination of cultural elements has sparked a mutual fascination and curiosity, leading to increased cultural exchanges, collaborations, and partnerships between artists, creators, and media industries across East Asia and Latin America.

This abstract also explores the role of soft power in driving these cultural exchanges and shaping international perceptions. Soft power, as conceptualized by Joseph Nye, refers to the ability of a country or region to influence others through cultural attractiveness, values, and ideologies rather than coercion or force. The cultural appeal of East Asian and Latin American entertainment products has enhanced their respective soft power capabilities, facilitating diplomatic relations, promoting tourism, fostering educational exchanges, and creating opportunities for economic cooperation. Through a comprehensive analysis of media consumption patterns, and cultural diplomacy initiatives, this abstract aims to provide insights into the multifaceted dynamics of cultural exchanges and soft power dynamics between East Asia and Latin America, highlighting their significance in contemporary global cultural interactions and international relations.

12:00 pm - 12:55 pm CT

Keynote Speech

Introduction by Akiko Takeyama, Professor of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; Director of Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS), University of Kansas.

Dr. Junyoung Verónica Kim, Assistant Professor, Visual Culture and Media, and Latin American Culture and Literature, the Department of Hispanic Languages & Literatures, the University of Pittsburgh

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329                                                                                                                                      

Bio:

Dr. Kim has published articles on Asian-Latin American literature, Korean immigration in Argentina, the Global South project, Transpacific Studies, and Latin American involvement during the Korean War. Her book in progress, Cacophonous Intimacies: Reorienting Diaspora and Race in Asia-Latin America, explores the cultural and migratory flows between the regions. She has also started work on a new project exploring transpacific relations of labor, militarization, racialization, and solidarity that arise during the Korean War.

Asia-Latin America: Method/Praxis/Pedagogy

Taking seriously the theme of this conference, “When Global East Meets Global South: East Asia & Latin America,” this keynote explores the possibilities that adopting Asia-Latin America as method offers in examining entangled histories across the Pacific, redrawing global maps, and recalibrating a counter-hegemonic politics. I contend that Asia-Latin America, as a capacious methodology and praxis, reveals and centers the dynamic transpacific intimacies and encounters that have often been overlooked, such as the overlapping histories of imperialism/settler colonialism/racial capitalism, geopolitical and biopolitical connectivities, and migrations between and across East Asia and Latin America.  Asia-Latin America as method, by questioning putative notions of “area” ­–such as “Asia” and “Latin America”– and unsettling received notions of ethnicity and political identity, unhinges dominant conceptualizations of time and space which are always already racialized and gendered: time as a lineal and/or teleological progression in which certain places and peoples are “denied coevalness”; and space that is configured through borders and topographical taxonomies which naturalize territorial hierarchies (e.g., nation-states, overseas territories, land, ocean, camps, bases).  As such, Asia-Latin America as method explores new conceptual directions, pedagogical practices, and transpacific networks of coalition and collaboration.

1:00 – 2:25 pm CT

Discussion Panel 5/Roundtable: Friend, Foe, or Frenemy? Different Perspectives of China’s Engagement in Latin America and the Caribbean

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329

Chair & Moderator: Claudia Lau, Florida International University

Abstract: 2023 marked the 10th anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and China scholars around the world have assessed China’s global engagement, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. While the Chinese diaspora has made rich contributions to the region since the 1800s, China’s trade with the region rapidly developed in recent decades, ballooning from $18 billion in 2002 to more than $450 billion in 2023. China is now the main trading partner in most of South America, and there are 22 countries in the region that are BRI signatories. However, some experts have expressed concern that certain Chinese state-owned enterprises have bribed local officials, built infrastructure that has caused environmental damage, and don’t respect local labor laws. Others have even cautioned that the Chinese Communist Party could use its economic leverage to expand its political and even security influence throughout the region. Is China a friend, foe, or “frenemy” of Latin America and the Caribbean? Through a multi-layered view of China's role in Latin America and the Caribbean, experts from three distinct disciplines will share their unique perspectives, sparking a dynamic discussion. Audience will leave with a deeper understanding of China's historical, economic, and political ties to the region, and its potential future impact.

Discussants:

Claudia Lau, Florida International University

Bio: Claudia Lau is an Academic Advisor and Instructor at the Asian Studies Department at Florida International University. She is a Chinese/Taiwanese descendent who was born in Brazil, raised in Argentina, attended college in Taiwan, and now lives in Miami, Florida. She has a deep understanding about both Western and Eastern culture and has developed several Asian Studies courses incorporating Global Learning elements that give students a broad global perspective. Because of her background, plus her strong interest in languages, Lau is a full polyglot who speaks six languages: Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, and Japanese.

Claudia Lau (FIU), a Chinese/Taiwanese-Brazilian-Argentinian, will share her firsthand experience navigating the historical development of the Chinese diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean. She'll offer insights gleaned from her life experience within the Chinese community in Latin America, and interactions with Taiwanese and Chinese businesses in the region. 

Victoria Chonn Ching, University of Southern California

Bio: Victoria Chonn Ching holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California (USC). She also has an M.A. in Chinese Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar - Teaching Fellow at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at USC, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council. In 2020, she was a pre-doctoral fellow at Boston University’s Global China Initiative, at the Global Development Policy Center.

Victoria Chonn Ching (USC) will give her perspective as a Chinese-Peruvian and will delve deeper into how China’s economic relationship with the region has evolved throughout history.

Leland Lazarus, Florida International University

Bio: Leland Lazarus serves as Associate Director of National Security at Florida International University’s Jack D. Gordon Institute of Public Policy. He is an expert on China-Latin America relations, and manages a team of researchers and interns that collect data and analysis on U.S. national security and governance in Latin America and the Caribbean. From 2021 to 2022, Leland served as the Special Assistant and Speechwriter to the Commander of U.S. Southern Command. He advised the Commander on a broad spectrum of subjects, issues, and policy considerations related to China in Latin America and the Caribbean; helped develop SOUTHCOM’s counter-PRC strategic messaging; and provided focused support and operational and strategic research to the Commander. From 2016-2021, Leland was a State Department Foreign Service Officer, serving as Deputy Public Affairs Officer at U.S. Embassy Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean; Consular Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Shenyang, China; and Pickering Fellow at U.S. Embassy Beijing and the China Desk in DC. He is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish.

Leland Lazarus (FIU) will provide a diplomatic and security perspective, summarizing the concerns that U.S. and other Western countries have about China’s increased influence in the region, including the worsening of corruption, environmental damage, digital authoritarianism, and increased security cooperation.

1:00 – 2:25 pm CT

Panel 6: Media, Culture, and Exchange

Room:         503A Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/94695397867  Passcode: 0329    Moderator: David Mai, Assistant Professor of Film & Media Studies, University of Kansas

Presenters:

Mayara Araujo, Federal Fluminense University

Bio: Mayara Araujo is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Federal Fluminense University. She also worked as an Adjunct Professor in the Media Studies Department at the same university. Mayara holds a PhD in Communication (2022). She is a researcher member at MidiÁsia (Research Group on Contemporary Asian Culture and Media - Brazil) too. Her research interests include Non-western television industries, SVODs, Geopolitics of knowledge, Asian pop culture, and media and IR.

Paper Title: Brazilian Communication Research on East Asia: an overview within the field of Communication

Abstract: In recent years, the global media and cultural landscape has witnessed significant transformations. The emergence of non-Western media and entertainment industries has challenged the U.S. hegemony, hinting at a potential shift in global cultural power dynamics. This presentation aims to assess whether communication research has kept pace with these changes, focusing on Brazilian contributions concerning East Asia from the past decade (2013-2022).

Stephanie Jones, Old Dominion University

Bio: Stephanie Jones is a PhD student in International Studies at Old Dominion University. She serves as a graduate assistant for the Asian Studies Institute and an intern for the Office of Intercultural Relations at ODU. She received both her Master’s and Bachelor’s in Asian Studies. Stephanie lived abroad in China for 3.5 years where she taught English and studied Chinese. Recently, Stephanie has become interested in the history of Asian Latin Community and the historic relationship between Latin America and Asia.

Paper Title: Breaking the Silence: Reclaiming Untold Stories of the Chinese-Mexican Past

Abstract: In response to this historical amnesia and anti-Chinese sentiment brought about by the dominant group, a new generation of Chinese-Mexicans and advocates has emerged. They are determined to bring the forgotten stories to light and claim the right to their Chinese-Mexican heritage. This paper explores their endeavors, focusing on the media tools that have become instrumental in amplifying their voices and garnering necessary support. It dives into the multifaceted media strategies used by modern advocates in the past 15 years to highlight the history of prejudice against Chinese-Mexican historical preservation by exploring a series of related case studies. It also investigates how artists and advocates use the power of the internet, specifically social media, to raise awareness of Antichinismo(anti-Chinese hate), transforming it into a platform for creative expression and historical storytelling.

Yurim Kim, Stanford University

Bio: Yurim Kim is a PhD Candidate in Iberian and Latin American Cultures at Stanford University. Her research interests include literature, film, Otherness, Orientalism, and Latin American modernism. She is currently writing her dissertation titled Latin America’s Three Orients: Space and Race during Modernismo.

Paper Title: From Shadows to Spotlight: Drugs and Asian presence in “El chino del Dock Sur”

Abstract: This paper analyzes Hector Pedro Blomberg's Argentinian short story "El chino del Dock Sur," focusing on the portrayal of drugs in shaping the presence of Asians within Latin American society. Historically, Asian immigrants have often been marginalized and regarded as inconsequential in Latin America. In El porvenir de las razas, Clemente Palma epitomizes this sentiment by asserting that the Chinese people in Peru represented nothing in the past and present, and that they will continue to be an invisible community in the future. However, this narrative undergoes a significant shift with the introduction of drugs. Through the character of Wang in "El chino del Dock Sur," a newly arrived Chinese immigrant in Argentina, we observe his transition from obscurity to visibility within Argentine society. He becomes more conspicuous, albeit in a perilous light, as he becomes involved in the drug trade. Despite this newfound agency, the paper demonstrates how Wang remains marginalized within Argentinian society, perpetually relegated to the role of the "Asian other." This paper, therefore, elucidates how Wang's involvement in the drug culture fails to elevate his status in the society but rather reinforces his alienation, providing critical insights into the complex dynamics of race, drug, and exclusion in Latin America.

Ketty Wong, University of Kansas

Bio: Ketty Wong is an Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology at The University of Kansas, a member of Ecuador’s National Academy of History, and a former Fulbright Scholar in China. She is the author of Luis Humberto Salgado: Un quijote de la música (2004) and Whose National Music? Identity, Mestizaje, and Migration in Ecuador (2012). A Spanish version of this book won the 2010 Casa de las Américas Musicology Award in Cuba, and the 2013 Book Award from the Ecuadorian Studies Section of the Latin American Studies Association. Her research interests focus on Latin American art and popular music, the reception of Western social dances in China, migration, nationalism, globalization, and identity. She is the executive director of the KU School of Music project which consists of the publication of Salgado’s chamber music scores and two-CD recordings on the Naxos label.

Paper Title: Chinese Damas’ Square Dancing: Gendering the Public Domain in China

Abstract: Chinese seniors have been practicing public dancing in outdoor venues since the 1980s, to such an extent that this activity has been included in the National Fitness Program and is part of daily life in reform-era China. While some people engage in Western partner dances–such as rumba, cha-cha-cha, and tango–, others, particularly retired and middle-aged women prefer to dance without a partner, blending Western elements with Chinese ethnic and folk dances. The latter type of dancing is known as guangchangwu (literally, “public square dance”), which is unrelated to American square dancing and encompasses a variety of dances–from costumed yangge to athletic-style exercises. This paper focuses on guangchangwu, which provides elderly women with opportunities for socializing, exercising, and gendering the public domain in ways appealing to their life experiences. The media calls them Chinese damas (literally, “big mother”) or Chinese grannies, and they have made national and international headlines for the noise pollution produced by their dance gatherings. Who are these "damas"? Why do they choose to practice guangchangwu, rather than tai-chi, fan dance, or Western social dances, as other Chinese seniors do? Based on twelve months of fieldwork conducted in Beijing and Shanghai between 2013- 2016, I argue that guangchangwu provides Chinese damas with a public space to freely express the changing roles of women in Chinese society and challenge Western ideas about aging.

2:30 – 3:55 pm CT

Panel 7: Dimensions of Economic Engagement

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329

Moderator: Christopher W. Anderson, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, School of Business, University of Kansas

Presenters:

Juan Michel Montezuma, University São Paulo

Bio: Juan Michel Montezuma has a degree in History from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Master's degree in Social History at UFBA in 2023 with the dissertation: Is it possible to write the History of Brazil? The place of ANPUH in the consolidation of academic historiography (1961-1967). PhD student in Sociology at the University of São Paulo, in the line of research in Theory and History, with the following research: BRAZIL: FROM GLOBAL TO NEOCOLONIAL? Introduction to the relations between the national society and the capitalist interstate system in the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century, based on the theories of Octávio Ianni and Milton Santos on globalization. (1990 - 2004)

Paper Title: On the Frontiers of Capitalism: The Neo-Colonies and the New Empires

Abstract: The present doctoral project consists of a comparative historical study of the processes of late industrialization in the States of South America and East Asia, during the second half of the twentieth century, through the analysis of the historical relations between Capitalism, the Global Order and the Balance of Power in the international system of States in South American and Asian historiography. Starting from the following question: Why were the East Asian states effective in their experiments of late industrialization, thus managing to escape their condition of underdevelopment, while the South American states were not able to achieve the same success? Proposing a comparative historical analysis of the trajectories of the states of South America and East Asia, through the critique of the economic and political historiography of these regions, the following hypothesis is elaborated in this project: Among the South American states, in contrast to what occurred in East Asia in the second half of the twentieth century, there was no rise of political regimes capable of imposing, or co-opting the local bourgeoisie into national developmentalist projects centered on capitalist management from the nation-state.

Manos Vostanis, Ionian University

Bio: Vostanis Manos is a burgeoning historian, having earned his Master’s degree in Modern and Contemporary Greek, European, and Global History. Currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Modern Global History, his doctoral thesis, titled "The Political-Economic Theory of the Washington Consensus and International Relations in the Latin American Region during the First Post-Cold War Period (1989-1999)," critically examines the implementation of neoliberal doctrines, navigating the intricate tapestry of international relations within the Latin American context. With a robust grounding in political theory, Vostanis reexamines the socio-political dynamics, scrutinizing the evolving political landscape amidst emerging forms of articulation. His scholarly pursuits are augmented by his engagement with declassified archival data, facilitating a nuanced exploration of public discourses surrounding pivotal political events.

Despite the incipiency of his academic journey, Vostanis actively engages in scholarly discourse, exhibiting a penchant for intellectual exchange through his participation in seminars and conferences. As he advances in his doctoral studies, Vostanis is primed to make substantive contributions to the historiography of modern global history, driven by his unwavering professionalism, insatiable intellectual curiosity, and steadfast dedication to advancing scholarly knowledge in his field.

Paper Title: When Global East Meets Global South: the Asian Financial Crisis, 1997-1998

Abstract:This paper endeavors to delve into the magnitude of the Asian financial crisis, scrutinizing its repercussions across diverse geographical areas, with a particular emphasis on the Latin American region. Originating in the mid-1980s, the "new peripheries" phenomenon, as articulated by Jagdish Bhagwati, emerges as a defining characteristic within the global economic landscape. Embedded in this conceptual framework is the discernible economic entity of the Asia-Pacific region, comprising Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and southern China. Throughout the period 1967-1997, this specific region manifested as the most economically dynamic globally, marked by significant exports of industrial products and high-tech commodities. However, the financial crisis that transpired in East Asia in 1997, originating in Thailand, exerted adverse effects on the global economy. The term "flu," ascribed to the ensuing market downturn, transmogrified into an "infectious ailment" as its repercussions proliferated into Russia and Latin America. To conduct a thorough analysis of this project, we employ an interdisciplinary methodology that integrates archival research and theories from subfields of international relations. The incorporation of materials pertaining to foreign policy and public opinion will facilitate the examination of this topic. This approach will yield timely scholarly outputs that will enrich various subdisciplines within the realms of social sciences and humanities.

Rubens Pinto, University of São Paulo

Bio: Rubens Pinto is a Geographer from São Paulo, Brazil. He has taught in public and private schools in Brazil for the last few years and he is a PhD candidate now. He has studied Brazil-China relations considering Brazilian territory.

Paper Title: The Macrometropolis of São Paulo as a Centrality for Chinese Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract: The Macrometropolis of São Paulo is a centrality for Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The mega-region has concentrated Chinese investment in the energy, manufacturing and services sectors and has received more investment than any country in Latin America and the Caribbean, excluding Brazil. In addition, we can identify a significant concentration of investments via Mergers and Acquisitions in the mega-region, as well as a significant weight of both public and private investments. To carry out this analysis, we mainly used the LAC-China Network database, which allows us to identify a series of investments not presented by official sources such as the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (MOFCOM) and the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB). This approach seeks to bring some territorial elements, such as Urban and Regional concentrations, into the contemporary debate on relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean.

4:00 – 5:00 pm CT

Keynote Speech

Introduction by Luciano Tosta,Professor of Spanish & Portuguese; Director of Center for Global & International Studies (CGIS), University of Kansas

Dr. R. Evans Ellis, Research Professor, Latin American studies, U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute

Room:         455 Watson Library

Zoom link:  https://kansas.zoom.us/j/93665263849   Passcode: 0329  

Latin America Engages Asia: A Relationship in Transformation

Bio:

In his work, Dr. Ellis focuses on Latin America’s relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors, as well as transnational organized crime and populism in the region. He has published over 480 works, including five books. In addition, Dr. Ellis previously served as on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as International Narcotics and Law Enforcement issues. 

Dr. Ellis will examine the latest trends in, and outlook for Latin America’s relationship with the PRC and other Asian partners. He will examine trends in economic engagement arising from PRC global technology goals and other strategic imperatives, including fewer state-to-state infrastructure loans, traditional Mergers and Acquisitions and large-scale Greenfield projects, with a shift to targeted investments, in the digital, green energy, and other key sectors. He will address the impact of decoupling and “nearshoring,” as well as Chinese initiatives in the financial sector, space, military and public security affairs, and the use of the “expectation of benefit” and people-to-people diplomacy to achieve influence through relationships with key academic, political, media and business figures in the region. He will examine China’s reliance on a combination of state-to-state, subnational and multilateral engagement to support its objectives.  Beyond China, Dr. Ellis will address the impact of China’s advance on the commercial and other strategic position of US-friendly democratic governments in the region, with a focus on Japan and South Korea, and the implications for US policy.

Closing Remarks

Luciano Tosta