Our spring 2009 EAA special section, “History, Literature, and the Construction of Memory in Asia,” contains a variety of articles where authors address how images, memories, and perceptions have shaped Asian cultures over time. The special section has great potential as a tool that will help teachers, professors, and students look more thoughtfully at Asian cultures not only by exploring Asian self-perceptions, but also by examining the perceptions of Asia held by outsiders. Thanks go to Charles Hayford, who served as consulting scholar, Teddy Amoloza, who suggested potential contributors, and Fay Beauchamp, who first proposed the special section.
In “History and Memory: The Role of War Memorials and Museums in China and Japan,” David Kenley provides both a clear definition of the concept of historical memory and assists readers in understanding the role of memorials and museums in shaping national identities. Luding Tong then addresses the role that advertising in traditional and contemporary China has played in public and private sector attempts to shape the self-perceptions of women, in “The Fairest of Them All: Finding One’s Self through Advertising.”
Four articles on the ways that literature affects “memory” follow. Charlotte Furth’s “Pre-Modern Chinese Women in Historical Fiction” highlights the unique classroom potential offered by author Lisa See’s novels on traditional China. Sherry Mou examines the journey and multiple permutations of an early Chinese story and its international ramifications for the creation of perceptions, both about China and other societies as well in “A Child of All Ages: The Orphans of Zhao”. In “Jack London and the Yellow Peril,” Daniel Métraux tells the story of London’s now-forgotten writings on East Asia that have proven to be both prescient and sophisticated. Fay Beauchamp’s “Tang Dynasty Revolution and Poetry: Bai Juyi’s ‘Construction’ of Yang Guifei,” uses a famous story from the An Lushan rebellion to explore the motives of one of traditional China’s greatest poets in his famous work on a tragic Chinese heroine. Historian Michael Wert concludes the special section by examining how historical treatments of three Meiji heroes—two famous and one relatively unknown—evolved and ultimately affected cultural perceptions within Japan.
Our resources section includes descriptions of a variety of teaching tools and educational opportunities relating to Asia. Curriculum materials such as an excerpt from a SPICE unit on South Korean-US relations, Theodore de Bary and colleagues’ new compilation of East Asian primary sources, and an outstanding recent film on perceptions of Gandhi in contemporary India are included. We also break new ground in the resources section by publishing our first-ever essay on obtaining employment in international schools with special attention given to Asia. We thank both feature and resource section authors for their superb contributions to this issue.
Our fall 2009 special section is “Asian Intercultural Contacts: Diasporas and Minorities.” We conclude our series that is based upon the National World History Standards in the winter 2009 special section, “Asia in World History: The Twentieth Century.” The manuscript deadline for this issue is August 10, 2009. The three special sections in 2010 will be “Business, Economics, and Asia” (December 10, 2009 manuscript deadline), “Asian Religions” (May 10, 2010 manuscript deadline), and “Environmental Challenges and Asia” (August 10, 2010 manuscript deadline). In addition to special section manuscripts, we also consider feature manuscripts, essays, and short reviews that are not theme-related.
More information about special sections and author guidelines are available on our Web site. New EAA readers should be aware that we are in the process of expanding our Web site. Currently it includes a searchable table of contents, a sample article from each previously published issue, recent “Web Gleanings” columns, and other teaching resources.
Commitment of our contributors and readers and the AAS leadership’s support of an educational journal are two important reasons why EAA has become a key element in the movement to educate the public about Asia. In these difficult economic times, it is more important than ever that EAA readers continue to subscribe and make sure school and local libraries do so as well.
Cordially,
Lucien Ellington
Potential authors should visit the EAA Web site and view the Author Guidelines before submitting manuscripts for consideration: http://www.asian-studies.org/EAA/.
Send EAA submissions to:
Peggy Pollock
Managing Editor, Education About Asia
302 Pfeiffer Stagmaier Hall
Dept. 2222, 615 McCallie Avenue
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN 37403
Phone (423)425-2118, Fax (423)425-5443
Email: edast@utc.edu
Web Site: http://www.asian-studies.org/EAA