© AREA Ruhr, Wiemann
In the upcoming winter term 2024/25 AREA Ruhr will launch its novel AREA Book Talk Series. Experts from AREA Ruhr are looking forward to meeting up with authors of newly released academic books that deal with East Asia from a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives. We are curious about getting insights into recently published research results and discussing the “research journey” that authors have been engaged in.
All events are conducted online via Zoom and are open to be joined after registration. Following the exchange between the invited author and an AREA host, the audience is encouraged to join the discussion.
Book Talk Schedule Winter Term 2024/25
29 October 2024, 6–8 PM
“Selbstoptimierung bis in den Tod. Aktive Lebensendplanung in Japan” by Dorothea Mladenova
Host: Anke Scherer (RUB)
Further information & registration
About the author
Dorothea Mladenova studied Japanese Studies, Bulgarian Studies and Sociology at the University of Leipzig and at Chiba University in Japan. Scholarships took her to the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tōkyō in 2016, to Ritsumeikan University Kyōtō (DAAD) in 2019 and to Chiba University (JSPS) in 2024. In her research, she focuses on contemporary Japanese society through the lens of Cultural Studies and Governmentality Studies.
About the Book
In her first monograph, published in 2023, Dorothea Mladenova looks at the practice of organizing one’s own death (shūkatsu 終活) as a neoliberal self-optimization tool against the backdrop of the super-ageing and “super-dying” society. Her analysis suggests that the ideal of taking care of others has been transformed into a maxim of taking care of oneself.
Please register through the following link to receive access to the online Book Talk:
https://uni-due.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/u5Yldu2tpjsoH9AcWT0yyJI3jXOfI1FGKW-p
25 November 2024, 10 AM – 12 PM
“Democracy and Human Rights in the Kim Dae-jung Era” by Jin-Wook Shin
Host: Hannes Mosler (UDE)
Further information & registration
About the author
Jin-Wook Shin is Professor at the Department of Sociology at Chung-Ang University, Seoul. He studied sociology at Yonsei University and received his Ph.D. in sociology at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He teaches “political sociology”, “social movements”, and “social problems”, and researches and publishes in areas such as democratic theory, party politics, social movements, social inequalities, and welfare state.
About the Book
Democracy and Human Rights in the Kim Dae-jung Era is a collection of six chapters that analytically examine former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s philosophy, ideas, policies, achievements, and commitment to democracy, human rights, and peace, and use them to assess the current state of democracy and human rights in today’s South Korea. Edited by Jin-Wook Shin, the volume is part of a series of books published by the Academy of Kim Dae-jung Studies and includes authors from the disciplines of history, sociology, political science, and law.
Please register through the following link to receive access to the online Book Talk:
https://uni-due.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/u5Ykdu6ppjIqHNClOkuA_wdUnvjOP3y5U89_
14 January 2025, 6.15–7.30 PM
“East Asian Landscapes and Legitimation: Localizing Authority Through Sacred Sites in China and Vietnam” by Yasmin Koppen (Talk conducted in German)
Host: Christine Moll-Murata (RUB)
Further information & registration
About the author
Yasmin Koppen is postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Religions at Leipzig University, focusing on Chinese and Southeast Asian religions. She completed her studies in Chinese and Religious Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum and enhanced her expertise in Vietnamese studies as a research fellow at LWL-Museum für Archäologie in Herne. Her doctotal studies were supported by AREA Ruhr. Her current research concerns the religionization of environmental movements in the struggle of indigenous cultures against green imperialism in Southeast Asia.
About the Book
The book examines the contrasting outcomes of the Chinese Empire’s conquests of Sichuan and Vietnam with a focus on the dynamics between central auhority and local autonomy, as they are evident in the transformation of sacred sites. The Experiential Architecture Analysis (EAA) introduced in this book offers a framework to examine spatial-social interactions, which provided new insights into transcultural ideology transfer and the roles of sacred sites in visualizing power and resistance. The case studies demonstrate the role of hydrolatric sites in the social resilience of local cultures under transregional pressure.
Please register through the following link to receive access to the online Book Talk:
https://uni-due.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/u50vf-ysqTIuG9WT6dwl2x72ppJ5AbYZSHuB