University Program Celebrates Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month

Apr 30, 2013

            The University of Scranton Asian Studies program’s celebration of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month includes dance, music, poetry, a “Zen Walk,” presentations and panel discussions. All events are free and open to the public.

“Japanese Culture through Dance: Its history and comparison with the United States” will be presented by sisters Emiko and Yasuko Tokunaga, founders and co-directors of the Tokunaga Dance Ko, Thursday, May 2, at 6 p.m. in the Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library, followed by a presentation and performance by students from Japanese class. A light reception will follow. The event is co-sponsored by the Schemel Forum.

The Tokunaga Dance Ko is a non-profit company and the first company selected by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission to represent both countries with sponsored tours in America and in Japan. It was funded by National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and has received numerous meritorious awards.

A “Zen Walk,” a walking meditation for inner peace, begins at 11 a.m. on the Dionne Campus Green Friday, May 3. Participation is limited and this event is full.

 On May 3, University faculty will present “University of Scranton Scholars in Taiwan: A Week of Inter-Cultural Engagement” at 5 p.m. in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall. Participants are Iordanis Petsas, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Economics and Finance Department, Sufyan Mohammed, Ph.D., assistant professor of communication, and Matthew Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy.

A poetry reading with award-winning Taiwanese poet Cheng Chou-Yu, poet-in-residence and faculty emeritus at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., will take place at 5:45 p.m. in the Pearn Auditorium as part of “Frontier Taiwan: Poetry, Politics, and Identity.” University professors John Hill, English, and Linda Ledford-Miller, Ph.D., world languages and cultures, and students from Chinese Mandarin classes will also participate. A light reception will follow the event, which includes a photo display courtesy of The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. The event is co-sponsored with The Taipei Cultural Center of New York, N.Y.

Since his debut with “Above the Space of Dreams” in 1955, Chou-yu has become one of the most widely read poets in the Chinese language. His poems blend classical and vernacular Chinese and European Modernism in a new poetic form that reveals musicality in poetry. Many of his poems have been made into songs and plays. His work has been translated into English, Japanese, Korean, German and French. He was a member of the Yale University faculty for more than 30 years.

For more information, contact Ann Pang-White, Ph.D., director of Asian Studies and professor of philosophy, at 941-6312.

 

 

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