Speaker: Greg Sattler, New York University

Title: Poems from Visitors to Japan in 858: A Foray into the World of Merchants and Monks beyond Tang High Society

Abstract: In 858, a group of travelers from throughout East Asia journeyed on a merchant ship from China to Japan. After having traveled together in China and across the high seas for several months, the group gathered in a lodge to bid farewell to the man responsible for bringing them together. At the emotional banquet, poems were composed on behalf of the monk Enchin 円珍 (814–891), who later became head of the Tiantai/Tendai 天台 school of Buddhism in Japan. Enchin’s high status and importance in the history of Japanese Buddhism allowed for the preservation of eighteen of these poems in a document titled Tōjin sōbetsushi narabini sekitoku 唐人送別詩幷尺牘. The poems, mostly written by merchants from southern China, provide some distinctive insights into Tang society through their engagement with the themes of Buddhism, friendship, scenic beauty, and even politics. They also constitute some of the earliest extant writings by merchants in East Asia. In examining these compositions, we will see that although many follow contemporary Chinese trends and conventions, they also offer rare glimpses into the mediocre and imperfect Tang works that are otherwise lost to posterity. This colloquium will welcome a range of perspectives on the poems, focusing not only on how they align with the poetry of the period, but also on the ways in which they might be perceived as subpar, flawed, or below the high standards set by the tiny fraction of esteemed Tang poems preserved in the present day. Of equal importance will be consideration of what these poems can tell us about their writers, local Chinese society, religious exchange, and, broadly speaking, the world in which they were produced.

About Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium
The group meets monthly during the semester to explore a variety of classical Chinese texts and styles. Other premodern texts linked to classical Chinese in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese have also been explored. Presentations include works from the earliest times to the 20th century. Workshop sessions are led by local, national, and international scholars. Participants with any level of classical Chinese experience are welcome to attend.
o At each session, a presenter guides the group in a reading of a classical Chinese text. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, working together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.
o No preparation is required; all texts will be distributed at the meeting.
o Refreshments will be served.

Speaker: Sean Cronan, Assistant Professor of History, University of Virginia

About Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium
The group meets monthly during the semester to explore a variety of classical Chinese texts and styles. Other premodern texts linked to classical Chinese in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese have also been explored. Presentations include works from the earliest times to the 20th century. Workshop sessions are led by local, national, and international scholars. Participants with any level of classical Chinese experience are welcome to attend.
o At each session, a presenter guides the group in a reading of a classical Chinese text. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, working together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.
o No preparation is required; all texts will be distributed at the meeting.
o Refreshments will be served.

Speaker: Jaeyoon Song, Professor of History, McMaster University

Title: Names can Kill: Enslavement through Semiotic Stigma in a Neo-Confucian Korea, ca. 1400-1900

Abstract: In this colloquium, we will examine several important documents on premodern Korean slavery. By reading through these documents, we will examine slave-naming practices in Chosŏn Korea (1392–1897), where an estimated 30~40% of the total population lived in bondage. By analyzing two representative documents, a 1570 will distributing sixty-one slaves among five heirs and a 1702 household register listing 116 slaves, we will encounter many enslaved individuals who were customarily assigned contemptuous birth names invoking animals, excrement, poverty, bodily defects, and sexual organs. In contrast to many slave societies which marked slave bodies through tattooing, branding, and collars, Chosŏn society developed a systematic psychological method of dehumanization through derogatory naming practices. Jaeyoon Song argues that the unusual longevity of Chosŏn slavery without a single recorded case of large-scale slave uprising was in part due to an elaborate method of semiotic stigma and onomastic segregation that fostered servility among the enslaved and confined them to the condition often described as “social death.”

About Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium
The group meets monthly during the semester to explore a variety of classical Chinese texts and styles. Other premodern texts linked to classical Chinese in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese have also been explored. Presentations include works from the earliest times to the 20th century. Workshop sessions are led by local, national, and international scholars. Participants with any level of classical Chinese experience are welcome to attend.
o At each session, a presenter guides the group in a reading of a classical Chinese text. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, working together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.
o No preparation is required; all texts will be distributed at the meeting.
o Refreshments will be served.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports U.S. citizens to study, conduct research in any field, or teach English in more than 150 countries. The program is open to graduate students, recent graduates, and young professionals. Undergraduate students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation are encouraged to start the process in their junior year. Recent graduates are welcome to apply through Cornell.

The Fulbright program at Cornell is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International studies. Applicants are supported through all stages of the application and are encouraged to start early by contacting fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Register for the virtual session.

Can’t attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports U.S. citizens to study, conduct research in any field, or teach English in more than 150 countries. The program is open to graduate students, recent graduates, and young professionals. Undergraduate students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation are encouraged to start the process in their junior year. Recent graduates are welcome to apply through Cornell.

The Fulbright program at Cornell is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International studies. Applicants are supported through all stages of the application and are encouraged to start early by contacting fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Register for the virtual session.

Can’t attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program supports U.S. citizens to study, conduct research in any field, or teach English in more than 150 countries. The program is open to graduate students, recent graduates, and young professionals. Undergraduate students who wish to begin the program immediately after graduation are encouraged to start the process in their junior year. Recent graduates are welcome to apply through Cornell.

The Fulbright program at Cornell is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International studies. Applicants are supported through all stages of the application and are encouraged to start early by contacting fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Register for the virtual session.

Can’t attend? Contact fulbright@einaudi.cornell.edu.

Do you need to travel internationally for your graduate research or fieldwork?

The Einaudi Center sponsors international travel for individual Cornell graduate students. If you’re traveling between the United States and a host country for activities directly related to your dissertation or thesis research, Einaudi can help you get there. See full details here.

Register here. Can’t attend? Contact travelgrants@einaudi.cornell.edu to learn more.

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The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies hosts info sessions for graduate and for undergraduate students to learn more about funding opportunities, international travel, research, and internships. View the full calendar of fall semester sessions.