The University of Michigan East Asia National Resource Center is the co-effort of the Nam Center for Korean Studies, the Center for Japanese Studies, and the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies.
Regional and National Initiatives
The U-M/UPR Outreach Collaboration is a partnership between the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), Río Piedras, to expand access to the area studies and language resources at U-M to the faculty and students at the UPR, as well as in-service teachers in the region around UPR, and their K-12 students. The collaboration is part of the effort by the area studies Centers comprising the International Institute (II) to create sustainable links with institutions serving underrepresented populations, and funded by Title VI grants from the US Department of Education. Each year, the II sends mixed delegations of area studies experts to the UPR for a K-16 professional and curriculum development workshop organized around topics that cross multiple disciplines and allow representation from different world regions.
Please visit the U-M/UPR Outreach Collaboration website for more information on past workshops and a collection of free resources for educators and members of the public.
WHaLI is a unique collaboration between area studies centers in the International Institute and the U-M School of Education (SOE), funded in part by Title VI grants from the US Department of Education, with additional funding from the International Institute and the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. Since 2009, WHaLI has provided over 500 K-12 teachers in the fields of History, Social Studies, and English Language Arts with area studies curriculum content and professional development. Held each year in June, WHaLI is a three-day workshop designed to improve teachers’ capacity to teach world history and literature by providing them with area studies resources and content. New initiatives to broaden the reach of WHaLI include opportunities for early career or beginning teachers to work with experienced teachers and scholars, and the use of livestream webcasting technology and on-site facilitators to reach teachers outside the Ann Arbor area.
Please visit the World History & Literature Initiative (WHaLI) website for more information.
The U-M East Asia centers are among several area studies centers at the International Institute that are engaged in a collaboration with MIIIE, a consortium of two-year colleges based in the Midwest region that has expanded across the country. The MIIIE is dedicated to improving international studies and foreign language training at each member campus. II’s area studies centers are co-sponsors of the MIIIE’s annual August curriculum development workshops on global thematic topics, helping CC faculty develop area studies curriculum modules, which are shared with other MIIIE member institution faculty as well as other educators and members of the general public (upon request).
Please visit the MIIIE website for more information on past and upcoming workshops.
Workshops
East Asian Migration and Borders: Stories of Identity and Connection
Saturday, December 10, 2022
A One-Day Professional Development Workshop for K-14 Educators East Asia Highlights: China, Japan, Korea
The media is filled with global stories of migration that portray the complex experiences of migrants and the reactions of their final destination countries. This workshop will explore the historical, cultural, and contemporary political borders within China, Japan, and Korea and how conceptions of identity from this region travel the world through art and technology. Featuring lectures from prominent scholars and teacher-based activities, participants will gain insights into shifting cultural identities and establishing a sense of belonging across and within borders.
What does it mean to “cross the line?” How can stories of emigres and sojourners of East Asia change the way we teach world history, geography, government, and the arts?
Addressing Discrimination in the Asian Diaspora
Saturday, December 11, 2021
A One-Day Professional Development Workshop for K-14 Educators East Asia Highlights: China, Japan, Korea
What are the Asian and Asian-American discrimination issues that students, teachers, and individuals are struggling to understand in today’s globalized world? How do teachers interweave the politics of immigration into world history and civics curriculum? What makes a place a home for someone, and how do we build on the storyscapes of the under-written histories of anti-Asian racism and Asian-American identity?
Removing the screen from “over there,” experts in Area and Asian-American studies will explore identity, immigration and nationality and provide a discussion forum for applying these ideas into classroom use. Content covered will include snapshots from mid-19th century-20th century histories of China, Japan and Korea; the push-pull factors for immigration; exclusionary immigration policies; and the nuances of Asian American identity. Insights will be made into Asian-ness as well as “Asian-Americanness,” with one of the takeaways being the “hyphen" in hyphenated ethnicities, the middle ground to individuality and self.
Gardens and the Environment | A Virtual Live and Asynchronous Learning Event for K-14 Teachers
November 13-21, 2020
Compare and contrast garden cultures and sustainability through lectures and virtual 'visits' to China, Japan and Korea. The backbone of this trek takes participants from home sites in the U.S. to classical Asian gardens. As aesthetically designed outdoor spaces, traditional gardens occupied different types of space for different user groups—among them being imperial hunting parks, royal gardens, temple grounds, courtyards, and scholar estates. Today’s conceptions of garden, however, must negotiate dramatic social, agricultural and urban change. This workshop attempts to balance 'visits' to historical sites with newly conceived iterations on gardens as well as challenges posed by sustainability in the modern world.
#goglobaled
Coordinated by the Center for Japanese Studies, the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, and the Nam Center for Korean Studies at the University of Michigan with support from Title VI.
Archived workshop materials are available for educators upon request. Please contact eastasiaoutreach@umich.edu for further information.
Read more about a Garden Tour through China, Japan and Korea
2019 Professional Development Workshop on Teaching about East Asia | Architecture and Urban Space in East Asia: History, Geography and Culture through Place/Space
November 9, 2019
A free K-12 and community college teachers' workshop focusing on architecture as a means for exploring history, culture, and geography in the context of China, Japan, and Korea. The workshop is organized by the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies (LRCCS), Center for Japanese Studies (CJS) and the Nam Center for Korean Studies (NCKS) at the University of Michigan's International Institute.
University of Michigan Professional Networking Conference for Master’s Students in East Asian Studies
April 13-14, 2018
The University of Michigan Professional Networking Conference for Master’s Students in East Asian Studies was a two-day conference that provided participating MA students an opportunity to share research with their peers and network with leading professionals active in East Asia. Participants built presentation experience, and also gained valuable insight into post-graduation paths available to them in both the academic and professional spheres.
