October 2001 News

John D. Blanco joins our department as Assistant Professor of Literatures of the Americas. He completed his dissertation, "Vernacular Counterpoints: Indigenous Cosmopolitanism and the Modern Aesthetic in Spanish-Filipino and Tagalog Literature and Culture (1837-1896)" in the Comparative Literature Department at UC Berkeley in May 2001. Professor Blanco works in Spanish, Latin, Tagalog and English; his comparatist approach allows him to study both the nineteenth-century Spanish Caribbean and the Philippines, and traces the emergence of both national and vernacular aesthetics that translate, in part, colonial Spanish Enlightenment and Christian humanisms. He is the author of numerous published articles on Filipino literature and aesthetics, and has translated and introduced Divergent Modernities in Latin America: Culture and Politics in the Nineteenth Century, by Julio Ramos (Duke University Press, 2001). John Blanco is at work on several postdoctoral projects, one on the postcolonial subject in Cuba, Mexico and the Philippines, a second on the 1898 U.S. war with Spain.

Yingjin Zhang received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University in 1992 and previously held a position in East Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. He joins our department as Professor of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature and Culture. Professor Zhang's research and teaching interests include film and media studies and urban and visual culture. His first book, The City in Modern Chinese Literature and Film: Configurations of Space, Time and Gender (Stanford UP, 1996) studies the city/country antithesis in modern Chinese literary history, giving attention to the representation of Beijing and Shanghai as "traditional" and "modern" cities. His forthcoming Screening China: Critical Interventions, Cinematic Reconfigurations, and the Transnational Imaginary in Contemporary Chinese Cinema (University of Michigan Press) takes up the "global cultural politics" of Chinese cinema from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China, considering both the representation of China in Chinese films and the critical discourse, especially western transnational discourse, that selectively interprets Chinese cinema. He has edited two collections: China in a Polycentric World (Stanford UP, 1998) is a volume of essays that propose a shift from a model of Chinese-Western comparativism to a critical reading of Chinese or China-related texts using a variety of new critical approaches; the volume Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943, establishes cinema as a vital force in early twentieth-century Shanghai culture.

Fall Quarter Visitors/Lecturers

Will Alexander, Lecturer 
Los Angeles novelist, poet and essayist known especially for his fusion of Afrocentric myth and culture and European Surrealism; LTWR 115--Experimental Writing

Victor Bascara, Visiting Assistant Professor 
Assistant Professor of English, University of Georgia; Asian American studies, postcolonial studies, American literature, African American literature, queer theory; LTEN 181--Asian American Literature

Fraser Cocks, Director, Thurgood Marshall College Dimensions of Culture Program 
LTEN 160--Ideas and Photographic Images in American Culture: Representations of Culture

Abbie Cory, UCSD Faculty Fellow 
Ph.D., Literatures in English, UCSD; literature of the British Isles, women and literature, modern Irish literature; gender and politics in the Romantic and early Victorian periods; LTEN 132--Modern Irish Literature and Culture: From Land League to Civil War

Ron S. Ipock, Associate in Literature 
Ph.D. Candidate, Classics, UC Irvine; Greek and Roman drama, Hellenistic history; LTLA 132--Lyric and Elegiac Poetry

Michael Krekorian, Lecturer 
Widely published writer of short fiction who has held visiting positions at USC, SDSU, CSU Fresno, as well as UCSD; LTWR 100--Short Fiction

Patrick J. Ledden, Provost, Muir College 
LTEN 190--Seminar: James Joyce--Ulysses

Jeyseon Lee, Lecturer 
Ph.D., Korean Linguistics, University of Hawaii; language instruction; LKO 1A--First-Year Korean, LTKO 2A--Intermediate Korean: Second Year, and LTKO 3A--Advanced Korean: Third Year

Paul Naylor, Lecturer 
Formerly Associate Professor of English, University of Memphis; modern and postmodern American poetry and poetics, philosophy and literature, literary theory; LTEN 24--Introduction to the Literature of the United States, and LTEN 152--The Origins of American Literature

Thomas A. Nelson, Visiting Professor 
Professor Emeritus, Department of English and Comparative Literature, SDSU; screen writing, literary analysis, film studies; LTWR 110--Screen Writing

Maurice Stevens, Lecturer 
Ph.D. History of Consciousness, UC Santa Cruz; critical race theory and African American studies; LTCS 130--Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Class and Culture

Malama Tsimenis, Lecturer 
Ph.D. Candidate, French Literature, University of Montreal; 19th c. French literature, language instruction, translation; LTFR 2C--Intermediate French III: Composition and Cultural Topics

Rae Armantrout, The Pretext (book of poems). Los Angeles: Green Integer Press, July 2001.

Alain J.-J. Cohen, "Piero della Francesca's Flagellazione. The painter as filmmaker" [Reprint, English version with variations of Italian article in Il Cannocchiale, 2 (2000)], Visio. The Journal of the International Association for Visual Semiotics, 5.4 (2001): 99-111.

Arthur J. Droge, "Discerning the Body: Early Christian Sex and Other Apocryphal Acts," eds. A. Y. Collins and M. M. Mitchell, Antiquity and Humanity: Essays on Ancient Religion and Philosophy. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001: 297-320.

Milos Kokotovic, "Mario Vargas Llosa Writes Of(f) the Native: Modernity and Cultural Heterogeneity in Peru," Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, 25.3 (2001): 445-467. 
"Intellectuals and Their Others: What is to be Done? (On John Beverley's Subalternity and Representation)," Diaspora, 9.2 (2000): 287-308.

Lisa Lowe, "Epistemological Shifts: National Ontology and the New Asian Immigrant," Orientations: Mapping Studies in the Asian Diaspora, eds. Kandice Chuh and Karen Shimakawa. Durham: Duke University Press, 2001.

Rosaura Sánchez and Beatrice Pita, Conflicts of Interest: The Letters of María Amparo Ruiz de Burton. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2001.

Lisa Yoneyama, Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s), co-edited with T. Fujitani and Geoffrey M. White. Duke University Press, 2001.

Yingjin Zhang (articles are in Chinese) "Between Hong Kong and Shanghai: Nostalgia, Cinema, and Cultural Imaginaries," Chung-Wai Literary Monthly [a referred journal in Taipei], 29.10 (March 2001): 51-67.
"A Variety of Styles and Expressions: On the 2000 Taipei Film Awards," and "A Survey of Mainland Chinese Films, 1999-2000," A Map of Taiwan Film Culture in 2000, ed. Taipei Chinese Film Archive. Taipei: Yuanliu, 2001: 235-237, 253-262.

Award and Other Achievements

Rae Armantrout's poem "The Plan" was selected to appear in Best American Poetry of 2001 (ed. Robert Hass, New York: Scribner, August 2001: 32).

Anthony Edwards has been appointed Director of the UCSD Classical Studies Program, effective July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2004.

Susan Larsen was awarded a 2001 Chancellor's Summer Faculty Fellowship to support the final stage of work on her book manuscript Reading and Writing Girlhood in Late Imperial Russia.

Exams and Defenses 
The following graduate students successfully completed qualifying examinations or defenses: 

Spring 2001 

• Natalia Chan, Ph.D. Defense, "City on the Edge of Time: Hong Kong Culture and the 1997 Issue" 
• Yu-Fang Cho, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination 
• Clarissa Clo, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination 
• Abbie Cory, Ph.D. Defense, "'Gentle and Lovely Form, what didst thou here?': Women and Rebellion in English and Irish Literature: 1789-1848"
• Omayra Cruz, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination
• Jose de Pierola, MA Thesis Defense, "En voz propia: El conflicto entre oralidad y escritura en 'La guerra silenciosa' de Manuel Scorza" 
• Liberty Smith, Ph.D. Qualifying Examination 
• Katherine Voyles, MA Thesis Defense, "'Knots of the Navy:' Gender and Rank in Jane Austen's Persuasion" 

Summer 2001

• Hassan A. Dhouti, Ph.D. Defense, "Cubanismo: Race, Class, and Revolution"

Postdoctoral Fellows and Visiting Scholars

Nam Young Chung, Associate Professor of English Literature and Linguistics, Kyungwon University, Sungnam City, Korea; Visiting Scholar ( 9/01 through 8/02) under the sponsorship of Masao Miyoshi; conducting research on literary theory.

Hongxin Jiang, Professor of English, College of Foreign Languages, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, P.R. China; Visiting Scholar (1/01 - 1/02) under the sponsorship of Masao Miyoshi; studying teaching methods.

Jong-Seong Kim, Assistant Professor of Chinese Literature, Soongsil Univesity, Seoul, Korea; Visiting Scholar (3/01 through 2/02) under the sponsorship of Wai-lim Yip; conducting research on Chinese prose literature.

Tanja Kudrjavtseva, instructor of Russian and Comparative Literature, University of Tromsoe, Norway; Visiting Scholar (1/01 - 1/02) under the sponsorship of Rosemary George; working on a project titled "National Childhood Imagery: Aitmatov and Iskander."

James Kyung-Jin Lee, Ph.D.in English, UCLA; UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow (fellowship renewed for the 2001-02 academic year), under the continued mentorship of Rosaura Sánchez; conducting research focusing on brokered political identities among contemporary U.S. writers.

Aránzazu Usandizaga, Professor of English, University of Barcelona, Spain; Visiting Scholar (6//01 - 10/01) under the sponsorship of Jorge Mariscal; conducting research on American women writers of the Spanish Civil War.

Events

NEW WRITING SERIES, Fall Quarter Schedule 
All readings will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the Visual Arts Performing Space. 

• Tuesday, October 16, Jacques Darras 
• Thursday, October 25, Elizabeth Alexander 
• Wednesday, October 31, Bob Perelman 
• Thursday, November 8, Will Alexander 
• Wednesday, November 14, Bill Mohr/Paul Naylor 
• Tuesday, November 20, Ed Friedman

NICANOR TIONGSON Lecture and Seminar 
University of the Philippines (Diliman) professor Nicanor Tiongson will be speaking on "Laughter as Subversion: The Pusong (Trickster) in Philippine Theater," Thursday, October 18 at 2:00 p.m. in the deCerteau Room (155 Literature Building). Professor Tiongson has written extensively on a wide range of subjects in Filipino colonial and post-colonial cultural history, ranging from theater and the performing arts to film. He is currently a visiting professor in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. 
The Thursday lecture will be followed by a seminar the next afternoon (Friday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m. in the same venue), where Professor Tiongson will discuss various central themes in his current research on Filipino theater. Seminar readings will be available in Barbara Saxon's office, 3133 Literature Building, two weeks prior to the scheduled event.

DAVID ROMAN, Associate Professor, Department of English and the Program in American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California, will speak on "Latino Genealogies: Broadway and Beyond, the Case of John Leguizamo," Friday, November 16, 3:00 p.m., in the deCerteau Room, 155 Literature 

Conferences

2001 Modern Language Association Convention 
Scheduled this year in New Orleans, the 117th annual convention of the MLA will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 27, and end at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 30. It will take place at the Sheraton New Orleans (English sessions), New Orleans Marriott (foreign language sessions and exhibit hall), and Fairmont (job information center and child care). All MLA members and others involved in the study or teaching of language and literature must register in order to attend or participate in meetings, visit the exhibit hall, take part in the job service, or reserve hotel rooms at special MLA rates. Hotels are assigned on a first-come, first served basis, and preregistration fees and housing request forms must be received by December 1, via mail or the MLA Web site http://www.mla.org. For further information see the Web site, or Barbara Saxon or Ana Minvielle.

Competitions

Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prizes and Poet Laureate Contest 
The Department of Literature, UCSD, is accepting campus submissions for the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prizes and the Poet Laureate Contest. 
The Ina Coolbrith competition was established by friends of the late Ina Donna Coolbrith, California's first Poet Laureate. $500 is available annually for prizes, to be apportioned by the judges. Awards are made for the best unpublished poem or group of poems by an undergraduate student at the UC campuses, University of the Pacific, Mills College, Stanford University, the University of Santa Clara, or St. Mary's College. 
The Poet Laureate competition was established by the Ina Coolbrith Circle in memory of Ina Coolbrith. Four prizes ($100; $75; $50; $25) are awarded for the best poetry submissions from graduate or under-graduate students at any of the UC campuses.
Manuscripts must be typewritten or clearly printed, with the last four digits of the entrant's Social Security number and the name of the contest indicated at the top of each page (no other identifying information, please). A duplicate should be kept, as manuscripts cannot be returned. A cover sheet should be attached with the following information: name, local address, permanent address, telephone number, email address, last four digits of the Social Security number, contest name (Poet Laureate or Coolbrith), and title of entry (or the first four words). Students may enter both contests, but not with the same poems. 
A faculty judge from the Department of Literature will select three finalists for each contest from the UCSD submissions. These entries will be forwarded, via the Committee on Prizes at UC Berkeley, to a panel of judges who will select the winners. 
UCSD entries must be submitted to the Undergraduate Office, Room 110 Literature Building, by no later than Friday, December 14, 2001.

Research Grants (Academic Senate Committee on Research) Academic Senate members may apply for research support for the 2001-02 academic year. Grants generally do not exceed $7,000; funds may be awarded for supplies, field work, research and general assistance, travel for research purposes, and equipment. Limited funds are available to support the final preparation of manuscripts for submission to publishers. Priority is given to junior and new faculty with no extramural support, to Academic Senate members over non-Senate members, and to new projects that will lead to extramural support. Funds will not be provided for expenses incurred prior to the submission deadline date, and second applications in the same fiscal year will receive low priority. Faculty should turn in their completed application forms to Nancy Ho-Wu by no later than Thursday, October 18, 2001, so she may obtain the required Chair's signature in time to meet the 2:00 p.m., October 19 deadline for submission at the Academic Senate Office. Applications received after the committee's deadline will be returned. More information and application forms are available at http://www-senate.ucsd.edu/forms.htm or from Nancy Ho-Wu.

Travel to Scholarly Meetings (Academic Senate Committee on Research) 
Academic Senate members may apply for travel expenses to national and international conferences or symposia at which they will present papers on their research or organize and preside over one or more sessions. Because available funds are insufficient to cover all requests, other sources of funding, if any, must be utilized first. Only one trip per fiscal year for any Senate member will be awarded. Ceilings are $500 for Eastern/Atlantic, $350 for Central, and $250 for Mountain/Pacific time zones. Foreign travel will be supported at 75% of the lowest published fare or of the actual fare, whichever is lower. Awards may not exceed $1,000. When airfare is covered by other sources, lodging and conference fees may be reimbursed, with receipts, up to the limits above. A copy of the letter inviting or accepting the paper and a description of the nature of the meeting must accompany the request for funds. Completed applications should be submitted to Nancy Ho-Wu by no later than Thursday, October 18, 2001, so she can obtain the required chair's signature in time to meet the 2:00 p.m., October 19 deadline at the Academic Senate Office. Applications received after the committee's deadline will be reviewed in January 2002. Application forms are available at http://www-senate.ucsd.edu/cor.htm or from Nancy Ho-Wu.

Intercampus Exchange Program Grants (Academic Senate Committee on Research) 
Airfare is provided to Academic Senate members and registered graduate students for travel to other UC campuses for research study, and to faculty invited to UCSD from other UC campuses for the purpose of consultations which will benefit UCSD faculty. These funds may not be used for travel to attend conferences or present papers. Awards are made within departments for the lowest published airfare not to exceed $250, or mileage in lieu of airfare. No other expenses are allowable. See Nancy Ho-Wu for an application.

UC President's Research Fellowships in the Humanities, 2002-03 
Approximately 18 awards of up to $25,000 will be awarded through a universitywide competition. The fellowships may be used to supplement sabbatical leave or extramural funds to assist in providing a fully paid leave period. Active ladder-rank faculty, including lecturers who are members of the Academic Senate, doing research in the Humanities are eligible to apply; Assistant Professors are encouraged to apply. Applications must be received by October 12, 2001. Additional information and application materials are available at http://www.ucop.edu/research/prfh.html or by contacting President's Research Fellowships in the Humanities, UC Office of the President, 1111 Franklin Street, 11th Floor, Oakland CA 94607-5200; (510) 987-9472; or ann.gilbert@ucop.edu

University of California Humanities Research Institute Call for Program Proposals 

• 2003-04 Resident Research Groups. HRI is currently inviting proposals for research groups to be in residence at the institute in 2003-04. The Advisory Committee will select recipients at its Winter 2002 meeting. Proposals must be received by December 14, 2001. HRI will host a workshop for developing research group proposals on October 12, 2001. For further information call (949) 824-8180. 
• 2002-03 Conferences. HRI conference grants range from $5,000 to $15,000, but rarely exceed $10,000. Grants require at least 50% in matching funds from campus or other sources. The HRI Advisory Committee will award conference grants for 2002-03 at its Fall 2001 meeting. Proposals must be received by October 15, 2001. 
• 2002-03 Seminars. HRI seminar grants range from $3,000 to $5,000 and are awarded with the expectation of an additional 50% in matching funds. Proposals should address the benefits of hosting a one- or two-day event that assembles scholars from the UC system and other universities to discuss a particular research issue. The Advisory Committee will award seminar grants for 2002-03 at its Fall 2001 meeting. Proposals must be received by October 15, 2001. 

Further information is located on the HRI Web site at http://www.hri.uci.edu. You may also wish to discuss proposal ideas with Lisa Lowe, UCSD representative on the 2001-02 Advisory Committee.

Mellon Post-Dissertation Fellowship for 2002-03 at the American Antiquarian Society 
Scholars who are no more than three years beyond receipt of the doctorate are eligible to apply. The purpose of the fellowship is to provide the recipient with time and resources to extend research and/or to revise the dissertation for publication. The topic should be relevant to the Society's library collections and programmatic scope--American history and culture through 1876. The 12-month stipend for the fellowship is $35,000, and the deadline for applications is October 15, 2001. Additional information is available at http://www.americanantiquarian.org (508) 755-5221; or Mellon Post-Dissertation Fellowships, American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester MA 01609-1634.

Stanford Humanities Center Fellowships for 2002-03 

• External Faculty Fellowships offer research opportunities to members of humanities departments and to other scholars interested in humanistic issues. Eligible areas include history, philosophy, languages, literature, linguistics, archeology, history and criticism of the arts, ethics, comparative religion, and those aspects of the social sciences employing historical or philosophical approaches (social and cultural anthropology sociology, political theory, international relations, and other subjects concerned with questions of value). Awards are made across the spectrum of academic ranks and to independent scholars. The application deadline is October 15, 2001. 
• Rockefeller Fellowships in Black Performing Arts, offered in conjunction with the Stanford Committee on Black Performing Arts, fund research that examines the character and global influences of black arts and culture, with a specific focus on performance and black studies, or that places black performance in a comparative context. Awards are usually made to one senior and one junior scholar. The application deadline is November 1, 2001. 

For the above categories of awards, applicants must be three years beyond receipt of the Ph.D. (or MFA for the Rockefeller Fellowships) at the time the award begins. Stipends of up to $40,000 are offered to senior scholars and up to $25,000 to junior scholars, with an additional housing/moving allowance of up to $12,500. Additional information is available at http://shc.stanford.edu or from the Fellowship Program, Stanford Humanities Center, Mariposa House, Stanford CA 94305.

The UCSD Civic Collaborative 
The UCSD Civic Collaborative, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, is pleased to announce its fourth annual initiative to connect UCSD faculty to community issues and civic life in the San Diego/ Tijuana region by offering financial support for small grants in teaching and research. The application deadline is October 26, 2001, and funding decisions will be announced on November 19, 2001. Please contact Abraham Shragge at (858) 822-3124 for more information.

Visiting Fellows Program, Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Vanderbilt University
In 2002-03, this year-long interdisciplinary faculty fellows program will focus on the theme "Gender, Sexuality, and Cultural Politics," under the co-directorship of Associate Professors Carolyn Dever (Department of English) and John Sloop (Communications Studies). The center invites applications from scholars in all disciplines. Fellows are provided with offices at the center and a stipend of up to $35,000. Completed applications must be postmarked by January 15, 2002. For more information write to Executive Director, Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Box 1534, Station B, Nashville, TN 37235.

This year's annual Open Enrollment period for health and welfare plan changes begins November 1 and concludes November 30, 2001. A Benefits health and welfare informational event is scheduled for Tuesday, November 20, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. , in Price Center Ballroom B. Plan representatives will be available to answer questions. More information about Open Enrollment will soon be available at http://www.ucop.edu/bencom