The Isabella Cannon Centre for International Studies’ Country of the Month program will highlight different nations from around the world during the academic year. Beginning with Japan in September, information on the featured country will be available at selected College Coffees, in printed brochures and on E-Net.
Five or six everyday phrases from the country’s language will be incorporated into campus life, says Larry Basirico, interim dean of international programs, and classroom discussions in appropriate classes will focus on the country, its people, politics, religion and culture. Basirico says the goal of the program is to broaden the knowledge and understanding about other countries on the Elon campus.
“A simple thing, such as greeting a class or a passer-by on campus in a different language, can help us feel more comfortable about other cultures,” says Basirico. “It will also help our growing numbers of international students on campus feel more comfortable in their new surroundings.”
Basirico says the program could expand over time, eventually including discussions or presentations of faculty research related to the country, a monthly film series, academic symposia and cultural events.
The Country of the Month for September is Japan:
Familiar Phrases and their English meaning
Kon’nichiwa–Hello
Sayoonara–Good-bye
Genki desuka–How are you?
Genki desu, Arigatoo–Fine, thank you
Arigatoo–Thank you
Hai–Yes
Iie–No
Several Elon faculty members have Japanese expertise and experiences:
- Andrew Angyal, Professor of English, is currently working on a chapter about Thomas Berry’s study of Asian religions in his biography about Berry.
- Brad Hamm, Associate Dean of the School of Communications, has lived and taught in Japan.
- Barbara Gordon, Associate Professor of English, teaches a course on “Zen and Writing.” An outgrowth of that course is “Iron Tree Blooming” (www.elon.edu/org/irontree), an Zen Meditation society created by students in 1999.
- Tom Mould, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, is conducting research on N. C. potters that draw heavily on Japanese folk pottery traditions in their work.
- Kirsten Ringelberg, Assistant Professor of Art History, conducts research about the contemporary artist Yasumasa Morimura. Her wider focus is on how Asian contemporary art deals with East-West relations. In 2004, Kirsten presented “Reframing the Shot: Yasuma Morimura’s Slaughter Cabinet II and Eddie Adams’ General Loan Excecuting Nguyen Van Lem” at the College Art Association Conference in Seattle.
- Alan Russell, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, teaches an origami class. (“ori” – to fold; “kami” – paper) Alan’s class has sent origami cranes to peace monuments constructed in memory of Sadako Sasaki, an 11-year old girl who died of leukemia as a result of the Hiroshima bomb.
- Glen Scott, Instructor of Communications,worked as a journalist in Japan for Pacific Stars and Stripes and the Nihon Keizel Shimbun. He presented “Who Broke Up These Two Families?: International Coverage of a Japanese Abductee and Her American Husband” at the annual International Communication Association Conference. Glenn’s wife is a native of Japan.
- Meiko Shimura, Instructor of Japanese, teaches Elementary and Intermediate Japanese. Meiko is a skilled calligrapher. She has been an announcer for Chubu Nippon Broadcasting in Nagoya, Japan and a freelance announcer for Showa Productions in Osaka.
- John Sullivan, Professor of Philosophy, Maude Sharpe Powell Professor, and Distinguished University Professor, teaches a course on “Zen and the Culture of Japan.”
- Hiromi Sumiyoshi, International Student and Scholar Advisor in ICCIS, is a native of Japan and teaches the Culture of Japan at Elon.