Lectures: In an Alien Land & Voices Rising

Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, Department of East Asian Studies,
& Chinese Language & Global Asia Studies at UTSC jointly present:

1. In an Alien Land: Fictional Works by Three Chinese-Canadian Women Writers of Different Generations

A lecture by Dr. Xueqing Xu (徐學清)

2. Voices Rising: Asian Canadian Cultural Activism

A lecture by Dr. Xiaoping Li (李小平)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010, at 2:30pm

Current Periodical Area, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library

Date & time: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 starting at 2:30pm, light refreshments will be provided.

Location: Current Periodical Area, Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library (On the 8^th floor of the Robarts Library at 130 St. George Street, Toronto)

Registration: Seats are limited and registration is required. To register, contact Lucy Gan by email (lucy.gan@utoronto.ca) or by phone 416-978-1025

Flyer: Downloadable

Language: All talks are in English

Biographies & Topics of the Speakers

1. In an Alien Land: Fictional Works by Three Chinese-Canadian Women Writers of Different Generations, by Dr. Xueqing Xu

Dr. Xueqing Xu will present on a comparative study of three fictional works by three Chinese-Canadian women, Edith Maud Eaton’s (1865-1914) The Wisdom of the New, which was written at the beginning of the last century, Sky Lee’s Disappearing Moon Café, published in 1990 and nominated for the Governor General's Award, and Zhang Ling’s Aftershock in 2007 that was ranked among the top ten novellas of the year.

Dr. Xueqing Xu (徐學清) holds a B.A. and M.A. in Chinese literature from Fudan University in Shanghai, and a Ph.D in Chinese literature from the University of Toronto (2000). She now is an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics at York University with her research interest in Chinese-Canadian literature and Chinese women fiction. Among her publications are a Life of Confucius (1990) and 10 articles on Chinese-Canadian literature during the past few years.

2. Voices Rising: Asian Canadian Cultural Activism, by Dr. Xiaoping Li

Since the early 1970s a unique landscape and mindscape that can be named as Asian Canadian cultural activism has been created by Asian Canadians who have attempted to affect the world through their cultural practices. The living embodiment of Asian Canadian cultural activism is a community consisting of scholars, university students, self-made or professionally trained artists, and community activists. Many of them consciously undertake a role similar to what Gramsci ascribed to “organic intellectuals”: they are grounded in the grassroots communities where they originally come from, they organize activities to undermine existing unjust social relations and power structures, and they are engaged in the production of new consciousness. Over the decades, they have addressed a broad range of issues concerning not simply racialized communities but also Canadian society at large, contributing to both their own community’s well-being and the democratic changes in Canadian society.

Dr. Xiaoping Li (李小平) received her Ph.D. in Sociology from York University. She currently teaches in the Department of Sociology and Women’s Studies at Okanagan College, British Columbia. Her main research interests include culture and globalization, cultural and community activism, immigration and multiculturalism, “race” and ethnicity, media and society. Her book, Voices Rising: Asian Canadian Cultural Activism, published by UBC Press in 2007, presents in-depth analysis of Asian Canadian artistic and cultural life.