Each year, the East Asian Studies Fellows Program is bringing to Wittenberg two promising East Asian Studies graduate students (ABD or new Ph.D.) for one-year appointments as Teaching Fellows. Each Fellow, under the guidance of a designated faculty mentor(s), teaches one course each semester, contributes to EAS program activities, and participates in the institutional life of the college. Mentors assist the Fellow's course preparation and teaching (e.g., helping select materials and pedagogical techniques appropriate for undergraduates), observing them in the classroom, and serving as role models and sources of support and guidance. Fellowships are open as to discipline (although preference is given to disciplines at Wittenberg that currently lack an Asian presence). Fellows are hired competitively, with salary and benefits commensurate with regular, entry-level, junior faculty. Participants in this program are selected in part for their interest in undergraduate education.

Our 2004-2005 East Asian Teaching Fellows are Shion Kono, and Heather Willoughby.

Shino Kono

Dr. Shion Kono received his A.B. in Physics and Religion at Bowdoin College, and he has completed his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Princeton University.   He specializes in modern Japanese literature and twentieth-century British literature.   His dissertation, entitled “Reactions to the ‘Cult of Facts’ in Mori Ôgai and Virginia Woolf,” is a comparative study of how these writers reacted to the professionalization of history in the early twentieth century.   He is currently working on a project that re-examines the legacy of Mori Ôgai in the broader intellectual contexts surrounding literary and historical texts.   At Wittenberg, he is teaching courses on literary representations of “the West” in modern Japan and on Natsume Sôseki and Mori Ôgai.

Heather Willoughby

Heather Willoughby received her Ph.D. from Columbia University's Ethnomusicology program. Her dissertation, entitled "The Sound of Han:  P'ansori, Timbre, and a South Korean Discourse of Sorrow and Lament," considers the intersections between physical sounds and sentiments.   In addition to her interests in East Asian music and cultures, she enjoys reading, outdoor sports, and American folk music, including writing and singing her own tunes.  Heather will be teaching,"Songs of the Nation:   Musical Theater Arts in East Asia" spring semester.  As the title suggests, the course will cover musical theater traditions of East Asia, including   China (Cantonese Opera); Korea (P'ansori); and Japan (Kabuki).   Specifically I intend to focus not only on the sound production and acting differences, but what can be learned about nationalism and identity through the various forms of narrative/theatrical arts.

Questions? Contact Jim Huffman, Chair of the FAC, (937) 327-7845

SusanWelker, Freeman Project Administrator, (937) 327- 6378