TALK: Reconsidering Orientalism Using Historical
Maps:
A Digital Perspective
Yuki Ishimatsu (UC Berkeley)
Wednesday, November 29 / 4:00 PM
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
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Flyer
Yuki Ishimatsu, Head Librarian of the Japanese Collection
at the East Asian Library UC Berkeley, took the initiative
to digitalize their Japanese collection of maps and
arts, the largest in the world outside of Japan. The
project has made the collection available on line at
www.davidrumsey.com/japan/index.html.
In the three days following the publication of a 2003
New York Times article on the project, the Japanese
Historical Maps site received over forty thousand hits.
Viewing the maps via the Internet not only means access
and searchability, but also allows rotation of the images,
an important feature since early Japanese maps were
made to be read from all four sides. Mr. Ishimatsu’s
multimedia presentation will focus on using maps as
historical sources for interpreting global relations
with Japan. He will also touch on the images as artistic
artifacts, as cultural records of spatiality and issues
behind the technology supporting the database.
Sponsored by the departments of East Asian Languages
and Cultural Studies, the History of Art and Architecture,
Media Arts and Technology, and Global Studies as well
as the East Asia Center and the Interdisciplinary Humanities
Center.
