Presented by IHC East Asian Studies Research Focus Group
Friday, 17 January / 3_5 P.M. / Free
1174 Humanities and Social Sciences Building

In this illustrated talk, Andrew Goble will discuss two works in the genre of scroll paintings or emakimono. The total of around 55 scenes focus on an "unusual" topic, infirmity ("ja" or "yamai") is also translated as illness, affliction. These paintings draw attention to a number of issues including physical and psychological infirmity; the treatment of the infirm; and their marginalization and sense of humor. The prominence of genitals in many scenes _ including the depiction of tumescence and masturbation _- has provoked much comment and will be addressed in the talk as well.

Andrew Goble is a professor of history and the head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon. He earned his B.A. (1975) and M.A. (1981) from the University of Queensland (Australia) and his Ph.D. from Stanford University (1987). Goble also studied at Kyoto University and at the Historiographical Institute of Tokyo University. He has been awarded a Post-doctoral Fellowship at the Reischauer Institute at Harvard. Goble is the author of the monograph, Kenmu: Go-Daigo’s Revolution (Harvard, 1996) and has published extensively on medical history and issues of medicine and society in pre-1600 Japan.

This event is cosponsored by UCSB East Asia Center, Department of History, IHC East Asian Studies Research Focus Group, and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

Top of Page

<<Back