GSFS Quick Bites: Ye Yuan

Guest Speaker Ye Yuan Assistant Professor of Japanese

As a scholar of cultural studies, I specialize in Japanese literature and Sinitic culture in premodern East Asia, with a focus on early modern Japan. My current book project,

"Literature of Multiplicity: China-Sinitic Dynamics in Early Modern Japan," examines how the Japanese encounter with contemporary China in the early modern era complicated the Japanese conceptualization and practice of Sinitic culture, which had been an essential part of Japanese culture for long. It emphasizes the intricate intertwinement of the well-known binaries regarding this period: Sinitic/China, high/low, visual/textual, and original/derivative. The research for this book project is deeply grounded in archival research in Asia, supported by the Japan Foundation, Shincho Fellowship, and Osaka University Research Fellowship.