Karen Tei Yamashita is the author of seven books, including I Hotel, finalist for the National Book Award, and most recently, Sansei and Sensibility. Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation, the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature and a U.S. Artists’ Ford Foundation Fellowship, she is professor emerita of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
During her stay at UC Berkeley as the Asian American Research Center artist-in-residence from March 13-17, 2023, she will visit several classes and participate in four public events (details below).
Series Sponsors: Asian American Research Center, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program, Department of English, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee, Othering & Belonging Institute.
(Additional event co-sponsors listed below.)
Karen Tei Yamashita will sign books at each event, and her books will be for sale, courtesy of Eastwind Books.
Speculative Fiction: Asian Latinx Intersections
Tuesday, March 14, 2-3.30pm, with reception to follow (including book sales/signing)
Hybrid!
In-person location: Latinx Research Center, 2547 Channing Way
Event sponsors: Asian American Research Center, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program, Center for Japanese Studies, Department of English, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee, Latinx Research Center, Othering & Belonging Institute.
Embodied Memories: Japanese Americans Across Generations
Wednesday, March 15
5-6pm: Reception and informal conversation (in-person only), includes book sales/signing
6-7:30: Program (Hybrid)
In-person Location: Latinx Research Center, 2547 Channing Way, Berkeley CA
Books will be available for sale and signing during the reception.
Event sponsors: Asian American Research Center, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program, Center for Japanese Studies, Department of English, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee, Othering & Belonging Institute.
I Hotel: Feminist Perspectives on a Social Movement
Thursday, March 16
5-6pm: Reception and informal conversation (in-person only), includes book sales/signing.
6-7:30: Program (Hybrid)
Come hear from activists involved in the fight to save the International Hotel, home to elderly Filipino American and Chinese American residents until their eviction in 1977 by 400 police officers in riot gear. The I Hotel was part of a once-thriving “Manilatown,” which was destroyed to make room for the Financial District. The nine-year anti-eviction campaign brought together community organizations, residents, and students from UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University. While the campaign was unsuccessful, it created community solidarity and led to new forms of organizing. In 2005, with the support of the International Hotel Block Development Citizens Advisory Committee, the new International Hotel was opened to provide housing to low-income seniors. Karen Tei Yamashita’s book I Hotel, a multivoiced fusion of prose, playwriting, graphic art, and philosophy, tells the story of the fight for the International Hotel and the struggle for civil rights.
Sponsors: Asian American Research Center, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program, Department of English, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee, Multicultural Community Center (as part of the Week of Cultural Resistance), Othering & Belonging Institute.
Cartographies of the Anthrobscene
Friday, March 17
12-1:30 PM, with reception to follow (includes book sales/signing).
In-person only.
Part 1: Manifesto Anthrobscene, a collaboration with artist Ronaldo Lopes de Oliveira.
Part 2: Trekking to Delta, a collaboration with filmmaker Tim Yamamura.
Sponsors: Asian American Research Center, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Program, Center for Japanese Studies, Department of English, Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee, Othering & Belonging Institute.
