College of Liberal Arts
Public lecture by Dr. Erin L. Brightwell
Why are Japan’s relations with its neighbors so complicated today? How did these conflicts take shape? Japan’s role in East Asia—from disputed territories to the legacy of wartime memory—remains a sensitive and deeply contested subject. But these tensions did not emerge overnight. They are rooted in a long and complex history that stretches back to a time before “Japan” existed as a unified nation.
In this lecture, Dr. Erin Brightwell explores how Japan has represented and reimagined China across centuries, tracing how these early cultural and intellectual exchanges continue to shape political realities and regional tensions today.
Free & open to the public. This event is presented by the UAF Department of History, the Japanese Studies Program, the UAF Asian Studies Program, and generously supported by the Northeast Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies. For questions, please contact Viktor Shmagin at vshmagin@alaska.edu.
Dr. Brightwell is an Associate Professor of Pre-modern Japanese Literature at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on how language, literature, and historical writing shape identity, authority, and cultural exchange across East Asia. Drawing on expertise in both Japanese and Chinese traditions, her work examines how texts travel across borders and how societies use them to construct meaning, especially in moments of political and social transformation.
