On May 5th and 6th, 2007, the Donald Keene Center at Columbia University will host a two-day symposium on the theme of OBJECTS AND IMAGES: EXPLORING VISUAL AND MATERIAL CULTURE IN JAPAN. The symposium honors the work of Henry DeWitt Smith II, professor of Japanese history at Columbia and currently director of the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies. Each of 19 presenters was asked to select a single object or image and analyze it in detail, physically, historically, and symbolically, to suggest what it offers for new directions in the study of visual and material culture in Japan. One of the central themes of the symposium lies in the relationship between the visual and the material, since no image or object can exist without both. The presenters will have read one another’s papers in advance, but at the symposium will offer brief introductions of their chosen objects and images. Comments and general discussion will take up the second half of each panel.

For a detailed schedule of events and a list of panelists and papers, click here.

Pre-registration is not required.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

See photos of the event