Assistant Professor of Japanese Language and Literature Kyoko Omori and 16 Hamilton students attended an international symposium on Hiroshima/Nagasaki at Tufts University April 22-24. The group consisted of 15 students from her "Japanese/Comparative Literature 239: War and Modernity in Japanese Literature," and Aletha Asay, a Senior Fellow. She is completing her senior thesis on a group of literary works called "atomic bomb literature," which emerged from ordinary people's experience in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
The conference, Hiroshima/Nagasaki 2005: Memories and Visions, discussed how what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is remembered and represented. Omori was also involved in the students' conference at the end of the symposium. Students from institutions including Hamilton presented posters and exchanged ideas and Asay gave a report on her thesis.
Among questions asked at the conference were: What is the relevance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What is the relationship of then to now? How does the artist, the preacher, the general, the politician, the professor, the grade-school teacher use the event? And to what end? Some among us might want to keep remembering, but how, precisely, does one go about teaching others about what happened? Whose job should this be? And what would the lesson tell?
The conference, Hiroshima/Nagasaki 2005: Memories and Visions, discussed how what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is remembered and represented. Omori was also involved in the students' conference at the end of the symposium. Students from institutions including Hamilton presented posters and exchanged ideas and Asay gave a report on her thesis.
Among questions asked at the conference were: What is the relevance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? What is the relationship of then to now? How does the artist, the preacher, the general, the politician, the professor, the grade-school teacher use the event? And to what end? Some among us might want to keep remembering, but how, precisely, does one go about teaching others about what happened? Whose job should this be? And what would the lesson tell?
