October 2024
Dr Steffen Rimner (School of History) joined JaSt in September 2024 and gave a talk at the Chester Beatty on the 2nd of October.
Dr Steffen Rimner is Assistant Professor in the History of International Affairs at University College Dublin (UCD) and took over the Directorship of the UCD Centre for Asia-Pacific Research in June 2024 from Dr Alex Dukalskis (UCD School of Politics and International Relations). Dr Rimner received his PhD from Harvard University and has held affiliations, amongst others, at Yale University, Columbia University and the University of Oxford.
He is actively engaged in academic cooperation with Japan where he held research positions at the Waseda University (Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies) and the University of Tokyo (Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (Tobunken) & Tokyo College). He is the author of Opium’s Long Shadow (Harvard University Press) and of a forthcoming book on Asian international history, also under contract with Harvard University Press.
On the 2nd of October, Dr Rimner gave a fascinating talk on Patrick Lafcadio Hearn at the Chester Beatty. The event was organised to mark Dublin Festival of History.
Here is a synopsis of his talk (from the Chester Beatty website).
On the 120th anniversary of his death on 26 September 1904, Lafcadio Hearn enjoys great acclaim as one of the literary geniuses who brought the folklore and fantasy of Japanese culture closer to Western hearts and minds. Yet barely concealed behind the novelist lived Hearn the teacher. As a translator between Japan and the West, he saw learning as the source of intercultural understanding. As a mediator between cultures, Hearn advocated a fundamentally cosmopolitan outlook on Japan, urging close observation of those different than ourselves. Caring deeply about cultural and social tensions, Hearn sought ways to navigate them with respect and humanity.
This lecture delves into Hearn’s translation of Japan’s cultural and civilizational character through his published writings and lesser-known private correspondence. Behind the halo of Hearn the hero emerges a person dedicated to authentic understanding across cultures, ambitious in his rejection of bigotry and sensitive to Japanese life, culture and ethics despite their contrast to the West. What Hearn the teacher wrote was a far cry from the dry and dogmatic academic behind the lectern. Instead, he plumbed the depths of Japanese life and civilization to search for an ethics beyond cultural boundaries. In myriad ways, Hearn’s life and letters resonate again today, refreshing his own legacy and the world beyond.
--- from the Chester Beatty website: (opens in a new window)https://chesterbeatty.ie/