I am a theorist of literature, with a research focus in the literary traditions of premodern Japan. I turn to ancient and medieval Japanese poetry with questions such as “what is poetry?” and “how does poetry reflect the workings of the human mind?” I teach courses on Japanese literature and culture, as well as the Japanese language.

• JAPN 101

My research focuses on modern Japanese history, with particular emphases on sports, disability, militarization, and urban development. At K, I teach courses on the entire scope of premodern, modern, and contemporary East Asian history with particular focus on China, Japan, and Korea. I also teach First-Year and Sophomore Seminars in the College’s Shared Passages Program, as well as Senior Seminars for the History Department and the East Asian Studies Program.

• SEMN 154 – First-Year Seminar: Who Are the Samurai?
• ANSO/HIST 288 – Faster, Higher, Stronger: Sports in East Asia
• HIST 103 – Introduction to East Asian Civilizations: China, Japan, and Korea
• HIST 280 – Modern China: A People’s History
• HIST 282 – Early China
• HIST 283 – Occupiers and Occupied in Post-World War II East Asia
• HIST 285 – Modern Japan: A People’s History
• HIST/SEMN 287 – Sophomore Seminar: What If: Alternate Pasts
• HIST 397 – Seminar: The Korean War
• HIST 490 – Senior Seminar: Historical Methods
• EAST 490 – Senior Seminar: East Asia In and Beyond the Media

My research concerns popular media cultures and constructions of subjectivity in contemporary Japan.  In particular, I look at how science fiction media has been produced, received, and discussed from the 1960s onward in Japan, and what sorts of political, racial, gendered, and national identities are implicitly enunciated through it.  I teach courses on Japanese popular culture, modern and contemporary literature, and Japanese language at K.

Leihua Weng is assistant professor of Chinese. She taught at Sarah Lawrence College and Pacific Lutheran University before coming to K College. She obtained her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina, M.A. at Peking University, and B.A. at Zhejiang University. She is interested in traditions, including the (trans)formations and transmission of traditions, as well as their modern receptions in China and in the West. Her articles have appeared in a number of journals. She is currently conducting several research projects on commentaries in early China, and on nationalism in modern Chinese literature. She is working on a book project on the reception of Plato in China.

Ruyuan Yang specializes in teaching Chinese as a second language. Her research interests are the model of Chinese language teaching, and language skills teaching, including listening, speaking, reading and writing. She has more than ten years of university classroom experiences for different levels of Chinese curriculums at Western Michigan University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Kalamazoo College. She is an effective instructor and good at stimulating students’ interest in learning Chinese and culture by using active learning approaches.

• Chinese 201
• Chinese 202
• Chinese 203
• Chinese 301