Pre-Conference Workshops

Conference attendees are invited to participate in the following specially-arranged sessions on Friday, March 28. Registration information to come.

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Voices and Stories: Community-based Digital Storytelling (8 am – 5 pm; lunch provided) 

This hands-on experiential workshop will introduce participants to various aspects of oral history techniques. Elements of the workshop will include: interview questions and techniques for long-term relationship building; facilitating a relationship of trust and mutual benefit with a community partner; the ethics of working with AAPI community partners; dealing with traumatic memories and emotions; and how to both sensitively and productively incorporate digital technologies (such as video, audio, digital archives, etc.) to preserve and share the knowledge, stories, objects, and memories generated through the AAPI Voices and Stories projects. Participants will receive a certificate to acknowledge their training.  

Workshop leaders: 

  • Sophia Geng, Saint Vincent College
  • Gordon Gray, Berea College

Meet the ASIANetwork Book Series Editors: A Pre-Conference Workshop (2 pm – 5 pm) 

Come learn about the process to publish in the ASIANetwork Books series with Lever Press/University of Michigan Publishing.

Workshop leaders: 

Teaching Asia through Role-Playing Games: A Hands-on Workshop (1 pm – 5 pm)

This workshop offers a hands-on introduction to the Reacting to the Past (RTTP) pedagogy. Faculty and students from all disciplines, especially those in history and Asian studies who are interested in this active learning pedagogy, are encouraged to register, regardless of their prior experience. The workshop comprises three sections. First, participants will play in a short RTTP game set in the Three Kingdoms period: “At Emperor Ling’s Deathbed—the Fourth Month of 189.” Highlighting the process of selecting a ruler, the game features the contention between two empress dowagers, each urging the dying emperor to name her prince protégé as his successor. Participants will receive role sheets with their assignments before the workshop; players are encouraged, but not required, to research their characters. After a brief introduction, players will collaborate, strategize, scheme, and strive to win the game. Second, a debriefing session will unpack the pedagogical underpinnings of RTTP, using specific game moments as reference points. Players learn what actually happened in history (versus what just happened in the game), why certain characters behaved the way they did, and what major cultural issues fueled the conflicts. Finally, a panel discussion with Q&A will introduce the published and developing RTTP games focused on Asia and share other RTTP Consortium resources that help people adapt
games to various courses and curricula. Game authors will share their work, inviting an exchange of ideas and questions from the audience.

Prospective courses: Chinese History, Chinese Culture, Asian History, Asian Culture, World History, World Civilization

Workshop leaders:

  • Yidi Wu (Elon University)
  • Sherry J. Mou (DePauw University)