Recent Publications in Asian Studies

Joseph Murphy

Richard Foltz

Richard Foltz

Andrea Hoa Pham

Richard Foltz

METAPHORICAL CIRCUIT: Negotiations Between Literature and Science in 20th Century Japan

Joseph A. Murphy (AALL)
Website

The Metaphorical Circuit argues that the division of knowledge between literature and science in the modern university produced a necessity to choose that became a central, animating tension for Japanese intellectuals in the early 20th century. Each chapter begins with a point in an author's work where mathematical representation becomes an issue in negotiating the boundary, and follows the analysis to a wall, or a point of indeterminacy, that leaves the author again with a heterogeneous field. The book offers substantial, original readings of a series of major figures such as Natsume Sôseki, Mori Ogai, and Edogawa Ranpo, the physicist Terada Torahiko, and the critics Maeda Ai and Karatani Kôjin as they write about this period. It follows its subject in introducing the styles of reasoning and inquiry of the sciences into the field of culture, where it can offend.

"Located at the boundary between literary studies and the history of science, this book offers an important new perspective on the recent ‘science wars’ and the ‘two cultures’ debate. Training in both mechanical engineering and Japanese literature helps Murphy to argue effectively for moving beyond the cultural limitations of Anglo-American humanism, restoring mathematics to its proper place in the non-science curriculum, and taking epistemological issues seriously. [This] is a brilliant, path-breaking work meriting attention from a wide range of readers."

—Prof. James R. Bartholomew, The Ohio State University, author of The Formation of Science in Japan: Building a Research Tradition

"It is a matter of common wisdom in our technological world that the humanities and the sciences must find ways to speak well to each other, and a matter of common concern that they rarely do. In Metaphorical Circuit, Joseph Murphy honors both literature and science by taking each seriously, as shown through his fluency in both languages. That creates an atmosphere in which progress can be made. Beyond this essential starting point, Murphy provides a path to deeper understanding as he examines a national culture where science and literature had reasons to engage each differently than they do in the United States. That milieu is the Japan of the early 20th century."

—from the Foreword by Sidney Perkowitz, Candler Professor of Physics, Emory University, author of Foam and Empire of Light

Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions

Richard Foltz (Religion)
Oneworld Publishing

Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions offers a history of world religions from the perspective of their interactions with Iranian civilization over the course of four thousand years. Iran is seen, along with the Near East and South Asia, to be one of the world's major "cradles of religions," having given rise to Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and the Baha'i faith, and played a pivotal role in transforming and transmitting Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. This is the first book to discuss Iran's contribution to the history of religions in such broad perspective. -- from the book jacket

“Is Vegetarianism Un-Islamic?”

in Steven Sapontzis, ed., Food for Thought: The Debate over Eating Meat
Richard Foltz (Religion)
Prometheus Books, 2004

Vietnamese Tone: A New Analysis

Andrea Hoa Pham, African and Asian Languages and Literatures
Routledge

The Vietnamese language heavily relies on the speaker--a different tone of voice may produce different word meanings. A long-standing myth, however, is that pitch determines the tone of the language. Professor Andrea Hoa Pham seeks to disbar this falsehood in her new book Vietnamese Tone: A New Analysis.

This reader-friendly version of Pham's 2001 doctoral dissertation presents her research, which studies breathiness and creakiness as the basis for tone in Vietnamese. Pham says altering breathiness and creakiness in tone changes the settings, which ultimately changes the meaning. For her research, Pham spent time in her native Vietnam and specifically studied the country's northern dialect.

Andrea Hoa Pham

Pham came to UF in 2002, and she teaches Vietnamese language courses. Recognizing the different levels of proficiency based on culture, Pham created a heritage and non-heritage course. She says the different classes allow non-Vietnamese students to learn a new language they have probably never been exposed to while giving Vietnamese students a further exploration of their own culture. Currently, Pham teaches Vietnamese I and II and hopes to develop a literature course.

"While I do not teach my research in class, as a language teacher, I am able to test my hypothesis on my students," Pham says. "Students have different reasons for wanting to take the course; dating in the Vietnamese culture, spreading the culture, or simply learning the language. So it is now or never to maintain high enrollment in both the non-native and heritage classes to ensure future development of the program."

--Kimberly A. Lopez

World Views, Religion, and the Environment: A Global Anthology

Richard Foltz (Religion)
Thomson / Wadsworth

--Preface

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