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University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
November 17, 2000 |
Contact: Professor Joseph Tobin, Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies
University of Hawai'i at Manoa 956-4406, tobin@hawaii.edu
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UH conference delves into Pokemon phenomenon Nov. 20-21 |
Global Adventure" will examine the causes and consequences of the growing Pokemon franchise, one of Japan's most popular exports. With the assistance of a UH Japan Endowment grant, Professor Joseph Tobin of the UH Manoa College of Education and the Center for Japanese Studies has organized a team of Japan specialists, media scholars, educators and toy and game theorists from around the world. Experts from Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Israel, France, and England will gather on the Manoa campus for the Nov. 20-21 conference.
Pokemon, or Pocket Monster, began as a Nintendo Gameboy game and has expanded into a profitable franchise that includes a card game, a television show, movies and a series of collectibles such as stickers and small toys. Pokemon sales are huge not just in Japan, but around the world.
The conference will address issues such as:
o Japan's growing role as a creator and exporter of globally circulating cultural products
o The global circulation of children's popular culture
o Children as victims or agents of Pokemon's success?
o Pokemon in schools?
o Gender and cultural dimensions of cuteness
o Otakus and the role of knowledge-fanatics in the circulation of popular culture
o Pokemon and the new technologies
Here is the schedule of events:
Monday, Nov. 20 Burns Hall
9 a.m.-10:45 a.m. "Translating Pokemon Across Platforms, Languages, and Cultures"
- Joseph Tobin (Hawai'i): Introduction
- Jeff Maret/Hirofumi Katsuno (Hawaii): A Comparison of the Japanese and
English Versions of the television show
11 a.m.-noon "Pokemon and Children's Play in France"
- Gilles Brougere and Juliet Gibert (Paris)
1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. "Pokemon Goes Global"
- Dafna Lemish (Tel Aviv): The Pokemon in the Holy Land: How Children's Culture Travels
- Cassandra Weddell (Brisbane): Pokemon in Australian Aboriginal Communities
3:45 p.m.-5:45 p.m. "Children's Pokemon Culture"
- Julian -Green (London): Initiation Rites: A Small Boy in a Poke-World
- David Buckingham (London): Structure, Agency, and Pedagogy in Children's Media Culture
6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. UH Manoa Art Auditorium
- International speakers will discuss various aspects of Pokemon's popularity, and excerpts of Pokemon videos from different countries will be shown at this event.
Tuesday, Nov. 21 Burns Hall
9 a.m.-11:30 a.m. "Pokemon Goes to School"
- Rebekah Willett (London): Pokemon as Common Cultural Currency in an International School
-Helen Bromley (London): Joe Knows Everything: Information Culture and Narrative Play in a Reception Class.
- Sam Tobin (Baltimore): Too Late, Too Old, and Too Uncool: A Boy and His
Love of Pokemon
12:30 p.m.-2:15 p.m. "The Cultural Circulation of Cuteness: A Study of Pokemon in Japan, Hong Kong and the U.S."
-Anne Allison (Chapel Hill), Anthony Fung (Hong Kong), Christine Yano (Hawai'i)
2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. "Reflections on the Rise and Fall of Pokemon"
This conference is sponsored by the UH Japan Studies Endowment (funded
by a grant from the Japanese government), the UH Globalization Research
Center, the Anthropology Department, the International Cultural Studies
Certificate Program of UH and the East-West Center.
