Thematic Programs

Geologic Stabilization and Human Adaptations in Northeast Asia

Information

Date

June 1, 2018 – June 4, 2018

Venue

Komyoji Temple [Access]

TOKYO ELECTRON House of Creativity 3F, Lecture Theater, Katahira Campus, Tohoku University [Access]

Speakers

Yuri Berezkin (European University at Saint Petersburg)
David T. Bialock (University of Southern California)
Václav Blažek (Masaryk University)
Aleksandar Bošković (Institute of Social Sciences & University of Belgrade)
Emilia Chalandon (Kwansei Gakuin University)
Signe Cohen (University of Missouri)
Martín Cuitzeo Domínguez Nuñez (Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS))
Eijirō Dōyama (Osaka University)
Steve Farmer (Palo Alto)
Lisa Fujiwara (University of Tokyo)
Joseph Harris (Harvard University)
Hasmik Hmayakyan (Institute of Oriental Studies)
Joanna Jurewicz (University of Warsaw)
Bong-Youl Kim (Dongguk University)
Takeshi Kimura (University of Tsukuba)
Sachie Kiyokawa (Kobe University)
Mare Kõiva (Estonian Literary Museum, Folklore Department)
Štěpán Kuchlei (Masaryk University)
Marcin Lisiecki (Nicolaus Copernicus University)
Seán Martin (Edinburgh Napier University)
Attila Mátéffy (University of Bonn)
Kazuo Matsumura (Wako University)
Louise Milne (University of Edinburgh & Edinburgh Napier University)
Koko Nango (Kobe University)
Boris Oguibénine (University of Strasbourg)
Sunil Parab (Joseph Campbell Foundation & Shivalik Institute of Ayurveda and Research & Sindhu Veda Research Institute)
Michal Schwarz (Masaryk University)
Irina Sedakova (Institute of Slavic Studies)
Khatuna Tavdgiridze (Georgian American University)
Keiko Tazawa (Ancient Orient Museum)
Marina Valentsova (Institute of Slavic Studies)
Lucie Vinšová (Masaryk University)
David Weiss (Rikkyo University)
Michael Witzel (Harvard University)
Nataliya Yanchevskaya (Princeton University)
Makoto Yokomichi (Kyoto Prefectural University)
Emma Zhang (Hong Kong Baptist University)

Time Schedule

Friday, June 1, 2018

9:30 – 10:00

Opening Address

Hitoshi Yamada (Tohoku University)

Michael Witzel (Harvard University)

Friday Morning Session: New Perspectives in Comparative Mythology

Chair: Hitoshi Yamada

10:00 – 10:30

Yuri Berezkin (European University at Saint Petersburg)

The Southeast Asian Homeland of the Cosmologies

10:30 – 11:00

Michael Witzel (Harvard University)

A Different Version of the Flood Myth

11:00 – 11:30

Coffee Break

11:30 – 12:00

Steve Farmer (Palo Alto)

Myths of Global Destruction in the Early Anthropocene: Neurobiological, Historical, and Ecological Perspectives

12:00 – 12:30

Makoto Yokomichi (Kyoto Prefectural University)

Comparative Mythology of the Brothers Grimm and Their Successors

12:30 – 14:00

Lunch Break

Friday Afternoon Session: Mythology of the Americas and East & South East Asia

Chair: Yuri Berezkin

14:00 – 14:30

Martín Cuitzeo Domínguez Nuñez (Center for Research and Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS))

The Fire of Sky. A Myth from Two Indigenous Groups in Northwest Mexico

14:30 – 15:00

Lucie Vinšová (Masaryk University)

Humans as Keepers of the Universe: Water Cycle in Native Colombian Cosmology

15:00 – 15:30

Štěpán Kuchlei (Masaryk University)

Tonlé Sap: The Burning Heart of Cambodia. Ecology, Natural Processes and Mythology

15:30 – 16:00

Coffee Break

16:00 – 16:30

Bong-Youl Kim (Dongguk University)

The Narratives of Odysseus And Seok Talhae. A Study in Maritime Culture and the Dialectic of Enlightenment: On the Origin of Rationality

16:30 – 17:00

Michal Schwarz (Masaryk University)

Mountains and Monsoons: Difficult Ways to Harmonize the Spirits

17:00 – 17:30

Emma Zhang (Hong Kong Baptist University)

The Myth of Nezha and the Ultra-Stable Centralized Hierarchical Political Order in China

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Saturday Morning Session: Mythology and Modernity

Chair: Kazuo Matsumura

9:00 – 9:30

Sachie Kiyokawa (Kobe University)

An Influence of “Northern Mythology” on Victorian Britain

9:30 – 10:00

Seán Martin (Edinburgh Napier University)

Facing Rebirth: Apocalyptic Themes in the Fiction of David Lindsay

10:00 – 10:30

Louise Milne (University of Edinburgh & Edinburgh Napier University)

Apocalyptic Myth and Dreams in the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:30

Aleksandar Bošković (Institute of Social Sciences & University of Belgrade)

Classic Maya Myths and Politics: Creation and Destruction of the World

11:30 – 12:00

Marcin Lisiecki (Nicolaus Copernicus University)

The Power of Unbelievable Stories. Motifs of the End of the World and Human Extinction in Polish Urban Legends

12:00 – 12:30

Takeshi Kimura (University of Tsukuba)

Myths of Automata: From Talos, Pygmalion, Golem to Robot

12:30 – 14:30

Lunch Break

Saturday Afternoon Session: Indo-European Mythologies I

Chair: Boris Oguibénine

14:30 – 15:00

Václav Blažek & Michal Schwarz(Masaryk University)

Divine Beings Connected with Earth in the Indo-European Traditions and Beyond

15:00 – 15:30

Joseph Harris (Harvard University)

Some Uses of Apocalypse: Instrumentalizing Ragnarök

15:30 – 16:00

Coffee Break

16:00 – 16:30

Kazuo Matsumura (Wako University)

Comparative Epic Literature

16:30 – 17:00

Lisa Fujiwara (University of Tokyo)

St. Augustine’S Attitude Toward the Styx in Crisis Situations

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Sunday Morning Session: Mythology of Japan and Ancient Egypt

Chair: Steve Farmer

9:00 – 9:30

Koko Nango (Kobe University)

The Metamorphosis of “Bateren” and “Kirisitan”

9:30 – 10:00

Hitoshi Yamada (Tohoku University)

Crab and Serpent: Tohoku Legends of Flood and Earthquake in Comparative Perspective

10:00 – 10:30

David Weiss (Rikkyo University)

Wu Taibo: A Confucian Japanese Founding Myth

10:30 – 11:00

Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:30

David T. Bialock (University of Southern California)

A Serpentine Story: Reading a Japanese Myth at Earth Magnitude

11:30 – 12:00

Keiko Tazawa (Ancient Orient Museum)

Water in the Ancient Egyptian Myths

12:00 – 13:30

Lunch Break

Sunday Afternoon Session: Indo-European MythologiesⅡ: South Asia

Chair: Michael Witzel

13:30 – 14:00

Signe Cohen (University of Missouri)

End Games: Dice, Board Games, and the Apocalypse in Indo-European Mythology

14:00 – 14:30

Nataliya Yanchevskaya (Princeton University)

At the End of Times

14:30 – 15:00

Joanna Jurewicz (University of Warsaw)

Death, Mahabharata, and Storytelling

15:00 – 15:30

Coffee Break

15:30 – 16:00

Boris Oguibénine (University of Strasbourg)

Earth in the Rigveda

16:00 – 16:30

Eijirō Dōyama (Osaka University)

How to be a Hero in Ancient India: Unusual Birth and Abandonment of Children

16:30 – 17:00

Sunil Parab (Joseph Campbell Foundation & Shivalik Institute of Ayurveda and Research & Sindhu Veda Research Institute)

Literary and Observational Study on Disease as a Medium for End of the World by Gods

17:00 – 17:20

Posters Discussion Session

Khatuna Tavdgiridze (Georgian American University)

Georgian Mythic Eschatological Cycles and Their World Parallels

Hasmik Hmayakyan (Institute of Oriental Studies)

On the Biblical Identification of Dyonisos–Spandaramet

Monday, June 4 2018

Monday Morning Session: Hungarian, Finnish, Baltic, and Slavic Mythology

Chair: Marcin Lisiecki

9:00 – 9:30

Attila Mátéffy (University of Bonn)

The Emergence of Other Beings Instead of Humankind at the End of the World: Some Hungarian Eschatological Legends and Fragments Corresponding with the Mongolian Buddhist Concepts

9:30 – 10:00

Mare Kõiva (Estonian Literary Museum, Folklore Department)

Mer-People in Baltic-Finnic Tradition

10:00 – 10:30

Irina Sedakova (Institute of Slavic Studies)

Mythological Creatures of Transition and Beginning

10:30 – 11:00

Marina Valentsova (Institute of Slavic Studies)

Charming Hail Away in Slavic Traditions

11:00 – 11:30

Emilia Chalandon (Kwansei Gakuin University)

Two Stories from Japanese Mythology Retold

11:30 – 12:00

General Discussion & Concluding Remarks

13:00 – 18:00

Observation study at the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami affected sites

Website

http://www.compmyth.org/action.php?conf12