A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

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Aiko Kojima Hibino

Lecturer

Contact

Bio

Lecturer, Liberal Arts (2016). Education: MA, 1999 Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan; Ph.D candidate in Sociology (ABD), 2010 University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Publications: "Watching 'I Am A Comedian' in a U.S. Classroom," Asia Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 2024; "Nuclear Problems and Society," TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology, 2023; "Globalizing Japanese Pop Culture," TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology, 2021; "'Normal' Lunch in A Pandemic: Shining A Spotlight on Chicago Public Schools' Food." Gastronomica, 2020; “Responsibility or Right to Eat Well?: Food Education (Shokuiku) Campaign in Japan” in Stanford Journal of East Asian Affairs, 2011; “Food, Foodways and National Identity: Anti-Rice Import Discourses in Japan” in Globalism, Nationalism, and Localism. Tohru Nomura and Junichi Yamamoto ed., Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2006.

Links: 
artfoodandpolitics
TEAACH Nuclear History
"Living, Teaching, and Thinking in Chicago" (Magazine 9)
"Thinking About Nuclear Issues with American Middle School Students" (Web Akashi)

Accomplishments:
Lecturer Aiko Kojima Hibino’s "TEAACH Nuclear History Project" (formerly “The Paper Crane Project”) is featured in media, including KBOO radio, Chalkbeat Chicago, Nuclear Hotseat podcast, and NHK International News. The project aims to create a curriculum that teaches nuclear history and discourses to middle school students in Chicago Public Schools to deepen understanding of AAPI history, science and ethics, and anti-racist understanding of nuclear tech.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Class Number

1056

Credits

3

Description

When the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was created in 1942 in Chicago, human society was destined to tackle with an unsolvable conundrum. How could our society possibly justify the augmentation of this enormous power that could destroy our own existence? This course investigates discourses around two major uses of nuclear power in society ¿ nuclear weapons and nuclear energy ¿ and examines them through social justice lenses. Key points of inquiry include: what risks are associated with nuclear weapons and energy and how they have been evaluated in contrast to their benefits, how the damages that were caused by nuclear weapons and energy have been addressed and mended, and whether the harms that were made by nuclear weapons and energy equally impact all groups of people. Building on the basic reading and writing skills introduced in FYS I, FYS II will further students¿ academic skills in writing an independent research paper. Therefore, in this course, students are expected to read primary and secondary sources to collect evidence to develop their critical arguments on nuclear problems.

Class Number

1334

Credits

3

Description

In this course, we will take various Japanese pop culture genres including comics, anime, food, fashion, music, etc. and examine the interplay between local and global culturescapes. Students are expected to critically inquire into the reality and complexity of people's lives in Japan as reflected in cultural products and to explore cultural transformation in Japan as a part of the dynamics of globalization. Locally 'common' value and knowledge is challenged as culture traverses borders. From the expansion of Japanese fan communities to the Asia-Pacific region and Brazil, to feminist criticism of gender representation, we will employ case studies to overcome our conscious or unconscious exoticism and to deepen our understanding toward Japanese culture in global context. Key points of inquiry will include: what racial and ethnic relations/tensions underlying global popular culture; economic and political factors driving trends in Japanese popular culture; gender, sexuality, and the politics of representation.

Class Number

1745

Credits

3

Description

Consumption is central to our lifestyles and identities in contemporary societies. What you wear, what you eat, what you watch ¿ in short, what you buy¿ seems to confirm who you are or how you want to display yourself to society. What does it mean to be a consumer, and how does that specific identity intersect with other identities, such as a citizen, a producer, and an artist? In this course, we will explore various arguments about consumption in modern society to understand the development and significance of this specific economic and cultural behavior.

Class Number

1938

Credits

3

Description

When the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved in 1942 in Chicago, human society became destined to grapple with an unsolvable conundrum: How could our society justify the augmentation of this enormous power that could destroy our own existence? This course investigates discourses surrounding two major uses of nuclear power in society¿nuclear weapons and nuclear energy¿and examines them through social justice lenses. We will also study creative expressions inspired by the Atomic Age. Key points of inquiry include: what risks are associated with nuclear weapons and nuclear energy, and how they have been evaluated in contrast to their benefits; how the damages caused by nuclear weapons and nuclear energy have been addressed and mitigated; and whether the harms produced by nuclear weapons and nuclear energy equally impact all groups of people.

Class Number

2383

Credits

3