Ariel Stilerman
@kotenseki.bsky.social
A few weeks ago, prepping for class
February 4, 2026 at 3:14 AM
A few weeks ago, prepping for class
Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan
Out now on preorder from Harvard University Press.
@harvardpress.bsky.social
Out now on preorder from Harvard University Press.
@harvardpress.bsky.social
January 15, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan
Out now on preorder from Harvard University Press.
@harvardpress.bsky.social
Out now on preorder from Harvard University Press.
@harvardpress.bsky.social
Reposted by Ariel Stilerman
This is so cool! 😍 A hands-on "Japanese Functional Objects" course led by Ariel Stilerman, Hideo Mabuchi, and Craig Milroy guiding students to create their own tools & learn about the "blurred boundary between aesthetics and practicality"! #Japan
https://youtu.be/pDzX5bDvGFY
https://youtu.be/pDzX5bDvGFY
November 8, 2024 at 8:05 AM
This is so cool! 😍 A hands-on "Japanese Functional Objects" course led by Ariel Stilerman, Hideo Mabuchi, and Craig Milroy guiding students to create their own tools & learn about the "blurred boundary between aesthetics and practicality"! #Japan
https://youtu.be/pDzX5bDvGFY
https://youtu.be/pDzX5bDvGFY
Reposted by Ariel Stilerman
Ariel Stilerman - Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan
À paraître en mars aux Harvard UP
À paraître en mars aux Harvard UP
July 24, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Ariel Stilerman - Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan
À paraître en mars aux Harvard UP
À paraître en mars aux Harvard UP
Reposted by Ariel Stilerman
Off to the Association for Asian Studies's annual conference tomorrow. Please consider checking out our panel "So You Want to Make a Temple: A Transhistorical Look at Craft and Community in Japan." I'll be presenting on how accessible technologies enabled Buddhism's spread in the 8th-9th centuries.
March 12, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Off to the Association for Asian Studies's annual conference tomorrow. Please consider checking out our panel "So You Want to Make a Temple: A Transhistorical Look at Craft and Community in Japan." I'll be presenting on how accessible technologies enabled Buddhism's spread in the 8th-9th centuries.
In the age of AI, should we still teach students to make things?
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
September 2, 2025 at 5:26 PM
In the age of AI, should we still teach students to make things?
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
At a time when elite universities are facing unprecedented public scepticism — accused variously of ideological capture, cultural irrelevance, and institutional arrogance — reform proposals often fixate on governance and admissions.
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
September 2, 2025 at 5:25 PM
At a time when elite universities are facing unprecedented public scepticism — accused variously of ideological capture, cultural irrelevance, and institutional arrogance — reform proposals often fixate on governance and admissions.
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
The pressure is only intensifying with the rapid adoption of generative AI and the perception that it will degrade the value of written work.
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
September 2, 2025 at 5:25 PM
The pressure is only intensifying with the rapid adoption of generative AI and the perception that it will degrade the value of written work.
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
Last year, a survey found that nearly 90 per cent of Harvard undergraduates used AI in their coursework; nearly a quarter substituted it for assigned readings.
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
September 2, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Last year, a survey found that nearly 90 per cent of Harvard undergraduates used AI in their coursework; nearly a quarter substituted it for assigned readings.
#BeyondAIducation
#BeyondAIducation
In this context, the pedagogical temptation is to choose between fighting and accommodating new technology. The resurgence of hand written, in-person exams and oral vivas are part of this trend. But there is another possible response: teach students to make things.
#MakingKnowledge
#MakingKnowledge
September 2, 2025 at 5:25 PM
In this context, the pedagogical temptation is to choose between fighting and accommodating new technology. The resurgence of hand written, in-person exams and oral vivas are part of this trend. But there is another possible response: teach students to make things.
#MakingKnowledge
#MakingKnowledge
In my courses, students not only handle historical texts and objects — they create them. They turn wooden soup bowls, then lacquer them; they build ceramic tea bowls, then use them to brew tea. They compose seasonal poems and construct scale gardens.
#CraftingThought #ThinkingThroughMaking
#CraftingThought #ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
In my courses, students not only handle historical texts and objects — they create them. They turn wooden soup bowls, then lacquer them; they build ceramic tea bowls, then use them to brew tea. They compose seasonal poems and construct scale gardens.
#CraftingThought #ThinkingThroughMaking
#CraftingThought #ThinkingThroughMaking
These experiences do not replace traditional modes of analysis but deepen them.
#CraftingThought
#CraftingThought
September 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
These experiences do not replace traditional modes of analysis but deepen them.
#CraftingThought
#CraftingThought
The student who shapes a tea bowl is better equipped to interpret a historical source about ritual aesthetics because they’ve felt the constraints of balancing form and function.
#MadeToLearn
#MadeToLearn
September 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
The student who shapes a tea bowl is better equipped to interpret a historical source about ritual aesthetics because they’ve felt the constraints of balancing form and function.
#MadeToLearn
#MadeToLearn
The act of making becomes a heuristic: a way of asking sharper questions, developing closer attention and forging connections between theory and experience.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
The act of making becomes a heuristic: a way of asking sharper questions, developing closer attention and forging connections between theory and experience.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
The value of such work reaffirms that universities are not only places of abstraction and argument, but sites where knowledge meets skill.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
The value of such work reaffirms that universities are not only places of abstraction and argument, but sites where knowledge meets skill.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
This is not a new proposal. For much of the 20th century, to be an educated person did not mean being purely cerebral.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:24 PM
This is not a new proposal. For much of the 20th century, to be an educated person did not mean being purely cerebral.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
As the historian Dorothy Hartley documented in her indispensable Made in England, knowledge of craft, repair, and fabrication was not the opposite of intellectual life — it was part of it.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
As the historian Dorothy Hartley documented in her indispensable Made in England, knowledge of craft, repair, and fabrication was not the opposite of intellectual life — it was part of it.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
Universities once reflected this ethos. Land-grant institutions in the US were founded to connect the life of the mind with the work of the hands. British polytechnics offered rigorous technical and cultural education side by side.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Universities once reflected this ethos. Land-grant institutions in the US were founded to connect the life of the mind with the work of the hands. British polytechnics offered rigorous technical and cultural education side by side.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
Bringing making back into universities, including in the humanities, is an invitation to rethink what literacy means in an era of digital automation.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Bringing making back into universities, including in the humanities, is an invitation to rethink what literacy means in an era of digital automation.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
This is not about turning literature departments into fabrication labs but considering an interdisciplinary way of teaching.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
This is not about turning literature departments into fabrication labs but considering an interdisciplinary way of teaching.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
Of course, these pedagogies come with challenges. They can be difficult to scale, assess, and fund. But change is already underway.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Of course, these pedagogies come with challenges. They can be difficult to scale, assess, and fund. But change is already underway.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
We do not need to choose between critique and creativity, elite knowledge and public trust. But we do need to reimagine how these values meet in the classroom.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
September 2, 2025 at 5:23 PM
We do not need to choose between critique and creativity, elite knowledge and public trust. But we do need to reimagine how these values meet in the classroom.
#ThinkingThroughMaking
#ThinkingThroughMaking
Let students read deeply, argue boldly and build something with their hands.
#MindAndHand
#MindAndHand
September 2, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Let students read deeply, argue boldly and build something with their hands.
#MindAndHand
#MindAndHand
on.ft.com/4fNd4nY In the age of AI, we should still teach students to make things
In the age of AI, we should still teach students to make things
Skills-based knowledge need not be considered the opposite of an intellectual life
on.ft.com
August 21, 2025 at 3:33 AM
on.ft.com/4fNd4nY In the age of AI, we should still teach students to make things
A medieval Japanese saw, reconstructed at the Stanford Product Realization Lab
August 20, 2025 at 12:34 PM
A medieval Japanese saw, reconstructed at the Stanford Product Realization Lab