Dana Mirsalis
@danamirsalis.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of History at Pacific University. Modern and contemporary Japanese religion (especially Shinto), history, and gender.
Miranda Pollock! For some reason she doesn't seem to have a faculty page on our uni website yet (???), but here's her academia.edu page: pacificu.academia.edu/MirandaPollock
October 19, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Miranda Pollock! For some reason she doesn't seem to have a faculty page on our uni website yet (???), but here's her academia.edu page: pacificu.academia.edu/MirandaPollock
Oh, this is neat! Did you find that folks mostly went for the movies or did a lot of folks go for the games?
June 4, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Oh, this is neat! Did you find that folks mostly went for the movies or did a lot of folks go for the games?
One of my students suggested that HBO should do a prestige historical drama about the Dōkyō Incident, which I have been thinking about non-stop ever since.
June 3, 2025 at 11:54 PM
One of my students suggested that HBO should do a prestige historical drama about the Dōkyō Incident, which I have been thinking about non-stop ever since.
I split them into small groups based on shared themes to do their analysis together before we came back to talk about the larger trends we were noticing in the media we selected. (The big one was overrepresentation of the samurai, surprising no one.)
June 3, 2025 at 11:52 PM
I split them into small groups based on shared themes to do their analysis together before we came back to talk about the larger trends we were noticing in the media we selected. (The big one was overrepresentation of the samurai, surprising no one.)
I had them pick something, they had to write a short statement to submit to me, and then put together a slide about it in our shared slide deck. They brainstormed some questions for analyzing historical depictions at the beginning of the week, and...
June 3, 2025 at 11:48 PM
I had them pick something, they had to write a short statement to submit to me, and then put together a slide about it in our shared slide deck. They brainstormed some questions for analyzing historical depictions at the beginning of the week, and...
I don't have the skills to make it through the game, but I do really enjoy how hyped my students get to explain how what they learned in class is appearing in the games they've playing (and send me screenshots for future lectures!).
June 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
I don't have the skills to make it through the game, but I do really enjoy how hyped my students get to explain how what they learned in class is appearing in the games they've playing (and send me screenshots for future lectures!).
Oh, he didn't talk about the Portuguese at all, fascinating! He mostly wound up talking about how much Yoshiaki wound up being cast as much more of a mastermind pulling the strings, and why they might have made that choice narratively.
June 3, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Oh, he didn't talk about the Portuguese at all, fascinating! He mostly wound up talking about how much Yoshiaki wound up being cast as much more of a mastermind pulling the strings, and why they might have made that choice narratively.
Students presented analysis of media they picked at the end of the week, and one decided to do a deep dive into AC:S, since he'd just finished it! Wound up being a nice full circle moment. (He really liked the game, although had a lot to say about the Ashikaga shogun's depiction.)
June 3, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Students presented analysis of media they picked at the end of the week, and one decided to do a deep dive into AC:S, since he'd just finished it! Wound up being a nice full circle moment. (He really liked the game, although had a lot to say about the Ashikaga shogun's depiction.)
My pre-modern Japanese history (up to 1868) class did our last week on modern depictions of pre-modern Japan and we read this the first day of the week: criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...
It taught really well and got them thinking about how we assess historical depictions.
It taught really well and got them thinking about how we assess historical depictions.
Commentary | Kimberly Hassel, Akil Fletcher, and John G. Russell, Stranger Than Fiction?: Yasuke and the Assassin’s Creed: Shadows Controversy — Critical Asian Studies
Introduction “Nothing is true; everything is permitted.” — Assassin’s maxim, Assassin’s Creed On May 15th, 2024, video game publisher Ubisoft released the trailer for the anticipated next in...
criticalasianstudies.org
June 3, 2025 at 10:48 PM
My pre-modern Japanese history (up to 1868) class did our last week on modern depictions of pre-modern Japan and we read this the first day of the week: criticalasianstudies.org/commentary/2...
It taught really well and got them thinking about how we assess historical depictions.
It taught really well and got them thinking about how we assess historical depictions.
Yes. It means they're much more likely to read it. (I know this because I have a syllabus Easter Egg--it's like double the completion rate on semesters where I give them hard copies.)
January 26, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Yes. It means they're much more likely to read it. (I know this because I have a syllabus Easter Egg--it's like double the completion rate on semesters where I give them hard copies.)
Yes, this is the issue I ran into! There ARE two DVD releases that have subtitles--one of them there are like 5 copies catalogued in the world but the other seems possible to get with enough foresight (if you can do a class screening day--it unfortunately doesn't work for our class schedules).
January 4, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Yes, this is the issue I ran into! There ARE two DVD releases that have subtitles--one of them there are like 5 copies catalogued in the world but the other seems possible to get with enough foresight (if you can do a class screening day--it unfortunately doesn't work for our class schedules).
Worth noting that Red Detachment of Women is on YouTube subtitled in its entirety!
January 3, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Worth noting that Red Detachment of Women is on YouTube subtitled in its entirety!
*if you can get--we're doing good with typing today.
January 3, 2025 at 11:02 PM
*if you can get--we're doing good with typing today.
If fiction is okay, if you can The Legend of the Red Lantern on DVD, one of my colleagues really enjoyed teaching that. I couldn't get it, so I used The Red Detachment of Women (we watched the movie and then watched clips of the ballet in class) and my students really enjoyed analyzing that!
January 3, 2025 at 11:02 PM
If fiction is okay, if you can The Legend of the Red Lantern on DVD, one of my colleagues really enjoyed teaching that. I couldn't get it, so I used The Red Detachment of Women (we watched the movie and then watched clips of the ballet in class) and my students really enjoyed analyzing that!
Are you looking for documentaries specifically or are primary source fiction films also up for grabs?
January 3, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Are you looking for documentaries specifically or are primary source fiction films also up for grabs?
Huge, huge congratulations, Dr. Ugoretz!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
December 7, 2024 at 5:11 AM
Huge, huge congratulations, Dr. Ugoretz!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thanks for all your work scanning and archiving all of these! They're a huge boon whenever I'm searching for primary sources to assign. I've used this booklet in my modern Japanese history class twice now and my students have had a lot of fun analyzing it.
December 5, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Thanks for all your work scanning and archiving all of these! They're a huge boon whenever I'm searching for primary sources to assign. I've used this booklet in my modern Japanese history class twice now and my students have had a lot of fun analyzing it.
Okay, that's enough from me for now--back to lesson planning and grading. どうぞ宜しくお願い致します。(12/12)
November 17, 2024 at 3:18 AM
Okay, that's enough from me for now--back to lesson planning and grading. どうぞ宜しくお願い致します。(12/12)
Most of my time the past few years has been tied up in establishing new preps. I adore teaching, to be clear, and my students are stellar, but I'm excited to maybe not spend every spare moment writing lectures next (academic) year. (11/12)
November 17, 2024 at 3:17 AM
Most of my time the past few years has been tied up in establishing new preps. I adore teaching, to be clear, and my students are stellar, but I'm excited to maybe not spend every spare moment writing lectures next (academic) year. (11/12)
Other stuff: I'm the current secretary/treasurer for the Society for the Study of Japanese Religions: www.ssjrweb.org
If you'll be at AAR, please consider coming to our sponsored panel on Saturday at 3 pm! (10/12)
If you'll be at AAR, please consider coming to our sponsored panel on Saturday at 3 pm! (10/12)
Society for the Study of Japanese Religions 日本宗教研究会
www.ssjrweb.org
November 17, 2024 at 3:17 AM
Other stuff: I'm the current secretary/treasurer for the Society for the Study of Japanese Religions: www.ssjrweb.org
If you'll be at AAR, please consider coming to our sponsored panel on Saturday at 3 pm! (10/12)
If you'll be at AAR, please consider coming to our sponsored panel on Saturday at 3 pm! (10/12)