Category Archives: Vol. 1 No.1

Letter from the Editors | Vol. 1

We are thrilled to present to you the inaugural issue of The Hundred River Review! The essays in this journal were all submitted for core courses taught in the Writing Program during the 2015-2016 academic year and were selected for showcase because they are notable examples of the kind of work undertaken by students in their first and second years at NYU Shanghai.

Here on the ninth floor, we are busy with celebration: As NYU Shanghai’s first graduating class prepares for commencement, this journal makes its way to print. We drew its name from the Chinese idiom 海纳百川 (Hǎi nà bǎi chuān) or “the sea accepts one hundred rivers.” This phrase is sometimes paired with 有容乃大 (Yǒu róng nǎi dà), which can be translated into English as “a great person should be inclusive.” Taken together the two idioms suggest that inclusivity is a mark of excellence, that institutions who strive towards excellence are not only vast like the sea but also take in inspiration from multiple sources. With this title, we want to acknowledge Shanghai’s historically eclectic and receptive culture and the ways in which it has informed the many-cultured spirit we have built here at NYU Shanghai.

From an analysis of the presence of ghosts in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior to an application of Luce Irigaray’s concept of philotes to The Epic of Gilgamesh, the topics explored in this first issue are varied and thought-provoking. You will find essays about the politics of cross-cultural exchange, about procrastination in Hamlet, and about the function of formal apologies after a genocide. At times our authors pour over the meaning and significance of a single sentence; other times they elegantly orchestrate a sustained mode of questioning across multiple texts.

While there are clear differences in strategy, style, and shape, each essay successfully implements the writing skills and techniques taught by faculty in the Writing Program. In all of the essays, the authors have carefully worked to navigate between their sources efficiently and effectively, to evidence all claims adequately and eloquently, and to develop a sound and arguable claim.

In order to create these coherent arguments, students must be willing to work at the difficult practice of shaping their ideas into words. The Hundred River Review is a celebration of our writers’ hard work, both the efforts they put into their initial submission and efforts they put into revising their papers with writing fellows and faculty after acceptance.

We believe there is value in reading the writing of those with whom we share our classrooms and our halls. We hope that you’ll enjoy reading these essays as much as we did.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Tomscha and Emma Lumeij

The Hundred River Review Editorial Board

Acknowledgements | Vol. 1

Acknowledgement, Vol. 1 No.1

The Editors would like to thank the faculty and staff who contributed to the making of this journal. Thank you also to Amy Becker for your direction and support, Richard Larson for your guidance, and Chang Zhao for your translations. Without your collective efforts, this journal would not have been possible.

Faculty Introduction for “Should a Chinese Citizen Celebrate Western Festivals?”

Faculty Introductions, Vol. 1 No.1

Read “Should a Chinese Citizen Celebrate Western Festivals?”.

Global Perspectives on Society not only challenged students to come to terms with sophisticated concepts and texts, but also to connect those concepts to their everyday experiences and unique cultural backgrounds. In addition, students worked to join authors of multiple texts in inquiry-driven conversation. Hancheng worked toward this essay by first analyzing James Rachels’ inquiry into the uses and limits of cultural relativism and Charles Taylor’s theory of cultural identity and the “politics of recognition.” He then moved to identify a “personal stake” issue, a relevant concrete example that he could analyze within a conceptual framework drawn from the Rachels and Taylor texts. In drafting his essay, Hancheng added Kwame Anthony Appiah and Martha Nussbaum’s thinking about cosmopolitanism to the conversation, creating in the end a rich and timely essay relevant not only to his own personal experiences and concerns, but also to those of the greater NYU Shanghai community.

—David Perry, Lecturer in the Writing Program

Faculty Introduction for “On Post-Genocidal Reconciliation”

Faculty Introductions, Vol. 1 No.1

Read “On Post-Genocidal Reconciliation”.

Tri Hoang wrote this essay for Global Perspectives on Society (GPS), Writing Workshop II. The assignment asked students to write an argument-driven essay that uses GPS readings and their own research to shed new light on a contemporary topic figured in a supplementary article or film for the course. Tri used Hannah Arendt’s On Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract, John Baker’s Equality: From Theory to Action, and scholarly sources he found on his own to address the question of post-genocidal reconciliation in the documentary film The Look of Silence. His essay does an attentive job evaluating sources, discussing and responding in detail to their arguments about the politics of the apology and the notion of equality. Moreover, Tri presents a clear-sighted critique of the prevailing powerlessness of the victims in Indonesia today and provides a nuanced response to whether an apology – as important and urgent as it seems to the viewer after watching the film – is really enough. This essay is a model of thoughtful research, careful evaluation of sources, and clear, eloquent prose in academic writing.

—Alice Chuang, Lecturer in the Writing Program