K I N G - F A I . T A M

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in January, 1998.

King-Fai Tam

Making self-discoveries while learning about foreign lands

While studying The Tale of Genji, Japan's oldest known novel ­ written in the 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu ­ students in Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and International Studies King-Fai Tam's "Literature and Culture in East Asia II: Japan" course last semester learned of a custom according to which ladies of the court blackened their teeth to enhance their beauty. However strange that ancient practice may have appeared initially to students, Tam says it represented little more than a precursorof a socially acceptable contemporary practice: the application of lipstick. "In both cases you have something artificially added to your body, and in both cases you have to periodically reapply something either to your lips or to your teeth," he explains. Learning about such a practice serves a dual purpose, Tam contends. "I hope my students will make discoveries about their own culture when they are learning about other people in foreign lands."

Tam, himself a native of Hong Kong, holds a doctorate degree in East Asian studies from Princeton University. He joined Trinity's faculty in 1989 and is now director of the comparative literature program and coordinator of Asian studies at the College. Tam says students enroll in his classes in the Chinese language and Chinese and Japanese culture for a variety of reasons, such as to learn more about their heritage or about historical incidents like the 1989 protest in China's Tiananmen Square, or to learn more about the historical conflict between the United States and Japan during World War II. Whatever their reasons for enrolling in his classes, Tam cautions his students against exoticizing the Asian culture.

"Chinese use their language to navigate their course through life," Tam contends. "They use their language to express love and they use their language to argue with their bosses. People living under a highly oppressive society such as China's use language as a way of expressing a basic freedom. Once students realize that language is not just a curiosity, not just a plaything, then the world opens right up."

A thorough and organized teacher
The world will literally be opening up for one of Tam's students, Andres Echevarriarza '98. The international studies major who has taken several courses with Tam says, "Professor Tam is one of the most erudite people I've ever met. He's a very thorough and organized teacher who wants to be sure that everyone is on top of things." In February, Echevarriarza will travel to Taiwan, where he will teach English for a semester at Taiwan's Normal University in Ping Tung, through an exchange program between Trinity and the university. He plans to pursue a career either in international business or with the United Nations.

Seth H. Wood '99 is a sociology major who took Tam's Japanese literature and culture course last semester and who plans to visit Japan someday. "I gained a better understanding of the history of Japan and where certain customs come from," he said. "For example, before taking the course I only knew about haiku. But in class, I learned about different styles of poetry."

Benjamin C. Rohn '99, an Asian studies major with a China focus who plans to study in China next year, took Tam's course in "Intensive Intermediate Chinese" last semester. "Professor Tam is an engaging teacher who is very patient," Rohn says. "He teaches the traditional way of writing characters, which was at first a very daunting prospect. He taught it in a way that was easy to grasp."

A hunger for knowledge
Associate Professor of History Michael E. Lestz, who specializes in China, notes that his colleague, in teaching such special-topic courses as "Hong Kong Film and Literature: The Colonial Period and After," has "brought a whole new range of courses related to China and Chinese and Japanese literature to Trinity. Last year, he took part in Trinity's Week-in-Hong Kong program and provided alumni and others with a real insider's view of Hong Kong's transition from British to Chinese rule. He's someone who has a real hunger for knowledge, who never seems to sit still, and who is constantly generating new projects."

Among Tam's current activities are his participation in an ad hoc College committee exploring the establishment of global learning sites to enhance students' study-abroad experiences, and membership in a faculty study group that is examining the issue of global migration in anticipation of conducting local research. In his scholarly pursuits, he has written a new book, tentatively titled, A Garden of One's Own: Chinese Essays 1919-1949, scheduled to be published in 1999.

"The role I see for myself and the responsibility I feel at Trinity are largely defined by my identity as a Chinese person teaching Chinese language and Asian literature and culture in an American setting," Tam says.

"I see it as my job to promote cross-cultural understanding among students through my teaching, and among the general public through my publications. My work is guided by a simple and pragmatic belief: that to understand others is to understand oneself."

­ Suzanne Zack