刊行物
｜ ENGLISH ｜
Simon Creak
Hakubi alumnus in Melbourne
It has been a little over a year since I left Kyoto for a position as lecturer (assistant professor) in Southeast Asian History at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Although I miss Kyoto, it has been a wonderful move to make. Not only is this the first time I have lived in my hometown since 1997, I am back at the university and department where I completed undergraduate studies and a Masters degree. Like all Hakubi alumni, I imagine, I also look back on my experience with the Hakubi Project with a great sense of appreciation for the unique opportunities it provided.
At Melbourne I am fortunate to be teaching courses related directly to my research interests: Modern Southeast Asia (second-year undergraduate), Cold War Cultures in Asia (third-year undergraduate) and History, Memory and Violence in Asia (undergraduate honors/graduate). While I never learned as much Japanese as I wanted to while living in Japan, I now find myself giving lectures and taking tutorials on topics related to the country (as well as China, Korea and my primary area of expertise, Southeast Asia). Teaching topics on Japan has been an unexpected joy. It not only allows me to draw on my experiences there, but permits me to remain connected to the country in an intellectual way.
The research support at Melbourne, which like Kyoto is a strong research university, has enabled me to continue my Hakubi research project on the history of the Southeast A s i a n Ga m e s . I n M ay I presented some of my Hakubi research at a conference in Moscow—an appropriate location given the conference theme, the Global History of Sport in the Cold War. In June I conducted research at the 28th SEA Games in Singapore—my fourth—and will conduct further research on the project later in the year. This work continues to build on invaluable foundations laid during my time at Kyoto’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
A year after leaving the Hakubi project and over four years since beginning, I treasure the professional opportunities it provided, the friendships formed and the experiences it enabled. My wife Clair, my kids and I talk regularly about those times and would love to come back one day for an extended visit. In the shorter term I will have to make do with a conference in Kyoto in December. Hope to see some of my old Hakubi friends then!
Simon Creak with his new book: Embodied Nation: Sport, Physical Culture and the Making of Modern Laos (University of Hawaii Press, 2015).
（さいもん くりーく）
