This autumn, the Global Arts + Humanities will host two events featuring Christine R. Yano, Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.

• LECTURE | Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty's Trek Across the Pacific

  October 21, 2025, 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Denney Hall 311)
  In this lecture, Christine R. Yano argues that the international popularity of Hello Kitty is one aspect of “pink globalization” — the spread of goods and images labeled ‘cute’ (kawaii) from Japan to other parts of the industrial world. Yano analyzes the changing complex of relations and identities surrounding the global reach of Hello Kitty’s cute culture — including her role as a brand ambassador for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals — and how consumers use this iconic cat to negotiate gender, nostalgia, and national identity. Moderated by Namiko Kunimoto (Associate Professor of History of Art, Ohio State).

• COLLOQUIA | Global Asias and Cross-Disciplinary Research

  October 21, 2025, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. (location TBD)
  Christine R. Yano (Professor Emeritus, University of Hawai’i-Mānoa)  and Corinne Mitsuye Sugino (Assistant Professor of English, Ohio State) will address the concept of Global Asias as a cross-disciplinary framework that pushes us out of historical practices of Asian Studies, and into conversation with Asian American studies, Asian diasporic studies, and more. Through these new adjacencies, the idea of radical listening — deep, empathic sensory interweaving of ourselves with others —opens our ears to new relationalities, including social justice. Refreshments will be provided.

Co-hosted by the Department of English and the Center for Ethnic Studies