Ryan Fung, an associate professor of English at Kalamazoo University, recently participated in the New Zealand reality show Casketeersfocused on MahOli’s funeral directors, Francis and Caiola Tipene, support Mr. M with humor, care and respect.ahOri and Pacifica’s families deal with loss.
Some people may be surprised by its appearance. But to know Mr. Fung’s scholarship is to know why it makes perfect sense. Over the past few years, he has secured a series of grants that have enabled him to conduct thoughtful and respectful face-to-face research on Indigenous cultures, including M culture.ahOli traveled to the British Empire and French Polynesia for a book due to be published in 2025.
This research grew out of a growing understanding of the limitations of his primary education training in 2019.th British literature of the century.
“The impetus for this project came from my time at K and my relationships with people like Reed Gomez, the founding director of our Critical Ethnic Studies program,” Fung said. As he spoke, he also mentioned his current colleagues, including Professor English Amelia. Katansky ’92. “In my conversations with them, I realized that to understand the British Empire we need to understand more than just a colonial perspective, as evidenced by the fact that indigenous peoples still survive today. As such, colonialism has not been completely victorious in erasing Indigenous peoples and their cultures. The places and communities I study deserve research.”
New Zealand made one stop last year and the TV show was just part of it.Von binge-watched the first two seasons of Her Casketeers Watch it on Netflix before you travel to fulfill your portion of the Arcus Social Justice Leadership Fellowship. He also emailed the show’s producers in advance and asked for permission to respectfully visit the outdoor grounds, but to his surprise, he and his husband were invited inside after stopping by. It was done.
“In addition to reading books and visiting archives, part of my research involves engaging with contemporary culture, such as: Casketeers” said Fong. “The show has been kind enough to share a lot about M.”ahLooking at the Ori culture, I learned a lot about their tikanga, or traditions and language. They were very impressed that I knew and used a lot of M’s.ahOur conversations included Ori, which served as a bridge to share some of my family’s Chinese heritage with my family. ”
Also in New Zealand, Fong visited many of the places that were important to the prominent woman, Apirina Ngata.ahHe was an Oli politician and cultural advocate, and served as a member of the country’s parliament. In 1892, Ngata published the first known English poem by M.ahWhen he was an undergraduate at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, he was one of the first M’s.ahOri graduate.
Ngata was a member of NgahTi Porou, an iwi or indigenous Māori from the Eastern Cape region or TairuahHoti, New Zealand, or Aotearoa. During his stay, Fong visited Maunga Hikurangi, Ng’s sacred mountain.ahTi Polo. As part of an iwi-led tour that takes visitors to the highest point of the mountain at sunrise, Ms Fung was able to see one of the places where the sun first touches the ground each day.
Toward the new millennium, NgahThe ti Porou community commissioned a sculpture on a site in the mountains near M.ahUi, an outstanding demigod who appeared on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. One of his iwi creation stories involves M.ahMaunga Hikurangi was the first land to appear above sea level, fishing the islands of Aotearoa. In fact, the North Island resembles the shape of a stingray when viewed from the air. The islands begin at the mouth at the bottom and progress northward to the tips of the wings and tail. There are many MahOri people commonly identify an iwi’s homeland based on where it is located on the fish, such as the tail, mouth, or eyes.
“For me, being physically present at Maunga Hikurangi was more important than looking for documents in the archives or going to see exhibits in the museum,” Fong said. “I planned the trip to better understand where Ngata comes from, including everything about land and water, which is so important to him and his people. It was an honor to hear directly from him and to witness first-hand his deep relationship with the maunga.I connected with his community and built my own, in order to fully honor their stories and traditions in my own writing and research. I wanted it to be in my heart, not just my head.”
But New Zealand is just one of the places Fong has traveled around the world to research the book, which he began in 2016. His last stop was French Polynesia in January, which many experts consider to be his last stop.ahOri is considered to be their ancient homeland. Previously, he has traveled to places such as Ontario to research the Haudenosaunee people, southwestern Australia to research the Noongar people, and South Africa to learn about the Kosan culture.
“As any academic will tell you, one of the things you quickly realize about any project is how much you don’t know,” Fong says. “There is still so much I don’t know, but to be able to write responsibly about each of these cultures, I need to train myself in scholarship, read, and connect with community members through travel. It was a long process of building a conversation.” The end. All of those things were very important to me. ”
In 2021, Fung was one of four scholars from across the country who founded Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom, a digital humanities project that began rethinking how Victorian studies is taught with a racially conscious and positive lens. It was one of us. And ultimately, he hopes his book project and his research have the same potential for classrooms and students.
“When I went on the trip, I was so touched by how kindly I was received,” he said. “I knew I would only be going for a short period of time as a tourist, and that comes with a lot of baggage and problems. I knew that anything people were willing to share with me would be a gift. I came in with humble expectations, but people opened up to me after seeing the intellectual and, more importantly, mental work I had done before I arrived. “I respect your history and culture,” he said. This work was useful for my teaching and was something I wanted my students to take home with them, as well as my research. ”
Q&A with Ryan Fong
Interview with Social Media Ambassador Blagoya Naskowski ’24.
Question: What do you like most about being a professor at K University?
Answer: In fact, there are very few places in the world that we have set aside for people to come together and explore questions in a sustained and deliberate way. I have the privilege of going into the classroom every day and doing exactly that with my students. We can be with each other, talk about reading, and learn from each other. It’s a rare and valuable experience.
Q: You teach a course that addresses 19.th century of British literature, literature by East Asian immigrants around the world, literary theory, women, gender, and sexuality. Is there a particular course that you really enjoy teaching and why?
A: This fall, I had the wonderful experience of teaching a class on the water stories of Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes and Pacific Ocean. I was able to draw heavily on my experience in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and combine it with the literature of Anishinaabe writers here in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. This class was combined with Becoming Kin, Bella Agosa’s sophomore seminar on Indigenous diplomacy and poetry, allowing students to share and connect conversations between classes in powerful ways, culminating in It was during a visit by his band of Potawatomi people to Pokagon. Hosted by artist and community leader Jason Wesaw. It was a transformative experience for all of us.
Q: How would you describe your students?
A: I really appreciate how passionate and curious my K students are and their willingness to connect their classroom experiences with bigger questions about the world.
Q: Do you think K students are interested in learning more about Indigenous communities through literature?
A: Little by little, yes. Thankfully, it’s not just my class. Amelia Katansky has been teaching these topics at K for many years, and recently Cindy Weyand Garcia has also been offering some great new classes. Learning more about Indigenous history, literature, and activism connects with many of the most pressing issues of today, including climate change, political sovereignty, and addressing the violence of colonialism around the world.
Q: What advice would you give to students who want to major in English?
Do it! My English faculty and I all want to give you the tools to ask big questions about the world and explore ways to make it better and more just. We do this by reading from a variety of cultural and historical perspectives and teaching you how to create and express your own words. Our graduates have used this training to find meaningful work in a variety of fields, from education to journalism, nonprofit work, publishing, and entrepreneurship.