Explore the books honored with the 2023 SEPHIS-ICAS Book Prize in the Spanish/Portuguese Edition

Maya-Ambía, Carlos. 2021. Japón: El cansancio de una nación [Japan: The Fatigue of a Nation]. Ciudad de Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

In Japón, El cansancio de una nación, Maya-Ambía offers a critical analysis of contemporary Japanese society from an original perspective, using the South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul’s idea of “burnout” as a guide. The book is an antithesis to idealized views of Japanese society, proposing a journey through some of its darkest aspects. Maya-Ambía uses burnout to explain phenomena such as hihikomori, or voluntary isolation, which she interprets as the burnout of dealing with others; karoshi, or death from work exhaustion, caused by excessive working hours; the increase in suicides, especially among children and adolescents tired of academic demands and bullying; or the otaku phenomenon, which consumes a fantasy as a consequence of real-world tiredness. Finally, she analyzes the term in relation to the gender roles imposed on men and women, with the ideas of the salaryman and the traditional wife-mother.

Ribeiro, Claudia. 2021. Uma escrita celeste: Distância lexical e imanência de significado no Tianshu (Livro do Ceu), de Xu Bing [Lexical Distance and Immanence of Meaning in Tianshu]. Macau: Instituto Internacional de Macau.

Based on works produced in China and texts by Western critics, Claudia Ribeiro approaches Xu Bing’s trajectory in Uma escrita celeste, focusing on the conditions of production of the work Tianshu (Libro del Cielo) in China in the 1980s, influenced by the opening and translation of Western works that began to be read. After an extensive review of the criticism of the work, the author presents her own interpretation of it, combining an aesthetic and historical analysis of Xu Bing’s work. Through short chapters with a pleasant and clear writing, the book presents a rigorous analysis and concerns the reader with the complexity of a concrete production of Chinese culture.

Tzili-Apango, Eduardo & Jiménez, José Antonio Cervera (eds.). 2022. Centenario del Partido Comunista Chino: Ensayos en honor a Romer Cornejo [Centenary of the Chinese Communist Party: Essays in Honor of Romer Cornejo. Cuidad de Mexico: El Colegio de México and Centro de Estudios de Asia y África.

This book, edited by Cervera Jiménez, takes as its guiding principle the multidisciplinary analysis of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), one of the most important political actors in the world. This collective work presents a key contextualization for understanding the functioning of the Asian giant, examining a variety of topics such as: the evolution of the CCP and its contradictions throughout history, cyberpolitics and digital control, the emergence of the business class and the country’s adaptation to globalization, and the difficult role of women in the political scene. The final chapters examine foreign policy, from historical relations with Western powers, Hong Kong, mobilization during the Korean War, and exchanges with South America, to contemporary policies, including the crystallization of “soft power,” international action through its International Liaison Department, the diaspora, and relations with Southeast Asia.

Beja, Flora Botton; Cervera, José Antonio & Chen, Yong. 2021. Historia mínima del confucianismo [Brief History of Confucianism], Ciudad de Mexico: El Colegio de México.

Historia mínima del Confucianismo is a work by three authors – Flora Botton Beja, José Antonio Cervera and Yong Che – who present the evolution of Confucianism throughout history to a non-specialist audience. The authors provide the keys to understanding an aspect that has been fundamental not only to Chinese civilization, but also to other East Asian societies. The book is clearly organized into three blocks. First, Botton Beja provides an up-to-date overview of the best-known writers on Confucianism in the classical period. Second, Cervera proposes, for the first time in Spanish, a synthesis of the lesser-known authors of neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties that emerged in response to the introduction of Buddhism in China, including their interactions with European Jesuits. Third, Yong Chen contextualizes the contemporary revival of Confucianism, drawing primarily on original Chinese sources.