Manjiro’s epic tale begins in 1841, when, as a teenager, he left his home village on a fishing trip. A violent storm left him shipwrecked and set the course that would lead Manjiro to become the first Japanese person to live in the United States. In partnership with the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia’s JapanPhilly2020 initiative, The Rosenbach will present a special exhibition on Manjiro’s legendary life, featuring holdings from our collection along with partner loans.

James Joyce’s novel Ulysses is considered a classic of British literature, and an iconic Irish story. Yet Joyce wrote the book outside the boundaries of British imperial rule, far away from Ireland. His writings advocated for the equality of Irish people, and against corrosive imperialism and ethnic nationalism. Using the plight of the Irish as an exemplar, Joyce noted and critiqued racial inequality among other oppressed peoples, which was a common feature of imperialist societies. Leopold Bloom, the main character of Ulysses, is a Jew, who himself occupied racialized and oppressed status in the Ireland of the novel. As a Jew, and thus a perennial outsider, Bloom asks readers to experience the real world as if they, too, are one of many global others.