Graduate Students in Japanese Studies
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Benjamin Lowell ALLEN
Ph.D., 1st Year
Research Interests:
Japanese graphic design/visual culture, contemporary Japanese
art
Dissertation Topic (Proposed):
The international circulation of Japanese design and popular
cultural products
Degrees Held:
M.A., East Asian Languages and Cultures (with distinction),
UIUC 2007
B.A., Japanese Language and Literature, University of Florida,
2000
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Valerie Holshouser BARSKE
Ph.D. Candidate
Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellow 2007-2008
Fulbright Fellow 2005-2006
- Research Interests:
Modern Japan, contemporary Japanese culture, Okinawan cultural
history, women in East Asia,colonial studies, gender studies,
theorizing the body
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- Dissertation Title (Proposed):Embodying History, Performing
Identities: Peace, Gender, and Ethnicity in Okinawa Japan
Degrees Held:
M.A., East Asian Languages and Cultures, UIUC, 2001
B.A., International Relations Asian Concentration (minors:
French and Japanese; Honors in Politics), Oglethorpe University,
Atlanta, 1998
Selected Publications and Presentations:
Publications:"Dance and Performance in
East Asia and Oceania," in Gary Xu ed. Greenwood Encyclopedia
of World Popular Cultures Vol. 6, East Asia and Pacific Oceania,
Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007.
"Nuchibana: Okinawans Dancing for Peace," in Journal
for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement (JASHM) 12:3
(Autumn 2003): 145-165.
"'Okinawa Omnibus': A Film Review," in Asian Educational
Media Service News and Reviews 4(2) (Winter 2001):9
Selected Presentations:
"Ethnicized Difference, Nationalized Bodies: Women and
Intersectional Identities in Postwar Japan," panel organizer
at Forging Junctions, Forcing Ruptures: Woman and Intersectional
Identities in Japan, University of Wisconsin System Annual
Women's Studies Conference, Madison, April 20, 2007.
"Fight for Life, Protest as a Lifestyle: Women Demonstrating
on the Sea," invited lecture at the Annual Liberal Arts
Symposium, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia, April
18, 2007.
"Moving Beyond Unai (Sisterhood): Gender, Ethnicity,
and Women's Peace Activism," paper presented at the EALC
Graduate Student Colloquium, UIUC, March 30, 2007.
"Cultural Literacy and Women' Studies," panel in
Literacies Connecting Across the Liberal Arts Annual Teaching
Conference, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, January
17, 2007.
"Whose Kokutai?: Problematizing the Postwar 'Japanese'
National Body," paper presented as part of the panel
session "Unstable Bodies, Unsettled Movements: Sport,
Performance, and Nation in Japan," at the American Historical
Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, January 4-7, 2007.
"Okinawa Inc.?: Ethnic Tourism, Neoliberal Logic, and
the Moving Body," paper presented as part of the invited
panel session "Critical Intersections of Neoliberalism
in Japan," at the American Anthropological Association
Annual Meeting, San Jose, November 15-19, 2006.
"Political Dreamworks, Cultural Fantasies: Fetishizing
Neoliberalism?" paper presented at the Unit for Criticism
and Interpretive Theory Conference: "Fetishizing the
Free Market: The Cultural Politics of Neoliberalism,"
at UIUC, April 29-30, 2005.
"'Asia's Last Colony', Ultra-Nationalism, and Imperial
Violence," Respondent to Naoki Sakai, Korea Workshop:
on "Imperial Nationalism and Comparison," at UIUC
April 18, 2005
"Cosmic Disc: Mediating the Jikkai Mandala on DVD,"
Panel presentation with Ronald Toby, David Plath, and Brian
Ruppert, at the Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting,
Chicago, March 31-April 3, 2005.
"Dance? Or Change Your Religion: Dance Performance as
a Key Social and Sacred Event among the Lahu Na Sheleh of
Thailand," Panel Presentation and Field Report with Jacquetta
Hill and David Plath, at the Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs,
Minneapolis, October 1-3, 2004.
"Okinawan Action Sign Systems: Dancing Difference or
Dancing Differently," paper presented as part of the
panel session "Exploring the Senses and Semiosis,"
at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting,
New Orleans, November 21-24, 2002.
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Brian CLEVELAND
M.A., 3rd Year
Research Interests:
Buddhism in Japan, institutional history of Rinzai Zen in
the Muromachi/Ashikaga eras, Buddhist ethics and moral codes,
Indian/Vedic philosophy
Degrees Held:
M.A., Modern Japanese Literature (with distinction), University
of Kansas
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Dunja JELESIJEVIC
Ph.D., 1st Year
Research Interests:
Japanese religion (Shinto)
Degree Held:
B.A., Japanese Language and Literature, Belgrade University,
Serbia, 2000
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Fang JI
M.A., 1st Year
Research Interests:
Japanese language and literature
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Jung Sun KIM
M.A., 2nd Year
Research Interests:
Japanese Linguistics and Pedagogy, Second Language Acquisition
Degrees Held:
M.A., Division of English as an International Language, UIUC,
2006
B.A., Economics, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, 2001
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Rachel Charlow LENZ
M.A., 1st Year
Research Interests:
Modern Japanese literature, pre-modern Japanese literature,
gender and sexuality in manga
Degree Held:
B.A., English, Japanese Language and Literature (with honors),
Vassar College
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Rebecca NICKERSON
Ph.D. Candiate
Fulbright-Hays Fellow 2007-2008
Research Interests:
Modern Japanese history, gender and women's history, colonialism/imperialism
Dissertation Title:
Shaping the Body Domestic: Gender, Race, and Physical Culture
in Imperial Japan
Degrees Held:
M.A., East Asian Languages and Cultures, UIUC, 2003
B.A., Sociology/Anthropology, Colgate University, 1998
Selected Publications and Presentations:
Publications:
Film Review: "Women in Japan: Memories of the Past, Dreams
for the Future." Asian Educational Media Service News
and Reviews 6(3) (Fall 2003): 3.
Selected Presentations:
"Exercising Agency: Female Bodies and Physical Education
in Imperial Japan," paper presented at the American Historical
Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, January 4-7, 2007.
"Rooting for the Home Team: Nationalism, Regionalism,
and International Sport in Asia," paper presented at
the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San
Jose, California, November 15-19, 2006.
"Flexible Bodies, National Bodies: Global Sport and the
Cultural Nation in East Asia," paper presented at the
Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Michigan State University,
Lansing, Michigan, September 23-25, 2005.
"Training Imperial Bodies: Gender and Physical Education
in Modern Japan," paper presented at the Graduate Student
Conference on East Asia, Columbia University, New York, February
12, 2005.
"Baseball as a Medium of Cultural Identity in Modern
Japan," paper presented at the Midwest Conference on
Asian Affairs, Wittenburg University, Springfield, Ohio, September
27-29, 2002.
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Yoko NUMATA
M.A., 1st Year
Research Interests:
Japanese language pedagogy, the relationship between teacher-student
interaction and student learning, exchange students learning
Japanese in Japan
Degrees Held:
M.A., Foreign Language Education, University of Kansas
B.A., Sociology, Sophia University, Japan
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Yeon Joo PARK
Ph.D., 4th Year
Research Interests:
Japanese religions (Shinto and Buddhism), ancient Japanese
history
Degrees Held:
M.A., Social Sciences, University of Chicago
B.A., History, Dongguk University, Seoul
Publication and Presentation:
Publication:
The Sacred Outcast: The Symbol of Alienated Divinity in
Japanese Mythology and Its Historical Reflection (A Critical
Application of Georges Dumezil's Trifunction System Theory
to Japanese Mythology), M.A. thesis, University of Chicago,
2003.
Presentations:
"Hermaphrodite Shaman: Understanding Female-Male Shaman
Combination in
Japanese Shamanism," paper presented at the Eighth Annual
Graduate Symposium on Women's and Gender History, UIUC, March
8-10, 2007; and at the Third Annual Loyola University Chicago
History Graduate Student
Conference, Chicago, April 28, 2007.
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Brandon T. PIECZKO
M.A., 2nd year
Research Interests:
Japanese religion (Buddhism), modern Japanese philosophy and
intellectual history (esp. the Kyoto School and its critics),
socially engaged Buddhism, comparative/cross-cultural studies
in religion (esp. Buddhist-Christian dialogue)
Degree Held:
B.A., Religion and Classical Studies, University of Evansville,
2004
Selected Publications and Presentations:
Presentations:
"'New Kamakura Buddhism Revisited': The Apparent Transition
in Dogen Zenji's Thought and its Subsequent Effect on Female
Religious Practice within the S?t? Zen Tradition," paper
presented at the Eighth Annual Graduate Symposium on Women's
and Gender History, UIUC, March 8-10, 2007.
"Different Worlds, Mutual Responses: Paul Tillich and
Shinran Shonin on the Human Existential Condition," paper
presented at Midwest American Academy of Religion, DePaul
University, Chicago, April 8-9, 2005; and at the 19th National
Conference on Undergraduate Research, Washington and Lee University
& Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia, April
21-23, 2005.
Publication:
"Different Worlds, Mutual Responses: Paul Tillich and
Shinran Shonin on the Human Existential Condition," in
the Proceedings of The National Conference on Undergraduate
Research (Lexington, Virginia, April 21-23, 2005), ed.
Robert Yearout. University of North Carolina at Asheville,
2005.
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Nobuko TOYOSAWA
Ph.D. Candidate
Research Interests:
19th century Japanese intellectual history
Dissertation Title:
Dialectics of National Landscape: Rearranging Space and
Narratives in Nineteenth Century Japan (An abstract is
available here.)
Degrees Held:
M.A., East Asian Languages and Cultures, UIUC
B.A., History, Mount Mary College
Presentations:
"A Nation of Landscape: Shiga Shigetaka and Modern Knowledge
in Early Meiji Japan," paper presented at the Waseda
University Modern Japanese History Workshop, Tokyo, June 2,
2006.
"East-West Intertextuality and the Remapping of Japan:
Nihon Fukei-ron and Things Japanese," paper presented
at the 11th UCLA Graduate Student Symposium on Japanese Studies,
Los Angeles, May 7, 2005.
"Forming a Conceptual Space: Nihon fukei-ron
and Strategic Rewriting of ¡®Japan,¡¯" Department of East
Asian Languages and Cultures Graduate Student Colloquia Series,
UIUC, April 14, 2005.
"Defining Nation through 'Art': Okakura Tenshin and
His Notion of Pan-Asianism," paper presented at the 51st
Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, Wittenberg University,
Springfield, Ohio, September 27-29, 2002.
"Defining Art, Nation, Culture: Earnest F. Fenollosa
and Meiji Japan," paper presented at the Sixth Annual
Midwest Conference on Asian History and Culture at the Ohio
State University, Columbus, Ohio, May 4-5, 2002.
"'Art' as a Means to Define the Ideals: Okakura Tenshin
and His Notion of Pan-Asianism," paper presented at the
11th Annual
Graduate Student Conference on East Asia at Columbia University,
New York, February 9-11, 2002.
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James WELKER
Ph.D.,3rd Year
Research Interests:
Contemporary Japanese culture, Japanese lesbian and gay history
and culture,
Asian Queer Studies, gender and sexuality, Women's Studies,
and Cultural Studies
Dissertation Title (Proposed):
Thinking Globally, Identifying Locally: Re-Envisioning
"Women" in Late Twentieth-Century Japan
Degrees Held:
M.A., Advanced Japanese Studies (with distinction), University
of Sheffield, U.K.
M.A., English (Rhetoric and Writing), Bowling Green State
University
Selected Publications:
Journal Articles and Book Chapters:
"Lilies of the Margin: Beautiful Boys and Lesbian Identities,"
in AsiaPacifiQueer: Rethinking Gender and Sexuality in
the Asia-Pacific, eds. Peter Jackson et al., Urbana, Illinois:
University of Illinois Press, forthcoming, 2008.
"Drawing Out Lesbians: Blurred Representations of Lesbian
Desire in Shojo Manga," in Lesbian Voices:
Canada and the World, ed. Subhash Chandra, 156-184, New
Delhi: Allied Publishers, 2006.
"Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: Boys' Love as Girls'
Love in Shojo Manga," Signs: Journal of Women
in Culture and Society 31(3) (Spring 2006): 841-870.
Beverley Curran and James Welker, "From the Well of
Loneliness to the akarui rezubian: Western Translations and
Lesbian Identities," in Genders, Transgenders and
Sexualities in Japan, eds. Mark McLelland and Romit Dasgupta,
65-80, London: Routledge, 2005.
"Telling Her Story: Narrating a Japanese Lesbian Community."
Japanstudien: Jahrbuch des Deutschen Instituts fur Japanstudien
16: 119-144. (Also available online here.)
Edited Collections and Journal Issues:
Mark McLelland, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, eds.,
Queer
Voices from Japan: First-Person Narratives from Japan's Sexual
Minorities, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2007.
James Welker and Lucetta Kam, eds., "Of Queer Import(s):
Sexualities, Genders, and Rights in Asia," special issue
of Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian
Context 14 (November 2006), URL: <http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue14_contents.htm>.
Translations and Published Interviews:
Translation of six selections in Queer Voices from Japan:
First-Person Narratives from Japan's Sexual Minorities,
eds. Mark McLelland, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker,
Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2007.
Three translations and one interview in "Queer
Japan," ed. Mark McLelland, special issue of Intersections:
Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 12 (January
2006), URL: http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/issue12_contents.html
A more complete list of James Welker's publications and presentations
can be found here.
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