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- Celebrating a Successful SFU Multilingual Week 2025
- 2024 Dhahan Prize for Punjabi Literature
- Japanese Studies Certificate Launch Ceremony and Job Exhibition
- Celebrating Diwali in the Classroom
- Intersections of Punjabi Language and Health Research
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Melek Su Ortabasi
Curriculum Vitae
Mailing address:
World Languages and Literatures
91ĹÝÜ˝
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
AQ 5127
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC Canada V5A 1S6
Email: mso1(at)sfu.ca
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
91ĹÝÜ˝
Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, September 2023 â present
Department of World Languages and Literatures
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Chair, Department of World Languages and Literatures: January 2020 â September 2021
- Director, World Literature Program: September 2015 â December 2019
- Associate Professor, 2012 â present
- Assistant Professor, 2008 â 2012
Hamilton College
Department of Comparative Literature
- Assistant Professor, 2002 â 2008
University of Washington, Seattle
Department of Comparative Literature
- Teaching Associate, Fall 2000 - Winter 2001
- Teaching Assistant, 1994; 1996-1997; 1999-2000
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
- Teaching Assistant, Summer 2000
Obirin University, Tokyo
Reconnaissance Japan Program
- Lecturer, 1995
EDUCATION
University of Washington, Seattle
Ph.D., Comparative Literature, 2001.
Dissertation title: âJapanese Cultural History as Literary Landscape: Scholarship, Authorship and Language in Yanagita Kunioâs Native Ethnologyâ
M.A., Comparative Literature (Japanese and German), 1994.
Stanford Inter-University Center, Yokohama
Certificate, June 1995.
University of California, Berkeley
B.A., Comparative Literature (Japanese and German), 1992.
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AND HONORS
91ĹÝÜ˝
- David Lam Centre Research Grant, 2019
- David Lam Centre Research Grant, 2018
- Emergency Rapid Response Grant, FASS Deanâs Office, 2017
- FASS Canada 150 Grant, 2016.
- Small SSHRC Grant, 2014.
- University Publications Committee Grant, 2012.
- SSHRC Travel Grant; 2009 and 2012
- Presidential Research Grant, 2008.
Sophia University, Tokyo
- Visiting Professor, September 2022 â August 2023
Kanagawa University
- Visiting Researcher, September 2021-July 2022
Northeast Asia Council
- Research Travel Grant, 2019
Goethe Universität, Frankfurt
- Visiting Scholar, June-July 2017
Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo
- Visiting Researcher, August 2014-June 2015
Internationale Jugendbibliothek, Munich
- Visiting Researcher, July-August 2014
- Research Fellowship for 3 months of research, June-August 2016
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich
- Visiting Scholar, June 2016
- Erasmus+ EU Grant recipient, June 2016
The University of Tokyo
- Visiting Researcher, July 2010
Japan Foundation
- Research Fellowship for 10 months of research in Japan at Kanagawa University, 2021.
- Research Fellowship for 8 months of research in Japan at The University of Tokyo, 2007.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Research Fellowship for 6 months of research in Japan at The University of Tokyo, 2006.
Cornell University
- Wason Library Travel Grant, 2005.
Hamilton College
- Class of 1966 Career Development Award, 2004.
- Hewlett Grant for incorporating diversity into the curriculum, 2003.
University of Washington
- Alvord Fellow in the Humanities, academic year 2001-2002.
- Society of Scholars at the Simpson Center for the Humanities, academic year 2001-2002.
Deutsches Institut fĂźr Japanstudien (DIJ), Tokyo
- Dissertation research fellowship, April-July 2001.
Monbusho Scholarship
- For graduate research at Kokugakuin University, Tokyo, October 1997 to March 1999.
Japanese Proficiency Test Level 1
- High Pass, 1998.
Stanford Inter-University Center
- Hayase/Moriyama Prize, 1995.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
The Undiscovered Country: Text, Translation and Modernity in the Work of Yanagita Kunio. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2014.
To listen to an interview with Dr. Ortabasi about this book, please click .
To read a review of this book, please click .
The Modern Murasaki: Women Writers of Meiji Japan. Coedited with Rebecca Copeland. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Journal articles/book chapters
âAround the World in 80 Years: How an Italian Childrenâs Classic Went to Japan and Back.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Journal of Japanese Studies. (Forthcoming 2025.)
âMultilingualism, Heritage Languages, and the Future of Comparative Literature.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;ACLA State of the Discipline Report. Online. (Forthcoming)
âSekai bungaku to shite no âTĂ´no monogatari.ââ Gendai shisĂ´ 50.8 (June 2022): 155-166.
âYanagita, Kunio,â in SAGE Research Methods Foundations, ed. P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, A. Cernat, J.W. Sakshaug, & R.A. Williams. 2020, pp. 1-7.
âYouth, Transnationalism, Identity: Young Adult Literature and World Literature,â in Teaching Young Adult Literature, ed. Mike Cadden, Karen Coats, and Roberta Seelinger Trites. Modern Languages Association, 2020.
âBridge Essay: Translation,â in A Companion to World Literature, ed. Ken Seigneurie. Wiley Blackwell, 2020.
âLanguaging 91ĹÝÜ˝ Language in an Interdiscilpinary Writing-Intensive Course,â with Joel Heng Hartse and Michael Lockett. Across the Disciplines: A Journal of Language Learning and Academic WritingVol. 15 No. 3 (November 2018): 89-102.
â(Re)animating Folklore: Raccoon Dogs, Foxes and other Supernatural Japanese Citizens in Takahata Isaoâs Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Marvels and Tales Vol. 27 No. 2 (Fall 2013), pp. 98 â 119.
âShajitsushugi bungaku to shite yomu TĂ´no monogatariâ (Reading TĂ´no monogatarias Realist Literature); âGengo hyĂ´gen kara mita TĂ´no monogatariâ (Linguistic Expression in TĂ´no monogatari) °ŐĂ´˛Ô´Ç˛ľ˛š°ěłÜ Vol. 2 (April 2013), pp. 65 â 69; 80 â 87. (Conference proceedings and transcript of panel discussion)
âShajitsushugi bungaku to shite yomu TĂ´no monogatariâ (Reading TĂ´no monogatarias Realist Literature). Trans. Nakai Maki. In Sekai no naka no Yanagita Kunio, ed. Ronald A. Morse and Akasaka Norio. Tokyo: Fujiwara shoten, 2012, pp. 146 â186.
âReading TĂ´no monogatari (Tales of TĂ´no) as Literary Realism,â in Yanagita Kunio and Japanese Folklore Studies in the 21st Century, ed. Ronald A. Morse. Kawaguchi, Japan: Japanime Co., 2012, pp. 81 â 105. Online.
âBrave Dogs and Little Lords: Some Thoughts on Translation, Literary Style, and the Debate on Childhood in Mid-Meiji,â in Translation in Modern Japan, ed. Indra Levy. New York: Routledge, 2011, pp. 186 â 212.
âNarrative Realism and the Modern Storyteller: Rereading Yanagita Kunioâs TĂ´no monogatari.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Monumenta Nipponica Vol. 64 No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 127 â 165.
âBrave Dogs and Little Lords: Some Thoughts on Translation, Literary Style, and the Debate on Childhood in Mid-Meiji.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Review of Japanese Culture and Society Vol. 20 (December 2008), pp. 178 â 205.
âYanagita Kunio to Nihon no kindaika: TĂ´no monogatari kara sengo no kyĂ´kasho made.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Yanagita Kunio kenkyĂť ronshĂť No. 6 (August 2008), pp. 49 â 57.
âNational History as Otaku Fantasy: Satoshi Konâs Millennium Actressâ in Japanese Visual Culture, ed. Mark MacWilliams. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008, pp. 274 â 294.
âSurveying Comparative Literature from the Pacific Rim.â Coauthored with Charlotte Eubanks. ADFL Bulletin 38.3/39.1 (Spring/Fall 2007), pp. 34 â 39.
âIndexing the Past: Visual Language and Translatability in Kon Satoshiâs Millennium Actress.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 14.4 (2006), pp. 278 â 291.
âSketching Out the Critical Tradition: Yanagita Kunio and the Reappraisal of Realismâ in Japanese Poeticity and Narrativity Revisited: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies, West Lafayette, 4-5 October 2002, ed. Eiji Sekine. West Lafayette: AJLS, 2003, pp. 184 â 193.
âFictional Fantasy or Historical Fact? The Search for Japanese Identity in Miyazaki Hayaoâs Mononokehimeâ in A Century of Popular Culture in Japan, ed. Doug Slaymaker. Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000, pp. 199 â 228.
Translations
Wang Qing. âA Comparative Study of Religious Thought in the Work of Cai Yuanpei and Inoue EnryĂ´.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;International Journal of Inoue EnryĂ´ Research 1 (July 2013). Online at
âThe Temple of GodaiâIntroduction and translation of âGodai-dĂ´â by Tazawa Inabuneâ and âHiding the GrayâIntroduction and translation of âShiragazomeâ by Kitada Usurai,â in The Modern Murasaki: Selected Works by Women Writers of Meiji Japan, co-editor Rebecca Copeland (Columbia University Press, 2006): 151-184; 185-214.
âKano Shihoâ (interview of the Japanese avant-garde filmmaker by Scott MacDonald). In A Critical Cinema 5: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. 347 â 357.
Other Publications
âInterview with Melek Ortabasiâ by Pola Lem. Times Higher Education. March 30, 2023.
Interviewed by Corbett, Emily, and L Phillips. âPloughing the Field: A Discussion 91ĹÝÜ˝ YA Studies.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;International Journal of Young Adult Literature vol. 1, no. 1, 2020. doi:10.24877/ijyal.28.
Interviewed by Tristan Grunow. âEpisode 37â of the Meiji at 150 Podcast. June 22, 2018.
âJapanese Literature as World Literature.â Invited blog post for Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, no. 17 of Japan in Translation Blog Series. May 19, 2018.
Review and Analysis of Millennium Actress, dir. Kon Satoshi, in Mazinga Nostalgia: Storia, valori e linguaggi della Goldrake-generation dal 1978 al nuovo secolo, vol. 2. (âNostalgia for Mazinger: History, values, and languages of the Grendizer-generation from 1978 to the new centuryâ), 2 vols. By Marco Pellitteri. Latina (Italy): TunuĂŠ, 2018, pp. 1219-1223. (Translated into Italian by M. Pellitteri)
Book Review of Timothy J. Van Compernolle, Struggling Upward: Worldly Success and the Japanese Novel. Harvard University Asia Center, 2016, in Japan Forum 29.4 (2017): 1-3.
Book Review of Mayako Murai, From Dog Bridegroom to Wolf Girl: Contemporary Japanese Fairy-Tale Adaptations in Conversation with the West (Wayne State University Press, 2015); and Fumihiko Kobayashi, Japanese Animal-Wife Tales: Narrating Gender Reality in Japanese Folktale Tradition (Peter Lang, 2015), in Monumenta Nipponica 71.2 (2016).
âKaisetsu. Kokkyo o kakeru shĂ´joâ in Tenzan no miko Sonin 5. Tokyo: KĂ´dansha, 2016, pp. 287-292.
Interview of Stephen Snyder, translator of Confessions by Minato Kanae, for SCBWI Japan Translation Group (March 2015), https://ihatov.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/an-interview-with-stephen-snyder/.
Book Review of Heather Snell and Lorna Hutchinson, eds., Children and Cultural Memory in Texts of Childhood, Routledge, 2014; in Bookbird: A Journal of International Childrenâs Literature 53.1 (2015), pp. 96-97.
Book Review of Anthony S. Rausch, Japanâs Local Newspapers: ChihĂ´shi and Revitalization Journalism, Routledge, 2012; in electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies 14.3 (December 2014),
Book Review of Shelley Tanaka, Nobody Knows, Groundwood Books, 2012; inBookbird: A Journal of International Childrenâs Literature 52.1 (January 2014), p. 62.
âSekai bungaku no naka no Yanagita Kunio: TĂ´no monogatari wo chĂťshin niâ inYanagita Kunio zenshĂť vol. 34 ˛ľąđąčąčĂ´. Tokyo: Chikuma shobĂ´, 2013, pp. 3 â5.
âBringing Students (in)to the World: Asia in the World Literature Classroom.âEducation 91ĹÝÜ˝ Asia 18.1 (Spring 2013), pp. 4 â 7.
Book Review of Michiko Suzuki, Becoming Modern Women, Stanford University Press, 2009; in Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific 28 (February/March 2012).
âTeaching Modern Japanese History with Animation: Satoshi Konâs Millennium Actress.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Education 91ĹÝÜ˝ Asia 12.1 (Spring 2007), pp. 62 â 65.
âThe I-Novelâ in Encyclopedia of Life Writing, ed. Margaretta Jolly. 2 vols. London: Fitzroy-Dearborn Publishers, 2001. Vol. 1, pp. 453 â 454.
INVITED LECTURES
âKyĂ´zai to shite no bungaku â Meiji to TaishĂ´ no kyĂ´ikusha ga Ăbei ni mananda koto.â&˛Ô˛ú˛őąč;Symposium âLiterature Goes To School.â Kanagawa University, Yokohama, September 3, 2022. In Japanese.
âA Japanese Childrenâs Classic in Italy: Translating Edmondo de Amicisâ Cuore in Prewar Japan.â Waseda University, Tokyo, May 27, 2022. .
âThe Wonderful Adventures of Western Childrenâs Classics in the East.â University of Florida, February 14, 2020.
âLanguage Difference as an Asset in the Classroom and Beyond.â With Dr. Joel Heng Hartse. Centre for English Language Learning, Teaching, and Research at 91ĹÝÜ˝, May 14, 2019.
â3,000 Leagues in Search of Cuore: Edmondo de Amicis Travels to Japan.â CJR Lunchtime Lecture Series at University of British Columbia, November 27, 2018.
âHuman in Spirit: Popular Visual Culture and the Republic of Supernatural Japanese Citizens.â Symposium on the âNonhuman in Japanese Culture and Society: Spirits, Animals, Technologyâ at University of Victoria, September 22, 2018.
âCollaboration and the Art of Doing More With Less.â âTeaching World Literature: Debates, Models, Pedagogiesâ at University of Washington, October 21, 2016.
âTrees, Waves, and Rhizomes Under the Microscope.â âTeaching World Literature: Debates, Models, Pedagogiesâ at University of Washington, October 21, 2016.
âRandoku no kuse: Meiji TaishĂ´ no erĂŽto to kodomo jidai no dokusho keiken.â Tokyo Gakugei University, May 22, 2015. In Japanese.
âRandoku no kuse: Meiji TaishĂ´ no erĂŽto to kodomo jidai no dokusho keiken.â The Faculty of International Studies, Meiji Gakuin University, April 8, 2015. In Japanese.
âIn Search of Lost Worlds: Meiji and TaishĂ´ Period Elites Remember Their Childhood Reading.â Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore, March 23, 2015.
âWorld Literature in the Nursery, 1870-1930: Fin de siècle Elites and Memories of Childhood Reading.â Stanford University, February 11, 2015.
âThe Undiscovered Country: Text, Translation and Modernity in the Work of Yanagita Kunio.â East Asian Studies Workshop, Stanford University, February 10, 2015.
âTranslation, Transnationalism, and Japanese Childrenâs Literature, 1870-1930.â Symposium of Japanese Childrenâs Literature. Colorado College, Colorado Springs, May 31, 2014.
âTraditionally Modern: Folklore Studies, Nation, Japan.â University of Washington, Seattle, April 15, 2014.
âShajitsushugi bungaku to shite yomu TĂ´no monogatariâ (Reading TĂ´no monogatarias Realist Literature). Symposium entitled â21-seiki ni okeru Yanagita Kunio.â TĂ´no City, Japan, August 24, 2012. In Japanese.
âTen Years post-PhD, or: Thoughts on Surviving (and Thriving) in the Profession.â Keynote speech. UBC Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference. University of British Columbia, May 12, 2012.
âThe Curious Cabinet of Kon Satoshi: Phantasm, Feminism, and Fear.â Asian Film Festival at the Kellogg Institute of International Studies. University of Notre Dame, March 26, 2011.
âAmerika kara yomu TĂ´no monogatariâ (Reading Tales of TĂ´no from America). Symposium entitled âAratanaru Yanagita Kunio.â Tokyo Gakugei University, January 29, 2011. In Japanese.
âAn Introduction to Anime: The History and Culture of a Transnational Medium.â Invited by the Asian Educational Media Service at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. April 29, 2009.
âGender in Japanese Anime.â Led faculty seminar for the St. Lawrence University Asian Studies Initiative. November 12, 2004.
âEthnology and Dialect: Yanagita Kunio and the Authorship of National Language.â Japanese Humanities Lecture Series at the University of Washington. May 23, 2003.
PRESENTATIONS AT SCHOLARLY MEETINGS
âWorld Literature Goes to School in Meiji Japanâ at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan. June 18, 2022. (held remotely)
âThe Childhood Memoir and Childrenâs Cultures of Reading in Meiji and TaishĂ´ Japanâ at Modernity, Memory, and Asian Childhood. National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. November 20, 2021. (held remotely)
âAround the World in 80 Years: How an Italian Childrenâs Classic Went to Japan and Backâ at AAS (Association for Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Denver, March 21- March 26, 2021. (held remotely)
âResourceful Reading and the Childhood Memoir.â Childrenâs Literature and Digital Humanities. Antwerp, Belgium, October 22-23, 2020. (held remotely)
âBig World in a Small Package: Creating a Department of World Languages and Literaturesâ Modern Languages Association Annual Convention. Seattle, WA, January 9-12, 2020.
âMultilingual Literature and Literacy in the World Literature Classroomâ at Multilingual Literatures: An Interdisciplinary Conference. Gregynog Hall, Wales, July 17 - 19, 2019.
âA Wild Goose Chase: Tracing the Reception of Western Childrenâs Classics in Japanâ at AAS (Association for Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Denver, March 21- March 24, 2019.
âWorld Childrenâs Literatureâ at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, USA, March 29-April 1, 2018.
âTracking the Elusive Historical Child Readerâ at IRSCL (International Research Society for Childrenâs Literature) Congress 2017. York University, Toronto, July 29-August 2, 2017.
âBringing Young Readers Into the World: The Pedagogical Uses of Literature Around 1900â at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. Utrecht, Netherlands, July 7-9, 2017.
âNationalist Texts With International Appeal: Or, the Strange Tale of Childrenâs World Literature at the Extended Fin de Siècleâ at Other Europes: Migrations, Translations, Transformations, MLA International Symposia: Translating the Humanities. DĂźsseldorf, Germany, 25 June 2016.
âEdmondo de Amicis Travels East: Cuore in Japanese Translation and Adaptationâ at Regional Identities on a Global Scale: Translation, Audiences, Reception, Transnational Perspectives in Italian Studies. University of British Columbia, April 2, 2016.
âThe Nursery of Meiji Literature: Eisai shinshi (Genius magazine) and Children as Authorsâ at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Seattle, March 31-April 3, 2016.
âTranslating the modernizing landscape: Yanagita Kunio and the travelogueâ at UBC Japan Seminar. UBC, March 23, 2012.
âChildrenâs Literature and Translation, or: The World Republic of Childhoodâ at Scroll to Screen Symposium. UBC, October 3, 2011.
âThe Politics of Translation: Iwaya Sazanamiâs Tale of the Brave Dog Koganemaru(1891) as an âOriginalâ Work of Childrenâs Literatureâ at Modernist Studies Association annual meeting. Victoria, November 11-14, 2010.
â(Re)Animating Folklore: Raccoon Dogs, Foxes, and other Supernatural Citizens in Takahata Isaoâs Heisei tanuki gassen pompokoâ at Kinema Club 2010 (an association of scholars of Japanese cinema) annual meeting. Honolulu, July 30 - August 1, 2010.
âWorld Literature for Children: The Case of Iwaya Sazanamiâs The Brave Dog Kogane-maru (1891)â at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. New Orleans, April 1-4, 2010.
âThinking like a Patriot, Speaking like an Individual: Yanagita Kunio and Prewar Educationâ at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Chicago, March 26-29, 2009.
âTeaching Children to Do Things With Words: Yanagita Kunio and the Postwar Education Debateâ at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Atlanta, April 3-6, 2008.
âYanagita Kunio to Nihon no kindaika: TĂ´no monogatari kara sengo no kyĂ´kasho madeâ at the Yanagita Kunio no kai. Ătani University (Kyoto), July 28, 2007. In Japanese
âIndexing the Past: Visual Language and Translatability in Kon Satoshiâs Millennium Actressâ at Kinema Club Conference VIII. Frankfurt (Germany), April 23, 2007.
âNational History as Otaku Fantasy: Kon Satoshiâs Millennium Actressâ at ACAG 2006 (International Conference on Asian Comics, Animation and Gaming). York University (Toronto), May 18-19, 2006.
âAuthentic(ating) Voices of the Folk: Yanagita Kunioâs Criticism of Language Reformâ at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Chicago, March 28-31, 2005.
âLandscape and the Lonely Traveler: Yanagita Kunio and Sugae Masumiâ at the Association for Japanese Literary Studies Annual Conference. University of Washington (Seattle), October 22-24, 2004. Abstract
âYanagita Kunioâs Reflections on Snails and the Role of Dialect in Authoring National Languageâ at the Modern Languages Association Annual Convention. San Diego, December 27-20, 2003.
âMiyazaki Hayaoâs Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi: Escaping Japan?â at The New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) 2002 Annual Meeting. Skidmore College (New York State), October 25-26, 2002.
âSketching Out the Critical Tradition: Yanagita Kunio and the Reappraisal of Realismâ at the Association for Japanese Literary Studies Annual Conference. Purdue University (Indiana), October 4-5, 2002.
âCompeting Conceptions of Modern Selfhood: Native Ethnologist Yanagita Kunio and the Meiji-TaishĂ´ Literary Communityâ at the DIJ Humanities Study Group. Deutsches Institut fĂźr Japanstudien (Tokyo), May 23, 2001.
âTravel Writing and Reimagining the Native Landscape: Yanagita Kunioâs Kainan shokiâ at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Chicago, March 22-25, 2001.
âJapanese Native Ethnology and Modern Travel Writing: Literary Genre and National Identityâ at the Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (ASPAC) 2000 Annual Meeting. University of Oregon, June 16-18, 2000.
âFictional Fantasy or Historical Fact? The Search for Japanese Identity in Miyazaki Hayao's Mononokehimeâ at Beyond Babel: Common Language, Common Differences, Common Ground. UC San Diego, October 14-16, 1999.
âMiyazaki Hayao no Mononokehime ni okeru shizenkanâ at Nihon Minzoku Gakkai dai 50kai nenkai. BukkyĂ´ University, Kyoto, October 3-5, 1998.
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Childrenâs literature and World literature
- Translation theory and practice
- Cultural studies and intellectual history of 20th-century Japan
- Crosscultural influences between European and Japanese literature and critical theory
- Comparative folklore studies
- Film and popular culture in contemporary Japan
COURSES CURRENTLY TAUGHT
- WL 101W - Writing 91ĹÝÜ˝ Literature: Fiction and Cultural Identity
- WL 105W - World Literature Lab
- WL 200 - Literary Analysis and Interpretation
- WL 201 - East/West: Representations of Japan in Popular Culture
- WL 301W - Advanced Composition: The World Republic of Childhood
- WL 330 - Special Topic in World Literature: Transnational Youth
- WL 404 - Literature and Translation
Please click here for course descriptions and outlines
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
- Modern Japanese: excellent reading, writing and speaking abilities
- Classical Japanese: very good reading ability
- German: excellent reading, writing and speaking abilities
- Spanish: good reading, speaking ability
- Classical Chinese: fair reading ability
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
- Modern Language Association (MLA)
- Association for Japanese Literature Studies (AJLS)
- American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
- International Research Society for Childrenâs Literature (IRSCL)