Women in Japanese Studies - (Asia Past & Present) by Alisa Freedman (Paperback)

About the Book

This Book brings together trailblazing women scholars from diverse disciplines in Japanese Studies to reflect on their careers and offer advice to colleagues.

Book Synopsis

Women in Japanese Studies: Memoirs from a Trailblazing Generation brings together trailblazing women scholars from diverse disciplines in Japanese Studies to reflect on their careers and offer advice to colleagues.

Most books present research and pedagogies. We do something different: We share lives--personal stories of how women scholars earned graduate degrees and began careers bridging Japan and North America between the 1950s and 1980 and balanced professional and personal responsibilities. We challenge the common narrative that Japanese Studies was established by men who worked for the US military after World War II or were from missionary families in Japan. This is only part of the story--the field was also created by women who took advantage of postwar opportunities for studying Japan. Women of this generation were among the first scholars to use Japanese source materials in research published in English and the first foreigners to study at Japanese universities. Their careers benefitted from fellowships, educational developments, activist movements to include the study of women and Asia in university curricula, and measures to prevent gender discrimination. Yet there were instances when, due to their gender, women received smaller salaries, faced hurdles to tenure, and were excluded from, or ignored, at conferences.

Our book pioneers a genre of academic memoirs, capturing emotional and intellectual experiences omitted from institutional histories. We offer lively, engaging, thoughtful, brave, empowering stories that start larger conversations about gender and inclusion in the academy and in Japan-American educational exchange.

Review Quotes

This book illustrates the courage, curiosity, and unwavering determination of thirty-one remarkable women who played pivotal roles in shaping Japanese Studies. Through their stories, we delve into the impact of legal and institutional changes, navigate entrenched biases, explore serendipitous opportunities, and witness the influence of remarkable mentors. "Women in Japanese Studies" encapsulates a legacy that resonates to this day.--Jan Bardsley, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

This volume represents a labor of love - on the part of the editor and organizers, on the part of those women gathered together to share their stories, on the part of AAS in recognizing the importance of individual lives in telling a broader tale of scholarship shaped through relationships and resistant histories. In these pages we feel the very human and institutional costs that have been part of the blazings of intellectual trails. With gender as a critical frame, this volume shines a spotlight upon Japan as a textured object of study, wrought through these women's experiences.--Christine Yano, University of Hawaii

As individuals, the thirty-one scholars featured in this remarkable collection have each made significant contributions to the field of Japanese studies in North America. Collectively, they have transformed it. Often sobering and at times, breathtaking, their richly varied and deeply personal accounts of what it was like to make that transformation happen will be read with profit by anyone interested in the history of Anglophone scholarship on Japan, and serve as a powerful source of both insight and inspiration for those who seek to chart its future.--Daniel Botsman, Yale University

This inspiring collection will be a lasting resource for students and scholars of Japan. From the palpable intellectual excitement to the personal experiences and relationships that shaped each writer's professional trajectory, every chapter tells a story worth savoring, and the scholarly apparatus and illustrations included are true gems.--Indra Levy, Stanford University

This unique collection testifies to the strength, creativity, and sheer grit of thirty-one women who changed the face of Japanese Studies in North America and Japan. They created new pathways and possibilities, modeling ways to forge ahead with the help of mentors and despite roadblocks. An invaluable resource, Women in Japanese Studies will have you cheering on each remarkable author.--Rebecca Copeland, Washington University in St. Louis

About the Author

ALISA FREEDMAN is a professor of Japanese literature, cultural studies, and gender at the University of Oregon. Her books include Japan on American TV: Screaming Samurai Join Anime Clubs in the Land of the Lost (AAS Asia Shorts book series, 2021); Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Culture on the Rails and Road (2010); an annotated translation of Kawabata Yasunari's The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa (2005); a coedited volume on Modern Girls on the Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan (2013); and an edited textbook on Introducing Japanese Popular Culture (first edition in 2017, second edition in 2023). She served as the editor in chief of the US-Japan Women's Journal (2016-2022) and has published more than thirty-five articles and chapters for peer-reviewed journals and books, around twenty-five literary translations and co-translations, several guides to academic publishing, and numerous articles for general-interest publications. She is the Faculty Fellow of a university residence hall and has received a national award for her mentorship work. Alisa enjoys presenting at public events like cultural festivals, anime cons, and reading groups.