Fusako Innami

Dr. Fusako Innami is an Associate Professor in Japanese and Performance Studies at Durham University’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures. She holds fellowships at the Institute for Medical Humanities and the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing.

Her research focuses on embodied practices, transcultural performance, and modern Japanese literature. Key works include Touching the Unreachable (2021), which explores touch as interstitial space through phenomenological and psychoanalytic frameworks. Current projects include Gestural Writing at UC Berkeley, reconstructing ephemeral performances through traces like reviews and archives.

Research interests span life writing, operatic orientalism, and intermedial translation. Awards include the International Federation for Theatre Research’s New Scholars’ Prize (2012) and a 2024–25 Fulbright Scholarship. She advises PhD students on topics like Japanese embodiment studies and transcultural performance.

Her practice includes dance workshops (Touch) and symposiums (Translating Embodiedness), bridging academic and artistic methodologies. Education includes an MA in Performance Studies (NYU) and a DPhil in Japanese literature (Oxford).