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Takuya Tsunoda serves as Assistant Professor of Japanese Film and Media in the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures at Columbia University, with prior teaching appointments at Colgate University and the University of Chicago. Currently on leave for spring 2022, he maintains his office in 416 Kent Hall (contact: (212) 854-5040, tt2101@columbia.edu). His academic credentials include: BA: Waseda University (2002), Columbia University (2005) MA: Columbia University (2008) PhD: Yale University (2015) Dr. Tsunoda's research centers on institutional-media interplay through historical and theoretical lenses, examining how technologies shape socio-cultural practices and knowledge formations. His seminal work investigates Iwanami Productions' evolution from educational/science film provider to New Cinema pioneer, arguing that Japan's 1960s cinematic revolution originated in institutionalized audio-visual pedagogy rather than political radicalism. Current explorations extend to media reflexivity, alpine photography, insect ecology, children's media engagement, and diegesis in contemporary visual culture. Teaching : Courses include East Asian Cinema, Japanese Contemporary Media Culture, Japanese New Wave Modernism, Documentary Film Studies, and Critical Approaches to East Asian Theory. His publication trajectory (2018-2022) reveals consistent focus on postwar Japanese media archaeology, connecting educational film, industrial cinema, and New Wave movements through archival analysis. Key themes include cross-medial academicism, mediascape transformations, and the socio-political dimensions of visual pedagogy in reconstructing cinematic modernism. Active research trajectories include transnational New Wave parameters, television documentary studies, and ecological media representations, with ongoing book project examining Iwanami Productions' institutional legacy.

• Japanese Cinema
• Media Archaeology
• Cinematic Modernism
• +8 more

Carlos Jáuregui is Professor of Spanish at the University of Notre Dame, with concurrent appointments in Anthropology and faculty fellowships at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and Institute of Latino Studies. His research focuses on colonial Latin American cultural studies, biopolitics, and visual culture, bridging literary analysis with historical anthropology. Education includes: Ph.D. Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh (2001) Graduate Certificate in Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh (2000) M.A. Spanish American Literature, West Virginia University (1997) Law Degree, Universidad Externado de Colombia (1993) Research explores colonial power dynamics through frameworks like biopolitics and postcolonial theory, examining how historical narratives conceal violence while invoking spectral 'returns' of suppressed alterity. Recent work analyzes visual sovereignty in revolutionary iconography (e.g., Emiliano Zapata) and theological justifications of Spanish colonialism. Publications consistently engage with paradoxes of memory, resistance, and representation across 500 years of Latin American cultural production. Awards highlight transnational recognition: 2024 Emiliano Zapata Catedra distinction 2023 Dolores Huerta Book Award Premio Casa de las Américas (2005) Multiple Fulbright and NEH fellowships Advising includes doctoral students now faculty at University of Florida, Concordia College, Carleton College, and Furman University. Current book projects examine colonial renegades in Yucatán and monumental forgetting of Hernán Cortés in Mexico (1524-2024).

• Colonial Studies
• Biopolitics
• Latin American Cultural Studies
• +4 more

Prita Meier is an Associate Professor of Art History at New York University's College of Arts & Science , affiliated with the Department of Art History & the Institute of Fine Arts. Her work bridges African art history, Indian Ocean world studies, and global modernity frameworks. Education: Ph.D. (2007) in History of Art, Harvard University M.A. (2000) in History of Art, University of Iowa B.A. (1996) in Art History, University of Florida Research Interests focus on the visual and architectural cultures of Africa, particularly Swahili Coast port cities, exploring globalization's cultural dimensions, Islamic art, and photography histories. Her work interrogates spatial-temporal dynamics in African modernity and colonial art frameworks. Scientific Awards include CASVA Senior Fellowship, NEH Implementation Grant (with Allyson Purpura), Mellon Collaborative Grant (with Kenny Cupers), Clark Art Institute Residential Fellowship, and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship. Notably, she declined the National Humanities Center Fellowship and Stanford Humanities Fellows Program. Publications highlight Indian Ocean trade networks, Swahili Coast architecture, and photography's global circulation. Recent works (2020-2017) examine infrastructure as identity, oceanic materiality, and itinerant art historiography. Earlier articles (2016-2009) analyze porcelain trade, modernist discontents, and Swahili funerary practices. Contact: spm9@nyu.edu | 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003

• Art and architecture of Africa
• Port cities and visual cultures of the Indian Ocean world
• Comparative urbanism
• +4 more

Miryam Sas is a Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work bridges Japanese literature, film, theater, and avant-garde arts with critical theory. She specializes in 20th-century cultural movements, postwar Japanese experimental arts, and media theory. Her research includes studies on surrealism, intermedia, and post-Holocaust representation, with notable works like Feeling Media: Potentiality and the Afterlife of Art (2022) and Experimental Arts in Postwar Japan (2010). Her research interests span Japanese modernism, intermedia art, feminist film analysis, and photographic theory. She has curated exhibitions for institutions such as MoMA, the Getty Museum, and the Mori Art Museum, contributing essays on postwar avant-gardes and Japanese photography. Recent projects include translations of modernist poets Sagawa Chika and Ema Shōko, and collaborative archival work on Finding Zbaraż . Prof. Sas has been awarded the UC President’s Research Fellowship for her media theory work. Her teaching focuses on critical theory, Japanese cinema, and media studies, offering courses on infrastructural aesthetics and transnational Asian media. She actively participates in interdisciplinary dialogues through lectures and radio programs like France Culture’s La Fabrique de l’Histoire .

• Japanese Literature
• Film Studies
• Theater Studies
• +7 more

Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at New York University. He holds a joint PhD in Anthropology and Education from the University of Pennsylvania (2015) and a B.A. in Economics and Finance from George Mason University (1997). His research focuses on media consumption, production, and circulation in relation to migration, gender, race, and urban space. He co-edits the Multimodal Section of the American Anthropological Association's flagship journal, American Anthropologist. His first book, *The Globally Familiar: Digital hip hop, masculinity and urban space in Delhi* (Duke UP, 2020), examines how Delhi’s youth utilize hip hop aesthetics through digital platforms. His forthcoming co-authored book *Digital Unsettling: Decoloniality and Dispossession in the Age of Social Media* (NYU Press) critiques corporate social media’s colonial legacies. Current projects include ethnographic work on African communities in India and a study of Angolan anthropologist Augusto Zita N’Gonguenho’s anticolonial methodologies. He previously served as Senior Lecturer and co-director of the Centre for Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research employs collaborative, multimodal approaches to explore decoloniality, digital media’s socio-political impacts, and urban cultural dynamics.

• Media Studies
• Urban Anthropology
• Digital Cultures
• +6 more

Susan Smith-Peter is a Professor of History at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York, specializing in Russian history beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg. Her research focuses on regional identity, civil society development, and imperial governance in 19th-century Russia, with particular attention to Siberia and provincial dynamics. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. from Ohio University. Her work analyzes how Tsarist administrative frameworks fostered subnational identities through statistical bureaus, agricultural societies, and provincial newspapers. Notable contributions include *Imagining Russian Regions* (2018), which argues that autocracy’s civil society initiatives inadvertently fueled revolutionary movements. Her research has been supported by grants from the Fulbright Program, American Historical Association, and IREX. Professor Smith-Peter’s publications span journals like *Slavic Review* and *Kritika*, exploring topics from sugar beet industries to colonial Alaska. She has translated key texts into Russian and edited historical documents such as *The Great Republic Tested by the Touch of Truth*. She serves on campus committees and previously chaired Columbia University’s Seminar on Slavic History and Culture. Key Awards: Fulbright Fellowship, American Historical Association Grant, IREX Grant Grants: Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, University of Illinois Grant, CUNY Grant Her interdisciplinary approach bridges economic, cultural, and political history, emphasizing regional agency within imperial contexts. Ongoing projects explore Siberian historiography and the legacy of 19th-century provincial activism.

• Russian History
• Regional Identity Studies
• Civil Society Development
• +5 more

Philip J. Ethington is Professor of History, Political Science, and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California's Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. As Co-Director of the USC Center for Transformative Scholarship and Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, he bridges historical scholarship with digital innovation through projects like HyperCities. Ethington's educational background includes: Ph.D. in History from Stanford University (1989) Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University's Charles Warren Center (2007-2008) Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute (1996-1997) His research pioneers spatial theory of history through chronographs and digital cartography, examining urban evolution from Pleistocene times to present. Key interests include global metropolis studies , visual culture , and digital humanities , with focus on Los Angeles as a case study for transnational urban dynamics. Recent publications reveal consistent exploration of spatial dimensions in historical analysis, particularly through geographic institutionalism and deep historical regionalism. His work integrates cartographic innovation with theoretical frameworks to map urban change across millennia, emphasizing institutional ecology and transnational connections. Scientific recognition includes: Nomination for USC's Steven B. Sample Teaching Award (2010-2011) USC Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellowship (2004-2005) Award-winning documentary film Visual Acoustics (2009) Ethington mentors undergraduate researchers in urban history while leading major grants including MacArthur Foundation's HyperCities project ($238,000) and NEH's Digital Humanities initiative ($248,492). His funded work develops collaborative platforms for geohistorical research and digital publishing. He co-directs the USC History Lab and Center for Transformative Scholarship, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration through the Population Dynamics Lab and HyperCities consortium for participatory urban mapping.

• Urban History
• Political History
• Social History
• +10 more

Seth Koven is the G.E. Lessing Distinguished Professor of History and Poetics at Rutgers University since 2017. He holds a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University and has been affiliated with Rutgers since 2006. His research spans gender, social, economic, and cultural history of Europe (1750–present), with a focus on modern Britain, its empire, women's history, and the history of sexuality. His work explores intersections of ethics, altruism, and social welfare, exemplified in Slumming: Social and Sexual Politics in Victorian London (2004, 2006) and The Match Girl and the Heiress (2014, 2016), which won the Stansky Prize and NAVSA Best Book awards. His current projects, including Conscience Wars , examine the history of humanitarianism, anti-humanitarianism, and conscientious objection in the British Empire. Recent publications analyze race, religion, and vaccination resistance in Natal, conscience and Christianity in 19th-century India, and passive resistance movements across the British Empire. He co-directed the Mellon-funded "Ethical Subjects" research project (2015-17) and directs the Rutgers British Studies Center, supporting interdisciplinary scholarship and graduate initiatives. Scientific Awards : Guggenheim Fellowship (2021), Stansky Prize (2015), Sonya Rudikoff Prize (2004), Veritas Award (2004). Supervision : Supervises Ph.D. students (18th–20th centuries) and collaborates with scholars like Judith Surkis and Thomas Laqueur. Grants : Multiple NEH Fellowships, Spencer Fellow, Whiting Fellow, and Mellon Foundation funding.

• Modern British History
• Women's and Gender History
• History of Sexuality
• +10 more

Wei-Cheng Lin is Associate Professor of Art History and the College at the University of Chicago , specializing in Chinese art and architecture. He serves as Faculty Director of the Dispersed Chinese Art Digitalization Project , sits on the steering committee of the Center for the Art of East Asia , and acts as Architectural Studies Advisor. His office is located in CWAC 268 with weekly office hours on Wednesdays. Educational background details are not explicitly provided in the text; however, he held an appointment as Assistant Professor of East Asian Art and Architecture at Iowa State University during 2006–2007. Lin’s research interrogates the intersections of visual and material culture in medieval Chinese Buddhist art and architecture and the ritual dimensions of Chinese funerary practices . Current book projects include Performative Architecture of China , which explores how architecture enacts meaning through historical performance, and Necessarily Incomplete: Fragments of Chinese Artifacts , which investigates the active roles of fragmentary artifacts in shaping multivalent cultural significance. Across more than twenty publications, Lin’s scholarship ranges from detailed studies of Mount Wutai and Dunhuang to theoretical inquiries into architectural historiography , materiality , and contemporary Chinese art . His work bridges art history, architectural history, religious studies, and digital humanities. Grants & Digital Initiatives: Faculty Director, Dispersed Chinese Art Digitalization Project (DCADP) — supported by the Cyrus Tang Foundation Manages DCADP publication series, including Beijing Zhihua Temple (2024) and Exhibiting East Asian Art in a Global Context (2025, co-edited with Chelsea Foxwell) Laboratories & Teams: Lin leads collaborative efforts through the Center for the Art of East Asia and the UChicago Center in Beijing , organizing exhibitions, international conferences, and digital humanities workshops that integrate art-historical research with cutting-edge visualization technologies.

• Chinese art history
• Chinese architectural history
• Buddhist art and architecture
• +7 more

Sunny Stalter-Pace serves as the Hargis Professor of American Literature in Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts, English Department. A specialist in modernist performance, literature, and urban space, she authored Imitation Artist: Gertrude Hoffmann's Life in Vaudeville and Dance (2020) and is currently completing a cultural history of the New York Hippodrome. Her work bridges academic research with public engagement through blogs, interviews, and collaborations with institutions like the Library of Congress. Her educational foundation includes: Ph.D. in English, Rutgers University (2007) M.A. in English, Rutgers University (2003) B.A. in English and French, Loyola University Chicago (1997), magna cum laude Stalter-Pace's research interrogates intersections of mobility, gender, and performance in 20th-century American culture. She examines how vaudeville, subway systems, and theatrical spectacles shaped public identity, with particular attention to women's experiences and spatial politics. Her methodology combines literary analysis, archival research, and visual studies to reveal how imitation and movement function as cultural forces. Current projects explore aquatic performances at the New York Hippodrome and the legacy of vaudeville producer Gertrude Hoffmann. Her 15 most recent publications demonstrate an evolving trajectory from subway systems ( Underground Movements , 2013) toward aquatic spectacles and vaudeville legacies, consistently centered on New York City's infrastructure. This body of work establishes mobility studies as a critical lens for understanding modernism, revealing how transportation networks and performance venues structured social interactions. Her interdisciplinary approach connects theater history, gender studies, and urban theory to uncover marginalized narratives in American cultural production. Key recognitions include: Harry Ransom Center Fellowship (2020) New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship (2020) Alabama Humanities Foundation Grant (2014) College of Liberal Arts Excellence in Teaching Award nomination (2011) Multiple research fellowships from 2003-2017 Stalter-Pace has secured substantial funding for archival research through fellowships from the NEH, MLA, and university grants. She serves on Biographer’s International Organization's program committee and curated the 'Common Grounds' exhibition at Auburn's Jule Collins Smith Museum. Her teaching innovations include the first-year seminar 'Thinking Through the Arts' and courses on contemporary drama that integrate Hamilton into American literature pedagogy. As Book Review Editor for Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies , she shaped scholarly discourse in mobility studies. Through her Hippodrome research blog and collaborations with the New York Public Library, Stalter-Pace transforms specialized scholarship into accessible public history. Her Library of Congress presentation on Albertina Rasch and the Hippodrome exemplifies her commitment to bridging academic research with community engagement, while ongoing interviews and blog posts extend her work beyond traditional academic boundaries.

• American Literature
• American Modernism
• Performance Studies
• +6 more

Adrian Martinez Chavez is a Mexican American artist, educator, and DJ currently serving as a Lecturer in Photography at Trinity College, Hartford, CT. He holds a BFA from the Hartford Art School and an MFA from the Yale School of Art. His practice spans photography, audio, video, and filmmaking, often exploring immigrant experiences through familial perspectives. Connecticut Office of the Arts Grant Greater Hartford Arts Council Grant New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Houston Center for Photography Grant His research interests focus on cultural preservation, Latin American diaspora narratives, and socially engaged art. Key projects include the Cumbias, Cumbias, y Más Cumbias installation, which merges historical audio archives with contemporary DJ culture to explore migration through sound. Exhibitions of his work have appeared nationally, including at Yale University, AMANITA NY, and the University of Hartford's Goldfarb Memorial Collection. His New York Times publications blend journalistic storytelling with visual documentation of human experiences.

• Photography
• Film and Video Art
• Cultural Studies
• +6 more

Ariella Aïsha Azoulay is a Professor of Comparative Literature and Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. Her work interrogates the intersections of photography, political philosophy, and decolonial praxis. She holds a PhD from Tel Aviv University (1997) and an MA from Université Paris VIII Saint Denis (1986). Her research focuses on photography’s political ontology, colonialism, and human rights discourses. Key works include Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism (2019), Civil Imagination: The Political Ontology of Photography (2012), and The Civil Contract of Photography (2008). She has curated exhibitions such as The Natural History of Rape (2022) and Enough! The Natural Violence of the New World Order (2016). Research Interests: Colonial archives, visual politics, decolonial methodologies, Palestinian liberation, and anti-imperial frameworks. Awards: Infinity Award (2002). Her teaching spans courses on colonialism, migration, and anti-colonial thought, including COLT 1815J: 1492 – Unlearning Single World Order and MCM 2100R: Potential History of Photography . She also directs film essays like Un-Documented: Undoing Imperial Plunder (2019) and The World Like a Jewel in the Hand (2022).

• Photography Studies
• Political Theory
• Colonialism and Decoloniality
• +5 more

Kathryn Babayan is a Professor at the University of Michigan , affiliated with the Middle East Studies department. Her research focuses on the cultural, social, and political histories of the Persianate world, particularly Iran, Iraq, Anatolia, and Central Asia. Her work integrates gender and sexuality studies , Safavid dynasty analysis , and material culture approaches to explore historical narratives. She is currently researching literacy practices in early modern Isfahan through her book The City as Anthology , examining how anthologies (majmu'a/muraqqa') reshaped urban experience and individual sovereignty. Collaborations include co-authoring Slaves of the Shah with Susan Babaie, Massumeh Farhad, and Ena Baghdiantz-McCabe, and co-editing Islamicate Sexualities with Afsaneh Najmabadi. Her publications bridge historiography , religion , and visual culture .

• Iranian History
• Persianate World
• Cultural Studies
• +7 more

Serguei A. Oushakine is a Professor of Anthropology and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University, and Program Director of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (REEES) at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University (2005). His research focuses on transitional cultural processes in post-Soviet societies, combining anthropological methods with postcolonial, materialist, and visual studies frameworks. Education: PhD in Anthropology (Columbia University, 2005) with distinction. Notable fieldwork locations include Siberia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. Research Interests: Oushakine explores the intersection of emotion, memory, and power in transitional societies. His work analyzes how new national cultures emerged post-Soviet collapse, and investigates postcolonial legacies of communism. Current projects include: Early Soviet media’s role in shaping spectatorship (1920s-1930s) Comparative postcolonial frameworks for postcommunist studies Awards: Recipient of prestigious fellowships including Guggenheim (201?), ACLS Burkhardt Residential Fellowship, and Institute for Advanced Study membership (Princeton). Advising & Grants: While specific advising/grant details aren’t listed, his program director role suggests leadership in shaping academic initiatives. His publications indicate engagement with interdisciplinary collaborations. Labs/Teams: Active in Princeton’s REEES program, fostering collaboration between social sciences and humanities scholars studying Eurasia.

• Anthropology of emotions
• Transitional states
• Nationalism
• +7 more

Ajay J. Sinha serves as the Julie ’73 and Helene ’49 Herzig Professor of Art History at Mount Holyoke College, with primary affiliation in the Department of Art History and Architectural Studies and cross-appointments in Asian Studies and Film Media Theater. His teaching spans undergraduate courses on Asian art history, Indian photography, and film, emphasizing cultural interconnections and visual analysis within political and social contexts. His educational background includes: Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania M.A. and B.A. from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India Sinha’s research centers on India’s visual culture across historical periods, examining how artistic production reflects religious-secular dynamics, local-global networks, and cultural identity. His work bridges ancient temple architecture, modern photography, and contemporary cinema, with particular focus on transcultural exchanges in South Asian artistic traditions and their global reception. His publication trajectory reveals an evolution from religious monument studies to contemporary transnational visual culture, culminating in his 2023 photographic analysis of early 20th-century Indian dancer Ram Gopal. This work exemplifies his sustained investigation into how visual media mediate cultural encounters across geopolitical boundaries. Sinha actively bridges academia and public scholarship through exhibition curation and institutional leadership. He co-curated contemporary Indian art exhibitions at the Peabody Essex Museum and advises the Center for Art and Archaeology at the American Institute of Indian Studies, while organizing international conferences on Indian temple art and Bollywood cinema.

• Indian Art
• Asian Art
• Indian Cinema
• +5 more