معرفی
Nobuko Yamasaki is an Associate Professor of Japanese in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Lehigh University, with additional affiliation in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program. Her interdisciplinary scholarship bridges Japanese literature, film studies, and critical theory with gender, trauma, and postcolonial studies.
Dr. Yamasaki's academic credentials include:
- PhD in Comparative Literature from University of Washington
- MA in Asian Studies from Cornell University
- BA from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Her research centers on literature, film, and art through the critical lenses of gender & sexuality, affect & trauma, and memory & history. Dr. Yamasaki examines how women's bodies function as contested sites where asymmetrical power dynamics intersect within imperial frameworks. Her work particularly investigates women who resisted or could not conform to the Japanese imperial ideology of 'good wives, wise mothers' (ryōsai kenbo), fragmenting dominant historical narratives through comparative literary analysis.
Dr. Yamasaki's publications reveal consistent engagement with Japanese imperial history and marginalized women's experiences. Her book 'Prostitutes, Hostesses, and Actresses at the Edge of the Japanese Empire' (2021) and co-edited volume 'Passing, Posing, Persuasion' (2023) demonstrate sophisticated analysis of how women navigated imperial structures across Japan, Korea, Manchukuo, and Shanghai. Her scholarship often focuses on diasporic Korean women and Zainichi communities, challenging ethnocentric narratives at the heart of Japanese empire-building.
Dr. Yamasaki serves on the MLA Executive Committee (Japanese since 1900 forum) and is a founding member of the Zainichi Studies Consortium, which held its inaugural conference at Lehigh University in 2017. She publishes in both English and Japanese and is currently writing her second monograph while developing an edited volume on hikiage (repatriation).
As an educator, Dr. Yamasaki teaches innovative courses including 'Sex, War, Women, Art,' 'Silence, (Wo)men, Power,' 'Asian Feminist Thoughts,' 'Visions of Love,' and Japanese language courses from intermediate to advanced levels. Her pedagogy emphasizes critical engagement with silence, power dynamics, and gender representation in Japanese cultural production.
Beyond academia, Dr. Yamasaki maintains deep connections to Japanese traditional arts, having earned a black belt in Kendo during middle school, certification in tea ceremony (Urasenke), and calligraphy practice. In 2023, she completed yoga instructor training (RYT 200), reflecting her commitment to both intellectual and embodied knowledge.
