Rachel DiNitto

Rachel DiNitto is Professor of Japanese Literature and Director of Undergraduate Studies in East Asian Languages & Literatures at the University of Oregon, within the School of Global Studies and Languages. Her research centers on modern and contemporary Japanese literature, with a strong emphasis on the environmental humanities and nuclear issues, particularly in response to the 2011 triple disaster in Japan.

Her research interests include Japanese literature, environmental humanities, nuclear discourse, disaster studies, cultural trauma, film, manga, and gender. She explores how literature and visual culture respond to ecological and nuclear crises, often bridging historical and contemporary narratives to interrogate memory, victimhood, and national identity.

Her recent publications reflect a consistent focus on post-3/11 cultural production, analyzing novels, films, and manga that engage with nuclear trauma, environmental degradation, and social invisibility. These works span interdisciplinary fields such as literature, film studies, gender studies, and religious studies, with recurring themes of narrative ownership, containment, and resistance.

• 2021 UO Sustainability Award for Excellence in Teaching
• Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title (2020) for Fukushima Fiction
• Sustainability Fellow at UO (2021–2022)

DiNitto is actively involved in graduate mentoring and curriculum development, including contributions to the MLA Options for Teaching series. She leads a major research project titled Combatting Nuclear Amnesia, pairing post-Fukushima fiction with earlier works on nuclear harm. She has also edited the volume Eco-Disasters in Japanese Cinema (2024) and authored Uchida Hyakken: A Critique of Modernity and Militarism in Prewar Japan (2008). Her work appears in journals such as Japan Forum, Religions, and Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies.

She is affiliated with the environmental humanities initiative at the University of Oregon and frequently engages in public scholarship through interviews, podcasts, and research newsletters. Her work bridges academic and public discourse on nuclear energy, environmental justice, and cultural memory.