Terry Kawashima

Dr. Terry Kawashima is a Professor of Japanese at the University of Massachusetts Boston's Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, where she teaches interdisciplinary courses on Asian cultures and Japan-specific subjects. Her research focuses on the literature and culture of Japan's Heian and medieval periods (800-1500), particularly how texts shape authority and power across social, political, religious, and gendered domains. She also explores race and visuality in contemporary popular culture.

• Ph.D., East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
• M.A., Regional Studies - East Asia, Harvard University
• B.A., Asian Studies and Art History, Cornell University

Her scholarly work examines textual strategies for constructing legitimacy in premodern Japan, as seen in monographs like Writing Margins (2001) and Itineraries of Power (2016). Recent publications include analyses of racial representation in transnational media, such as the 2025 article on My Geisha. Current research investigates tropes of resurrection and replication in premodern Japanese discourses.

Teaching interests span from classical Japanese literature to modern cultural identity topics, including courses like "Premodern Japanese Culture" and "Food and Culture in Japan." Her publications reveal a consistent engagement with both historical and contemporary intersections of gender, race, and cultural representation.