Hello! I am a cultural historian specializing in queer literature and media in postwar and contemporary Japan. Originally from Maine, I spent several years working as an English teacher in Aomori Prefecture before entering academia. I received my MA in Japanese from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and my PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Pennsylvania.

My current book project focuses on the intersection of the “boom” in Japanese-English literary translation of the 1950s and 1960s and the emergence of transnational gay subcultures in Japan after World War II. It examines how Japan’s legal and cultural tolerance towards homosexuality made it an attractive refuge for a generation of gay English-language translators seeking to escape rising homophobia in their own countries during the early postwar period. Tracing the lives of these translators and their collaborations with Japanese writers and artists, I argue that collaborative and creative partnerships between queer translators and authors reshaped global perceptions of Japanese literature, culture and aesthetics in the years following World War II. 

I have published articles on a variety of topics including LGBTQ activism in contemporary Japan, gay subcultures in Occupation-era Tokyo, anime adaptations of classic children’s literature, and depictions of queerness in modern Japanese art. I am also an experienced art curator, having most recently worked on the exhibition The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869–1939. At Pembroke, I look forward to working with students interested in Japanese literature and media, queer theory, and translation studies.