Category: Graduate

Meagan Finlay awarded Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s dissertation fellowship

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

Meagan Finlay, a 5th year PhD candidate studying under Professor Katherine Saltzman-Li, has been awarded the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center‘s Dissertation Fellowship for the 2025-2026 cycle. Meagan’s dissertation, “From Early Modern Kabuki Stages to Modern Screens: Production Practice Legacies and the Crafting of National Identity in Japanese Television Period Dramas”, explores the development of the Japanese period drama genre on TV and the ways in which it has carried over certain characteristics and practices from early modern kabuki. In her work, Meagan is heavily engaged with interdisciplinary methods including archival research, interviews, and observation techniques, and draws upon frameworks from Theatre Studies, Media Industry Studies, and Performance Studies. She is looking forward to becoming an IHC Fellow in the fall!

Wandi Wang stands with her committee members and the Department chair, with one additional member appearing on a laptop in front of them.

Wandi Wang defends dissertation, accepts professorship at Lehigh University

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

We are delighted to announce that EALCS PhD candidate Wandi Wang successfully defended her dissertation, “Taste and Gastropoetics in Traditional China, Ninth to Seventeenth Centuries CE,” on May 30, 2025. She has also accepted an offer to take up a position as Assistant Professor of Chinese in the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures at Lehigh University.

Congratulations, Professor Wang!

EALCS doctoral candidates Natalya Rodriguez and Meagan Finlay at the Miyakojima Textile Exhibition in Tokyo.

Posted on | by EALCS Admin

Natalya is carrying out her dissertation research on the initiatives to sustain the production of the ramie textile Miyako Jofu, which is made through an intricate process that begins with harvesting the ramie plant, extracting the bast fibers by hand, and connecting them one by one into fine thread. She is wearing a Miyako Jofu kimono and obi at the kind invitation of the craftspeople who own the pieces. Miyako Jofu was designated as a traditional craft of Japan by the Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry in 1975 and is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its designation this year. It was further recognized as an Important Intangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government in 1978. As part of her dissertation fieldwork, Natalya has been learning the hand-spinning and twisting method for making the ramie thread for Miyako Jofu. The activities of the Miyako Textile Industry Association can be viewed on Instagram @miyakojoufu. 

Meagan is in Tokyo to conduct archival and ethnographic research for her dissertation on contemporary TV period drama production practices inherited from the traditional kabuki theater. She visited the Miyako Jofu exhibition as a lover of fiber arts and to support both Natalya and the craftspeople. You can follow Meagan’s research journey on Instagram @jidaigeki.kenkyu and her (upcoming) website, jidaigeki-kenkyu.com. 

Raymond Chung Publishes Article about Internship

Posted on | by Thomas Mazanec

EALCS graduate student Raymond Chung published an article titled, “Making War-Ravaged Voices Heard in the Present” (戦禍の声を現代へ) in the June 2024 issue of The Institute of Politics and Economics’ Japanese-language journal Seiji Kenkyū Jihō (Politics and Economics Newsletter／経済研究時報). In the article, Chung describes his experiences interning at the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage for six weeks in summer of 2023, noting both the emotional resonance that connected his research on medieval Japanese religion to exhibitions at the Center and expressing his perspective that the work of Center has become ever more relevant in light of current conflicts around the globe. Scroll down to page 15 for Chung’s article: https://www.seikeiken.or.jp/data_files/view/522/mode:inline. (The Internship was funded by a generous gift from Andrew Ogawa).