I’m primarily interested in using my time in the academy to try and broaden the sorts of research we consider as acceptable forms of research. Oral histories, public histories, digital humanities projects; these are the future of the field. Not only do these tools widen the scope of who are considered acceptable subjects of history, but they also allow for a wider accessibility to our scholarship. 

My research focuses in on the commodification of culture and identity within the tourism machine, and the ways that the legacies of Japanese colonialism still mark the Okinawan resort beaches. I’m ultimately interested in the question of whether the nuances of multivocal culture can survive the imperial, capitalistic conquest, and in what form? Where does indigenous identity still show itself within this superstructure? Is tourism really a lesser evil compared to the colonizer’s military bases? I’m currently examining three cultural theme parks, Okinawa World, Ryukyu Mura and Murasaki Mura in my examination of how indigenous culture is mediated and performed within these for-profit spaces.

I am also currently working on a project discussing eco-tourist theme park, JUNGLIA, and how its interactions and understandings of nature, preservation and sustainability are fundamentally formed on colonial discourses, and how this bodes poorly for the future of the park.

HIST 2A – Ancient World History

HIST 2B – Medieval and Early Modern World History

HIST 2C – Modern World History

HIST 87 – Japanese History through Art and Literature

HIST 74 – Poverty, Inequality, and Social Justice

HIST W 80 – Chinese Civilization and Culture