Sari Kawana

Assistant Professor of Japanese
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
(Comparative Literature and Literary Theory, 2003)

Department of Modern Languages
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
(office) 617-287-7577
sari.kawana(at)umb.edu

Publications

Book:

Murder Most Modern: Detective Fiction and Japanese Culture, forthcoming from the University of Minnesota Press (Spring 2008)

Book manuscript in progress:

Book Adventures: The Business and Culture of Publishing in Modern Japan

Articles published or accepted:

"With Rhyme and Reason: Yokomizo Seishi's Postwar Murders," Comparative Literature Studies 44 (2007): 118–43.

"Science Without Conscience: Unno Juza and the Tenko of Convenience," in Converting Cultures: Religion, Ideology, and Transformations of Modernity, ed. Kevin Reinhart and Dennis Washburn, 183–207. Brill Academic Publishers, 2007.

"Mad Scientists and Their Prey: Bioethics, Murder, and Fiction in Interwar Japan," Journal of Japanese Studies 31, no. 1 (Winter 2005), 89–120.

"The Price of Pulp: Women, Detective Fiction, and the Profession of Writing in Interwar Japan," Japan Forum 16, no. 2 (July 2004): 207–29.

"Pleasures of Permutation: Detective Fiction and Cultural Globalization," Proceedings for the Twelfth Annual Meeting for the Association of Japanese Literary Studies, 2003.

Papers presented and scheduled (selected list)

2007

"Why Study the History of Publishing?" Modern Japanese History Workshop, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

"The Meiji Mentor: Ozaki Kôyô, the Fresh Literature Maker," Annual Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, Boston, MA (also chair)

2006

"Incompetent Authors and Efficient Editors: Behind the Scenes of Modern Japanese Literature," The Donald Keene Center, Columbia University, New York, NY

"Kadokawa Haruki's Golden Formula: Tying in Cinema and Literature in 1970s Japan,"Annual Meeting of the Association of Asian Studies, San Francisco, CA (also chair)

2005

"Kikuchi Kan Produces Literature: Editing Authorship, Bundan, and Bungei shunju," Association of Japanese Literary Studies, Hanover, NH

"Mass-Produced Must-Haves: Buying and Selling Enpon in Interwar Japan," Asian Studies Conference in Japan, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan (also chair)

2004

"Reading Between the Lines: Censorship and Audience in WWII Japan," Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, Philadelphia, PA (also chair)

"Mass-Produced Must Haves: Owning Zenshû in 1920s in Interwar Japan," The Association of the Teachers of Japanese Seminar, San Diego, CA (also chair)

2003

"Japanese Detective Fiction and the Question of Authenticity: Discussing Intercultural Influences," Association of Japanese Literary Studies, Los Angeles, CA (also chair)

"With Rhyme and Reason: Yokomizo Seishi's Tales of Postwar Murders," Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies, Washington DC

"The Case of the Missing Female Detective Writers: Gender, Money, and the Writing Profession in Interwar Japan," The Association of the Teachers of Japanese Seminar, New York, NY

2002

"Science Without Conscience: Unno Juza and the Problem of Tenko," Converting Cultures Conference, Hanover, NH

"Ethnographers of the Street: Kon Wajiro, Detective, and Interwar Culture," Urban History Association Biennial Conference, Pittsburgh, PA

"Eyeing the Privates: Detectives, Moga, and the City," Asian Studies Conference in Japan, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

"Killing Moga: Sexuality, Criminality and Modern Japanese Detective Fiction," Modern Japanese History Workshop, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

"Productive Unproduction: Ero, Guro, Nansensu and a Mad Man's Dream," Columbia Graduate Conference on East Asia, New York, NY

2001

"Pleasure of Authenticity, Authenticity of Pleasure: The Early Showa Debate over Japanese Detective Fiction," Columbia Graduate Conference on East Asia, New York, NY


Teaching

Japanese Cinema
Modern Japanese Literature
Horror Films (Comparative Literature)
Mysteries in Film (Comparative Literature)
The Whodunit, (Comparative Literature)
Introduction to Japanese
Intermediate Japanese
Advanced Japanese


Fellowships and prizes

JSPS Short-Term Postdoctoral Fellowship (9 months), 2005–2006
(Japan Foundation Short-Term Research Fellowship, 2005, declined)
University Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania 1997–1998, 2002–2003
SAS Dissertation Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2001–2002
Research Assistantship, University of Pennsylvania Spring 2000
Teaching Assistantship, University of Pennsylvania 1998–2001
Eugene McCarthy Award, French Studies, Georgetown University, 1997