Japan | Asian Studies Center

Müge Kökten-Finkel

Given Name:

Müge Kökten

Family Name:

Finkel

Photograph:

Rank:

Assistant Professor

Department:

Public and International Affairs

Office:

3933 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-383-9483

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

mfinkel@pitt.edu

Area of specialization:

Gender and Development; Global Governance; Poverty and Human Development; Poverty and Global Economy; Social Policy and Development in International Organizations; Japanese Government and Politics, Capstone: Program Design and Evaluation

Biography:

Dr. Müge Kökten Finkel is Assistant Professor of International Development at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) at University of Pittsburgh. She completed her PhD in Political Science at the University of Virginia, specializing in Comparative Social Policy and Japanese Politics; her MA in International Relations from International University of Japan in Japan, and her BA in Political Science from Bogazici University in Turkey. Prior to joining GSPIA, she worked as a Social Development Specialist at the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region, and consulted for the International Food Policy Research Institute. She has worked on various development projects in Yemen, Egypt and Morocco. Her areas of expertise are Community-Driven Development, especially related to youth and women’s issues; Social and Environmental Impact Assessment; Country Social Analysis; Participatory Program Development; and Gender and Development. Among her publications are What Makes a Camp Safe: the Protection of Children from Abduction in Internally Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps, Co-authored with Simon Reich (2008); “Voices of the Youth: Background Papers and Country Case Studies from Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Yemen”, and “Securing a Future for All, Middle East-North Africa Regional Social Development Strategy” both co-authored with the MNA Social Development Team for the World Bank. She has been teaching courses on Gender and Development; Social Policies and International Organizations; Poverty and Human Development; Global Governance and Japanese Politics. Her recent research focuses on gender policies and empowerment outcomes under institutionalized and politicized Islam. She speaks Turkish, Japanese and German.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Virginia, 2002

Publications:

2008 “What Makes a Camp Safe: the Protection of Children from Abduction in Internally Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps”, Co-authored with Simon Reich, Ford institute for Human Security, University of Pittsburgh

2006 “Community Driven Development: Problems of Operationalization in the Middle East and North Africa Region”, Co-authored with Knut Opsal, MNA Regional Working Paper Series, the World Bank

2006 “Voices of the Youth: Background Papers and Country Case Studies from Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Yemen” for the WDR 2007: Development and the Next Generation, the World Bank

Karen-Gerhart

Given Name:

Karen

Family Name:

Gerhart

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor

Department:

History of Art and Architecture

Office:

118C Frick Fine Arts Building

Office phone number:

412-648-2408

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

kgerhart@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Pre-modern Japan--all periods

Biography:

Professor Gerhart’s research and teaching encompass a wide range of topics in the history of art and architecture in pre-modern Japan. Her research interests are in the relationship between art and social function, and art and ritual. Recent book publications include The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan (2009) and The Eyes of Power: Art and Early Tokugawa Authority (1999) and articles on the influence of Chinese iconography, issues of patronage and travel, and the use of images in ritual context. She has presented numerous papers at professional meetings, including the Association of Asian Studies and the College Art Association. She teaches both undergraduate courses and topically organized graduate seminars; recent offerings include Japanese Landscape Painting, Portraits and Rituals in East Asia, and Ancient Japan.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Kansas, 1992

Publications:

Forthcoming “The Death and Funeral of Imperial Consort Ishi (1076-1103) in Chûyûki, eds. Joan Piggot and Yoshida Sanae. Cornell University Press.

2013 Review of Thomas Conlon’s From Sovereign to Symbol: An Age of Ritual Determinism in Fourteenth-Century Japan (Oxford University Press, 2011) in Journal of Japanese Studies

2009 The Material Culture of Death in Medieval Japan. University of Hawaii

Evelyn S.-Rawski

Given Name:

Evelyn S.

Family Name:

Rawski

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor Emeritus

Department:

History

Office:

3507 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-648-7458

Regional specialty:

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

esrx@pitt.edu

Region:

China

Area of specialization:

East Asian Research; Chinese Studies Since 1950; Chinese Ritual Music in Social Context; Comparative Nationalisms; European Imperialism, 1450-1750; Historiography of Modern Imperialism; Capitalism in World History; East Asian Portraiture in Ritual Context; Capitalism and Empire; Texts and Contexts; Globalization and History

Qualifications:

PhD, Harvard University, 1968

Publications:

2012 “The Manchu Hongloumeng,” in Andrew Schonebaum and Tina Lu, eds. Approaches to Teaching The Story of the Stone (Dream of the Red Chamber). (New York: Modern Language Association of America), pp. 144-58.

2012 “Sons of Heaven: The Qing Appropriation of the Chinese Model of Universal Empire,” in Universalism: Genealogies of Imperial Culture and Representation, edited by Peter Fibiger Bang and Dariusz Kołodziejczyk (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 233-49.

2010 “Qing Historical Studies in North America: Research, Teaching and Resources” (“BeiMei Qingshi yanjiu,jiaoxue yu qi wenxian ziyuan”), pp. 195-225 in Chinese Studies in North America: Research and Resources, ed. Zhang Haihui et al. Beijing: Zhonghu shuju.

Junzo-Oshimo

Given Name:

Junzo

Family Name:

Oshimo

Photograph:

Rank:

Senior Instructor

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

2706 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-5126

Regional specialty:

Japan

Email Address:

oshimo@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Educational anthropology; Pedagogy for Japanese language Instruction

Qualifications:

M.Ed, University of Pittsburgh, 1990

Publications:

2006 Review of Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication: A Self-Study Course and Reference, by Taeko Kamiya. Japanese Language and Literature (Vol. 40, No. 1) April 2006

Hiroshi-Nara

Given Name:

Hiroshi

Family Name:

Nara

Photograph:

Rank:

Professor

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

2701 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-5579

Regional specialty:

Japan

Email Address:

hnara@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Verbal Aspect and Modality; Philosophy of Language; Japanese Language Pedagogy; FL Pedagogy; Teaching Reading to Students of Japanese; Intellectual History of Modern Japan; Art and Aesthetics; Computational Linguistics; Knowledge Representation; NL Processing; Computer Assisted Language Instruction; AI Application to Language Teaching

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Kansas, 1987

Publications:

2013 "The Idea of Greece in Japan’s Cultural Dreams." To appear in New Essays in Japanese Aesthetics, edited by Minh Nguyen. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books

2012 Translation into English, with a critical introduction. 200 pages. MerwinAsia, Portland, Maine

2011 Satō Dōshin, Meiji kokka to kindai bijutsu. (Modern Japanese Art and the Meiji State: The Politics of Beauty). Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1999. Translation into English. 560 pages. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California.

Stephen-Luft

Given Name:

Stephen

Family Name:

Luft

Photograph:

Rank:

Lecturer II

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

2720 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-648-0848

Regional specialty:

Japan

Email Address:

luft@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Japanese Language

Qualifications:

PhD, The Ohio State University, 2014

Publications:

In Press Promoting language and culture learning outside of the classroom: Implementing student-led committees in study abroad. Kyousyoku Katei Kenkyuu.

In Press Language classroom risk-taking behavior in a performed culture-based program. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages. (refereed journal article)

Noriko-Kowalchuck

Given Name:

Noriko

Family Name:

Kowalchuck

Photograph:

Rank:

Senior Instructor

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

2703 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-7139

Regional specialty:

Japan

Email Address:

nokst2@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Japanese Instruction

Qualifications:

M.Ed. in Foreign Language Education, University of Pittsburgh, 2006

Brenda G.-Jordan

Given Name:

Brenda G.

Family Name:

Jordan

Photograph:

Rank:

Staff

Affiliated Faculty

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

4134 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Office phone number:

412-648-7763

Regional specialty:

Asia

East Asia

Japan

Email Address:

jordanb@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Modernization and Modernity Issues in Meiji Period Japan; Issues of censorship; Artist Biography; Creation of Persona; Related Issues of Artistic Flouting, Playfulness and the Juxtaposition of the Traditional and the Contemporary in the Making of Art in Nineteenth Century Japan

Staff Title:

Director, National Consortium for Teaching About Asia

Biography:

Brenda G. Jordan received her PhD from the University of Kansas in Japanese art history. She teaches for the Departments of East Asian Languages and Literatures and History of Art and Architecture. Her research interests are early modern and modern Japanese art history, specifically issues of the dynamics of modernization and modernity in Japan. Jordan is the Director of the National Coordinating Site for the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. She also serves as the program manager for the Japanese internship program, as part of her duties as Japan studies coordinator. She is an avid gardener in her spare time, and enjoys traveling and hanging out with her husband and daughter Erika.

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Kansas, 1993

Contact if:

Contact Dr. Jordan if you are interested in Japan studies, Japan internships, or K-12 professional development for educators.

Publications:

2013 “The Trickster in Japanese Art.” In: Education about Asia, Vol. 18, No. 1.

2007 “Potentially Disruptive: Censorship and the Painter Kawanabe Kyôsai” in Hiroshi Nara, ed., Inexorable Modernity, Japan’s grappling with modernity in the arts, Lexington Press

2003 Copying the Master and Stealing His Secrets: Talent and Training in Japanese Painting. Co-authored and co-edited book. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Pres

Staff Ranking:

C

Sachiko T.-Howard

Given Name:

Sachiko T.

Family Name:

Howard

Photograph:

Rank:

Senior Instructor

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

2734 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-5574

Regional specialty:

Japan

Email Address:

showard@pitt.edu

Region:

Japan

Area of specialization:

Japanese Language Instruction

Qualifications:

M.A., Indiana University, 1991

Charles-Exley

Given Name:

Charles

Family Name:

Exley

Photograph:

Rank:

Associate Professor

Department:

East Asian Languages and Literatures

Office:

2733 Cathedral of Learning

Office phone number:

412-624-3458

Regional specialty:

Japan

Email Address:

exley@pitt.edu

Region:

East Asia

Area of specialization:

Contemporary Japanese Literature; Visual Culture (including film and contemporary art)

Qualifications:

PhD, Yale University, 2005

Publications:

2013 “Dress-up: Self-fashioning and Performance in the Work of Yasumasa Morimura” in Yasumasa Morimura: Theater of the Self. Pittsburgh: The Andy Warhol Museum

2012 A Beggar's Art: Scripting Modernity in Japanese Drama, 1900-1930 by M. Cody Poulton. Journal of Asian Studies

2011 "Haikai and Kabuki" in Alfred J. Andrea, General Editor. Encyclopedia of World History. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Greenwood Publishing Group