About me

Hello and welcome, I’m a scholar researching the politics of memory, nostalgia, international exchange, cultural diplomacy, soft power, intersectionality and Japan. I teach undergraduate courses that include and have included: Sociological Imagination, Thinking Sociologically, Anthropology and the Life Course, Why Anthropology Matters and Research Methods at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. I am also the Executive Secretary for the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee.

My publications include the Journal of European Political Science, describing the importance of addressing literature on intersectionality, politics and identity in the classroom, titled: ‘Why does political representation of the marginalised matter? Teaching classic literature from intersectional and decolonial approaches‘ and a chapter in Nostalgia Now, titled Transmigratory Nostalgia: Sentimentality and everyday life on the Japan Exchange and Teaching programme.

Listen to my recent podcast hosted by Kevin Lor over Kotatsu episode 3: Nostalgic Echoes: Unveiling Soft Power Over Time.

I am also a co-partner and content writer for a start-up film company: Flaneur Sensory Productions. Here’s our latest video content and Gofundmepage

My previous work resulted in public attention in the Japan Times via Kyodo News, and a feature in the Japanese Government’s ‘We are Tomodachi’ magazine. I had the opportunity to co-organise JET Programme academic networking events. I received an honorarium from the Embassy of Japan in the UK to present my work to the public (the video is below).

I completed my doctorate at the University of Sheffield’s School of East Asian Studies where I was awarded a British ESRC studentship through the White Rose East Asia Centre. My research found that nostalgia is an effective conduit for cultural diplomacy through individuals on cultural exchange (The Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme).

.