I attempt to be interdisciplinary in my work, both in writing and
teaching, being interested in the formation of culture and
cultural knowledge in a historical and political context. I have
a book coming out in early fall, "Tokyo Life, New York Dreams:
Urban Japanese Visions of America, 1890-1924" from University of
California Press in which I rely on products of popular culture--
travel and guide books and magazines, success literature, and
novels-- to explore how Japanese constructed their ideas of an
American "other" as well as what could have motivated a small,
educated group to travel and settle in the eastern U.S. In my
courses, required reading for students always includes a variety
of texts from a number of disciplines.
Mitziko Sawada
Dean of Multicultural Affairs
Associate Professor of History
School of Social Science
Hampshire College
Amherst MA 01002
E-mail: msawada@hampshire.edu