Teruko Kawashima
Department:
Asian Studies
Title:
Professor
Professor of Japanese, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Professor of Japanese, Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Biography
Terry Kawashima specializes in literature and culture of the Heian and medieval periods in Japan (800-1500), with a particular interest in how texts envision and contribute to the construction of authority, legitimacy, and power in social, political, religious, and gendered arenas. At UMass Boston, she teaches a range of interdisciplinary, comparative courses on Asian cultures, as well as Japan-specific courses.
Area of Expertise
- Heian and medieval Japanese literature and culture
- Race and visuality in contemporary popular culture
Degrees
Ph.D., East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
M.A., Regional Studies -- East Asia, Harvard University
B.A., Asian Studies and Art History, Cornell University
Professional Publications & Contributions
Monographs in Heian and medieval Japanese studies:
- Writing Margins: The Textual Construction of Gender in Heian and Kamakura Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Asia Center Publications, 2001.
- Itineraries of Power: Texts and Traversals in Heian and Medieval Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Asia Center Publications, 2016.
Articles on race and visuality in contemporary popular culture:
- ”Seeing Faces, Making Races: Challenging Visual Tropes of Racial Difference.” Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, vol. 3 no. 1 (2002).
- ”Black Butterfly Denied: Race and Masquerade in My Geisha.” Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, vol. 24 no. 1 (2025).
- Current research: discourses/tropes of resurrections, rebirths, and replications in premodern Japan.
Additional Information
Courses:
- ASIAN/MLLC 155L Great Books of East Asia: Classics of Love and War
- ASIAN/MLLC 265L Icons of East Asia: Stereotypes, Gender, and Cultural History from "Geisha Girls" to "Martial Masters"
- ASIAN/MLLC 366L Re-made in Asia: Tellings and Retellings from Buddha to Godzilla
- ASIAN/MLLC 488L The Idea of Asia
- JAPAN/ASIAN 252L Premodern Japanese Culture
- JAPAN/ASIAN 367L Food and Culture in Japan: National Identity and Diversity, Past and Present
- JAPAN 101 Beginning Japanese