Prof. Keiko Ikeda, Dean of the Graduate School

E-mail: kikeda@mail.doshisha.ac.jp

Education

Ph.D., 1993, Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana

M.A., 1979, Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana

B.A., 1972, Sociology, Kobe College

Selected Publications

A Room Full of Mirrors: High School Reunions in Middle America (Stanford University Press, 1998)

Articles

"Feminizumu no sukyandaru: Amerika no feminisuto shisou to oi [Feminism's Scandal: Old Age in American Feminist Thought]," forthcoming in Fukusuukei no feminizumu.

"Amerika no esuno-koureigaku ni okeru esunishiti gainen no bunkateki poritikkusu [Cultural Politics of the Concept of Ethnicity in American Ethnogerontology]," Doshisha Amerika Kenkyu [American Studies], vol. 38, 2002, pp. 41-52.

"Han-eijiizumu no eijiizumu: oi no imi ni tsuite no Amerika shi teki apuroochi [The Ageism in Anti-ageism: Approaching the Meaning of Aging from the Perspective of American History]," Shakai Kagaku [Social Science], vol. 54, 2001, pp.43-60.

"Globalizing Feminist Perspectives in American Studies," Doshisha Amerika Kenkyu (American Studies), vol.36, 2000, pp.25-32.

"Baiogurafi no saiten (Banquets of Biography)," Doshisha Amerika Kenkyu (American Studies), vol. 35, 1999, pp.59-70.

"Kenka Matsuri: Fighting with Our Gods in Postindustrial Japan," in Lives in Motion: Composing circles of Self and Community in Japan, edited by Susan Long, Cornell East Asian Series, 1999, pp. 119-136.

"Oi no kiki kanri: Ikirareta keiken toshite no Hanshin daishinsai (Crisis Management in Old Age: The Great Hanshin Earthquake as Lived Experience)," Iwanami Kouza Gendai Shakaigaku, vol. 13: Seijuku to oi no shakaigaku (Sociology of Maturity and Old Age), edited by Shun Inoue, Chizuko Ueno, et al, 1997, pp. 161-178.

"Shinsai taiken komyuniti no shutsugen to houkai (The Rise and Fall of the Experiential Community of the Great Hanshin Earthquake)," Tomorrow, special edition edited by Toshinao Yoneyama, 1996, pp. 1-11.

"After Coming of Age: Adult Awareness of Age Norm," with David W. Plath in Socialization and Communication in Primary Groups, edited by Thomas R. Williams, Mouton, 1975, 107-123.

"Seijin-shiki kara rakuinkyo made (From the Coming-of-Age Ceremony to Rocking-Chair Retirement)," with David W. Plath, Kikan Jinruigaku (Anthropology Quarterly), vol. 6, no. 2, 1975, pp. 60-83.

Personal Interests

I spent most of my adult years in the United States. I received my Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After teaching there for several years, I taught at Hamilton College, New York, for a year and then moved to Barnard College, Columbia University in 1991. I taught there until I came to Doshisha in 1997.

I also do work in visual anthropology, and produce ethnographic videos. My video ethnography on a Japanese festival, Fighting Festival, received several awards, including Red Ribbon Award (2nd place) at the American Film Festival in New York. I also served as Associate Producer for Makiko's New World, a production of the University of Illinois' Media Production Group, which received the Silver Prize at the Competition of Films and Videos on Japan (sponsored by the Asahi Newspaper and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

I live in Kyoto with my American husband Matt, my son Izumi, and a miniature dachshund named Loofy.

Research Interests

My current research concerns the meaning of history in the lives of contemporary Americans. Specifically, I am interested in studying historical enactments, such as those in living history museums, civil war reenactments, and other performative settings. I am a cultural anthropologist, and as such field research involving participant observation and in-depth interviews are my primary tools of inquiry. Starting this summer, I will be a research fellow at the Anthropology Department of Harvard University, and plan to conduct a year of fieldwork with help of Harvard faculty and doctoral students in the Boston area.

Another areas I am currently interested in are gender and lifecourse. As a member of the Research Institute of American studies at Doshisha University (in the Center for American Studies), I lead a study group examining issues of gender and feminism in the United States from international perspectives. The members of this study group include such feminist scholars as Chizuko Ueno, Yuko Nishikawa, Miho Ogino, and Kazue Muta. A portion of this study group's accomplishments will be published by Sekaishisosha Publishing in spring 2003, under the title of Feminism in the Plural: Reconsidering American Feminism.

Courses

Race and Society in America
Gender and Lifecourse in America
Anthropological Approaches to American Society and Culture