My blogs

About me

Location	Tokyo, Japan
Introduction	I earned my BA in English and American history with an interest in slave life and miscegenation in the American South. I studied at this time with Peter Bardaglio, an historian of the South, later dean of Ithaca College, and now an activist for campus environmentalism. I wrote my master's thesis in 1995 on the use of the Exodus theme for group identity formation by slaves during the last days of the Civil War. I studied with the late great John Blassingame who is enduringly helpful in that he secured a vast archive of black newspapers, which will now form much of my primary research material. My dissertation topic is Black American writing on Japan from Meiji to Pearl Harbor (1868-1941). Since their first encounter (and despite occasional friction) these two groups have largely admired and emulated one another. How and why and what might it mean?

Location

Tokyo, Japan

Introduction

I earned my BA in English and American history with an interest in slave life and miscegenation in the American South. I studied at this time with Peter Bardaglio, an historian of the South, later dean of Ithaca College, and now an activist for campus environmentalism. I wrote my master's thesis in 1995 on the use of the Exodus theme for group identity formation by slaves during the last days of the Civil War. I studied with the late great John Blassingame who is enduringly helpful in that he secured a vast archive of black newspapers, which will now form much of my primary research material. My dissertation topic is Black American writing on Japan from Meiji to Pearl Harbor (1868-1941). Since their first encounter (and despite occasional friction) these two groups have largely admired and emulated one another. How and why and what might it mean?