Currently in my sixth year of the History PhD program at Harvard, I am a research fellow at Waseda University in Tokyo.  Since September 2015 I have been conducting research in Japan and Korea for my dissertation project, tentatively titled "Cities into Empire: Fukuoka, Pusan, and Japan's Imperial Urbanization, 1900-1952". Prior to arriving in Tokyo, I was a visiting researcher at Yonsei University in Seoul, and Kyushu University in Fukuoka.

My work addresses the geographies of empire formation, looking specifically at the processes of urbanization, industrialization and colonization, and their effects on the Japanese and Korean inhabitants of northern Kyushu and South Gyeongsang province. From the Russo-Japanese War through to the Korean War, my research will decenter traditional narratives of Japanese imperial development, where most work to date has focused on Tokyo, or has remained based in a single, colonial capital.  I hope that my dissertation will also add a new perspective to works on urbanization, development, and exploitation in colonial Korea.

I received my BA in English Literature from Oxford University (Somerville College) in 2006. After graduation I spent two years teaching English at a high school in Fukuoka Prefecture, on the JET Programme. I returned to the UK in 2008, and completed a Masters in Japanese Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). After a brief stint working for an urban regeneration charity in central London, I was awarded a Japanese Education Ministry (MEXT) Scholarship to return to Japan, where I was a Research Student at Kyushu University from 2010-2012.

At Harvard, my research and studies have been generously supported by the Reischauer Institute, the Korea Institute,  the Asia Center, and the Akiyama Life Science Foundation. My dissertation research in Japan and Korea has been supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Japan Foundation and a Field Research Fellowship from the Korea Foundation.

Curriculum Vitae (Dec 2016)