Dr. Till WEINGÄRTNER
President
Today, twelve years after attending my first EAJS conference in Lecce, I feel very honored to be nominated for the second time as a candidate for an EAJS council member position. I have been lucky to have had the opportunity to act as a member of the extended council for the past three years. One of my personal highlights was hosting last year’s PhD workshop at University College Cork, focusing on Japanese studies within varied academic contexts and across several European countries. Much of this experience was made possible through EAJS, which gave me the chance to build networks and learn from my fellow colleagues. I would be delighted to have the opportunity to further share my passion and my experiences with the EAJS community, and contribute to the international and collaborative development of Japanese studies across the continent.
As an EAJS council member, one of my priorities would continue to be highlighting the importance of collaboration between different academic levels. I am also a strong supporter of offering Japanese language classes in secondary education and leading outreach activities in local communities. In the context of my current position and location, I am also very interested in tackling the challenges posed by the difficult financial and logistical situation that many internationally engaged departments will face during and after the current global health crisis.
Curriculum Vitae
I am a lecturer within the growing Department of Asian Studies at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland, where I represent Japanese Studies and serve as co-director of the Irish Institute of Japanese Studies. I have also taken up the role of Research Officer in the School of Languages and Cultures and am the director of the Centre of Advanced Studies in Languages and Cultures. During my current tenure, we have increased the numbers of Japanese language classes per module and the offer of Japanese related content modules. Japanese Studies has grown to be an integral part of UCC’s language and culture related modules.
I studied Japanese Studies and German Literature at Freie Universität in Berlin, where I received my MA in 2006 and my PhD in Japanese Studies in 2012. Between 2006 and 2008, I worked as a research student at Kansai University, during which time I focused on contemporary Japanese comedy and became part of the Japanese comedy scene as one half of the manzai duo Altbayern. These experiences greatly influenced and informed my research
and PhD thesis. I began teaching at Freie Universität Berlin in 2008. After three semesters as a lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester, I took up my current position at UCC in 2015.
I have received several awards for my research, including the 2010 International Society for Humour Studies award for my graduate research, Freie Universität Berlin’s 2013 Ernst Reuter Prize for outstanding PhD dissertations and the JaDe Foundation’s JaDe Prize for my contribution to German-Japanese cultural and academic collaboration. My research continues to focus on Japanese popular culture, particularly in the area of comedy, media and performance, as well as cinema and literature. Currently, I am working on an English-language monograph on contemporary Japanese comedy. Contributing to cultural events is important to me both professionally and personally. I have selected and introduced films for the Irish Film Institute and regularly organise professional rakugo-storytelling performances in Europe. More rarely, I still perform rakugo myself, in German, Japanese and English!
List of Selected Publications
Weingärtner, Till. 2016. ‘The Gods of Rakugo: Commemoration in Japanese comedy’. In: Irish Journal of Asian Studies 2: 36-46.
Weingärtner, Till. 2016. ‘How Japanese wallflowers turned into celebrities: Self-mockery and self-revelation of the female comedy duo Harisenbon’. In: Social Semiotics 26(3): 283-297.
Weingärtner, Till. 2016. ‘Black cat mansion’. In: Salvador Murguia (ed), The encyclopedia of Japanese horror films. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, pp. 22-23.
Weingärtner, Till. 2014. ‘Performative Aspekte des Rakugo-theaters [Performative aspects of rakugo theater]’. In: Bunron Zeitschrift für literaturwissenschaftliche Japanforschung 1: 131-143.
Weingärtner, Till. 2013. Comedy-Boom in Japan: Performative und mediale Rahmung von Humor in der aktuellen Populärkultur. München: Iudicium.
