Prof. Dr. Rebecca SUTER

After twenty years researching and teaching in Japan, the United States, and Australia, I have recently relocated to European academia. The election as member of the EAJS Council is an excellent opportunity to contribute the substantial experience I have acquired in research administration and outreach to the promotion of Japanese Studies in Europe. I have held executive roles in major academic associations in Asian Studies, I have been on the editorial board of major journals in the field, I have been convenor or organizing committee member of international workshops and conferences of varying sizes (ranging from under 50 to over 1,000 attendees), and I have promoted public engagement with Japan, particularly through involvement with the transnational manga artist and fan community, both in the Asia-Pacific and in Europe.

I research and teach on Japanese literature and popular culture in a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on Japan’s creative appropriation of Euro-American culture and the challenges it poses to current views of globalisation and multiculturalism. In my own research and in mentoring postgraduate students and early career researchers, I have often worked across different disciplinary frameworks and in multiple linguistic and national contexts. This has made me aware both of the value of crossing disciplinary and linguistic borders, and of the difficulties this kind of research encounters. As EAJS Council member, I aim to rely on my hands-on knowledge of institutional obstacles to interdisciplinary, transnational, and multilingual research to support the EAJS in developing strategies to address them.