Research Interests:
- History of twentieth-century Japan
- Environmental history
- Urban history
- Consumption and consumer culture
- Visual culture
Keywords:
- 20th century; East Asian History; Environment and Society; Money, Political Economy and Commercial Life; Urbanism and Architecture
I am now focused in my research on environmental history and urban history, and my teaching in the History Department is organized around those themes as well, including a regular graduate colloquium in Global Environmental History, a deep introduction to the field for students working in any regional or other thematic area, and an undergraduate course called Confronting Catastrophe: Natural Disasters in World Environmental History.
I am exploring how horticultural societies, landscape architects, botanical scientists, seed companies, and gardening hobbyists alike in the U.S., Australia, and Great Britain worked with Japanese botanical partners to drive a new global transfer of Japanese horticultural products as they sought species to ornament middle-class landscapes back home.
Earlier in my career, my interests revolved around the history of social science, political economy, consumption, population thought, and twentieth-century forms of statistical knowledge.
Research Areas:
- Twentieth-century Japanese history; consumption and consumer culture; environmental history; urban history; history of visual culture
