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Melek Su Ortabasi
Curriculum Vitae
Mailing address:
World Languages and Literatures
間眅埶AV
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
AQ 5127
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC Canada V5A 1S6
Email: mso1(at)sfu.ca
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
間眅埶AV
Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, September 2023 present
Department of World Languages and Literatures
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
- Chair, Department of World Languages and Literatures: January 2020 September 2021
- Director, World Literature Program: September 2015 December 2019
- Associate Professor, 2012 present
- Assistant Professor, 2008 2012
Hamilton College
Department of Comparative Literature
- Assistant Professor, 2002 2008
University of Washington, Seattle
Department of Comparative Literature
- Teaching Associate, Fall 2000 - Winter 2001
- Teaching Assistant, 1994; 1996-1997; 1999-2000
Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures
- Teaching Assistant, Summer 2000
Obirin University, Tokyo
Reconnaissance Japan Program
- Lecturer, 1995
EDUCATION
University of Washington, Seattle
Ph.D., Comparative Literature, 2001.
Dissertation title: Japanese Cultural History as Literary Landscape: Scholarship, Authorship and Language in Yanagita Kunios Native Ethnology
M.A., Comparative Literature (Japanese and German), 1994.
Stanford Inter-University Center, Yokohama
Certificate, June 1995.
University of California, Berkeley
B.A., Comparative Literature (Japanese and German), 1992.
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AND HONORS
間眅埶AV
- David Lam Centre Research Grant, 2019
- David Lam Centre Research Grant, 2018
- Emergency Rapid Response Grant, FASS Deans Office, 2017
- FASS Canada 150 Grant, 2016.
- Small SSHRC Grant, 2014.
- University Publications Committee Grant, 2012.
- SSHRC Travel Grant; 2009 and 2012
- Presidential Research Grant, 2008.
Sophia University, Tokyo
- Visiting Professor, September 2022 August 2023
Kanagawa University
- Visiting Researcher, September 2021-July 2022
Northeast Asia Council
- Research Travel Grant, 2019
Goethe Universit瓣t, Frankfurt
- Visiting Scholar, June-July 2017
Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo
- Visiting Researcher, August 2014-June 2015
Internationale Jugendbibliothek, Munich
- Visiting Researcher, July-August 2014
- Research Fellowship for 3 months of research, June-August 2016
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit瓣t, Munich
- Visiting Scholar, June 2016
- Erasmus+ EU Grant recipient, June 2016
The University of Tokyo
- Visiting Researcher, July 2010
Japan Foundation
- Research Fellowship for 10 months of research in Japan at Kanagawa University, 2021.
- Research Fellowship for 8 months of research in Japan at The University of Tokyo, 2007.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
- Research Fellowship for 6 months of research in Japan at The University of Tokyo, 2006.
Cornell University
- Wason Library Travel Grant, 2005.
Hamilton College
- Class of 1966 Career Development Award, 2004.
- Hewlett Grant for incorporating diversity into the curriculum, 2003.
University of Washington
- Alvord Fellow in the Humanities, academic year 2001-2002.
- Society of Scholars at the Simpson Center for the Humanities, academic year 2001-2002.
Deutsches Institut f羹r Japanstudien (DIJ), Tokyo
- Dissertation research fellowship, April-July 2001.
Monbusho Scholarship
- For graduate research at Kokugakuin University, Tokyo, October 1997 to March 1999.
Japanese Proficiency Test Level 1
- High Pass, 1998.
Stanford Inter-University Center
- Hayase/Moriyama Prize, 1995.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
The Undiscovered Country: Text, Translation and Modernity in the Work of Yanagita Kunio. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2014.
To listen to an interview with Dr. Ortabasi about this book, please click .
To read a review of this book, please click .
The Modern Murasaki: Women Writers of Meiji Japan. Coedited with Rebecca Copeland. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
Journal articles/book chapters
Around the World in 80 Years: How an Italian Childrens Classic Went to Japan and Back.&紳莉莽梯;Journal of Japanese Studies. (Forthcoming 2025.)
Multilingualism, Heritage Languages, and the Future of Comparative Literature.&紳莉莽梯;ACLA State of the Discipline Report. Online. (Forthcoming)
Sekai bungaku to shite no T繫no monogatari. Gendai shis繫 50.8 (June 2022): 155-166.
Yanagita, Kunio, in SAGE Research Methods Foundations, ed. P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, A. Cernat, J.W. Sakshaug, & R.A. Williams. 2020, pp. 1-7.
Youth, Transnationalism, Identity: Young Adult Literature and World Literature, in Teaching Young Adult Literature, ed. Mike Cadden, Karen Coats, and Roberta Seelinger Trites. Modern Languages Association, 2020.
Bridge Essay: Translation, in A Companion to World Literature, ed. Ken Seigneurie. Wiley Blackwell, 2020.
Languaging About Language in an Interdiscilpinary Writing-Intensive Course, with Joel Heng Hartse and Michael Lockett. Across the Disciplines: A Journal of Language Learning and Academic WritingVol. 15 No. 3 (November 2018): 89-102.
(Re)animating Folklore: Raccoon Dogs, Foxes and other Supernatural Japanese Citizens in Takahata Isaos Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko.&紳莉莽梯;Marvels and Tales Vol. 27 No. 2 (Fall 2013), pp. 98 119.
Shajitsushugi bungaku to shite yomu T繫no monogatari (Reading T繫no monogatarias Realist Literature); Gengo hy繫gen kara mita T繫no monogatari (Linguistic Expression in T繫no monogatari) 啦繫紳棗眶硃域喝 Vol. 2 (April 2013), pp. 65 69; 80 87. (Conference proceedings and transcript of panel discussion)
Shajitsushugi bungaku to shite yomu T繫no monogatari (Reading T繫no monogatarias Realist Literature). Trans. Nakai Maki. In Sekai no naka no Yanagita Kunio, ed. Ronald A. Morse and Akasaka Norio. Tokyo: Fujiwara shoten, 2012, pp. 146 186.
Reading T繫no monogatari (Tales of T繫no) as Literary Realism, in Yanagita Kunio and Japanese Folklore Studies in the 21st Century, ed. Ronald A. Morse. Kawaguchi, Japan: Japanime Co., 2012, pp. 81 105. Online.
Brave Dogs and Little Lords: Some Thoughts on Translation, Literary Style, and the Debate on Childhood in Mid-Meiji, in Translation in Modern Japan, ed. Indra Levy. New York: Routledge, 2011, pp. 186 212.
Narrative Realism and the Modern Storyteller: Rereading Yanagita Kunios T繫no monogatari.&紳莉莽梯;Monumenta Nipponica Vol. 64 No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 127 165.
Brave Dogs and Little Lords: Some Thoughts on Translation, Literary Style, and the Debate on Childhood in Mid-Meiji.&紳莉莽梯;Review of Japanese Culture and Society Vol. 20 (December 2008), pp. 178 205.
Yanagita Kunio to Nihon no kindaika: T繫no monogatari kara sengo no ky繫kasho made.&紳莉莽梯;Yanagita Kunio kenky羶 ronsh羶 No. 6 (August 2008), pp. 49 57.
National History as Otaku Fantasy: Satoshi Kons Millennium Actress in Japanese Visual Culture, ed. Mark MacWilliams. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008, pp. 274 294.
Surveying Comparative Literature from the Pacific Rim. Coauthored with Charlotte Eubanks. ADFL Bulletin 38.3/39.1 (Spring/Fall 2007), pp. 34 39.
Indexing the Past: Visual Language and Translatability in Kon Satoshis Millennium Actress.&紳莉莽梯;Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 14.4 (2006), pp. 278 291.
Sketching Out the Critical Tradition: Yanagita Kunio and the Reappraisal of Realism in Japanese Poeticity and Narrativity Revisited: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Association for Japanese Literary Studies, West Lafayette, 4-5 October 2002, ed. Eiji Sekine. West Lafayette: AJLS, 2003, pp. 184 193.
Fictional Fantasy or Historical Fact? The Search for Japanese Identity in Miyazaki Hayaos Mononokehime in A Century of Popular Culture in Japan, ed. Doug Slaymaker. Lampeter, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000, pp. 199 228.
Translations
Wang Qing. A Comparative Study of Religious Thought in the Work of Cai Yuanpei and Inoue Enry繫.&紳莉莽梯;International Journal of Inoue Enry繫 Research 1 (July 2013). Online at
The Temple of GodaiIntroduction and translation of Godai-d繫 by Tazawa Inabune and Hiding the GrayIntroduction and translation of Shiragazome by Kitada Usurai, in The Modern Murasaki: Selected Works by Women Writers of Meiji Japan, co-editor Rebecca Copeland (Columbia University Press, 2006): 151-184; 185-214.
Kano Shiho (interview of the Japanese avant-garde filmmaker by Scott MacDonald). In A Critical Cinema 5: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. 347 357.
Other Publications
Japanese Literature as World Literature. Invited blog post for Global Literature in Libraries Initiative, no. 17 of Japan in Translation Blog Series. May 19, 2018.
Review and Analysis of Millennium Actress, dir. Kon Satoshi, in Mazinga Nostalgia: Storia, valori e linguaggi della Goldrake-generation dal 1978 al nuovo secolo, vol. 2. (Nostalgia for Mazinger: History, values, and languages of the Grendizer-generation from 1978 to the new century), 2 vols. By Marco Pellitteri. Latina (Italy): Tunu矇, 2018, pp. 1219-1223. (Translated into Italian by M. Pellitteri)
Book Review of Timothy J. Van Compernolle, Struggling Upward: Worldly Success and the Japanese Novel. Harvard University Asia Center, 2016, in Japan Forum 29.4 (2017): 1-3.
Book Review of Mayako Murai, From Dog Bridegroom to Wolf Girl: Contemporary Japanese Fairy-Tale Adaptations in Conversation with the West (Wayne State University Press, 2015); and Fumihiko Kobayashi, Japanese Animal-Wife Tales: Narrating Gender Reality in Japanese Folktale Tradition (Peter Lang, 2015), in Monumenta Nipponica 71.2 (2016).
Kaisetsu. Kokkyo o kakeru sh繫jo in Tenzan no miko Sonin 5. Tokyo: K繫dansha, 2016, pp. 287-292.
Interview of Stephen Snyder, translator of Confessions by Minato Kanae, for SCBWI Japan Translation Group (March 2015), https://ihatov.wordpress.com/2015/03/21/an-interview-with-stephen-snyder/.
Book Review of Heather Snell and Lorna Hutchinson, eds., Children and Cultural Memory in Texts of Childhood, Routledge, 2014; in Bookbird: A Journal of International Childrens Literature 53.1 (2015), pp. 96-97.
Book Review of Anthony S. Rausch, Japans Local Newspapers: Chih繫shi and Revitalization Journalism, Routledge, 2012; in electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies 14.3 (December 2014),
Book Review of Shelley Tanaka, Nobody Knows, Groundwood Books, 2012; inBookbird: A Journal of International Childrens Literature 52.1 (January 2014), p. 62.
Sekai bungaku no naka no Yanagita Kunio: T繫no monogatari wo ch羶shin ni inYanagita Kunio zensh羶 vol. 34 眶梗梯梯繫. Tokyo: Chikuma shob繫, 2013, pp. 3 5.
Bringing Students (in)to the World: Asia in the World Literature Classroom.Education About Asia 18.1 (Spring 2013), pp. 4 7.
Book Review of Michiko Suzuki, Becoming Modern Women, Stanford University Press, 2009; in Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific 28 (February/March 2012).
Teaching Modern Japanese History with Animation: Satoshi Kons Millennium Actress.&紳莉莽梯;Education About Asia 12.1 (Spring 2007), pp. 62 65.
The I-Novel in Encyclopedia of Life Writing, ed. Margaretta Jolly. 2 vols. London: Fitzroy-Dearborn Publishers, 2001. Vol. 1, pp. 453 454.
INVITED LECTURES
Ky繫zai to shite no bungaku Meiji to Taish繫 no ky繫ikusha ga bei ni mananda koto.&紳莉莽梯;Symposium Literature Goes To School. Kanagawa University, Yokohama, September 3, 2022. In Japanese.
A Japanese Childrens Classic in Italy: Translating Edmondo de Amicis Cuore in Prewar Japan. Waseda University, Tokyo, May 27, 2022. .
The Wonderful Adventures of Western Childrens Classics in the East. University of Florida, February 14, 2020.
Language Difference as an Asset in the Classroom and Beyond. With Dr. Joel Heng Hartse. Centre for English Language Learning, Teaching, and Research at 間眅埶AV, May 14, 2019.
3,000 Leagues in Search of Cuore: Edmondo de Amicis Travels to Japan. CJR Lunchtime Lecture Series at University of British Columbia, November 27, 2018.
Human in Spirit: Popular Visual Culture and the Republic of Supernatural Japanese Citizens. Symposium on the Nonhuman in Japanese Culture and Society: Spirits, Animals, Technology at University of Victoria, September 22, 2018.
Collaboration and the Art of Doing More With Less. Teaching World Literature: Debates, Models, Pedagogies at University of Washington, October 21, 2016.
Trees, Waves, and Rhizomes Under the Microscope. Teaching World Literature: Debates, Models, Pedagogies at University of Washington, October 21, 2016.
Randoku no kuse: Meiji Taish繫 no er簾to to kodomo jidai no dokusho keiken. Tokyo Gakugei University, May 22, 2015. In Japanese.
Randoku no kuse: Meiji Taish繫 no er簾to to kodomo jidai no dokusho keiken. The Faculty of International Studies, Meiji Gakuin University, April 8, 2015. In Japanese.
In Search of Lost Worlds: Meiji and Taish繫 Period Elites Remember Their Childhood Reading. Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore, March 23, 2015.
World Literature in the Nursery, 1870-1930: Fin de si癡cle Elites and Memories of Childhood Reading. Stanford University, February 11, 2015.
The Undiscovered Country: Text, Translation and Modernity in the Work of Yanagita Kunio. East Asian Studies Workshop, Stanford University, February 10, 2015.
Translation, Transnationalism, and Japanese Childrens Literature, 1870-1930. Symposium of Japanese Childrens Literature. Colorado College, Colorado Springs, May 31, 2014.
Traditionally Modern: Folklore Studies, Nation, Japan. University of Washington, Seattle, April 15, 2014.
Shajitsushugi bungaku to shite yomu T繫no monogatari (Reading T繫no monogatarias Realist Literature). Symposium entitled 21-seiki ni okeru Yanagita Kunio. T繫no City, Japan, August 24, 2012. In Japanese.
Ten Years post-PhD, or: Thoughts on Surviving (and Thriving) in the Profession. Keynote speech. UBC Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference. University of British Columbia, May 12, 2012.
The Curious Cabinet of Kon Satoshi: Phantasm, Feminism, and Fear. Asian Film Festival at the Kellogg Institute of International Studies. University of Notre Dame, March 26, 2011.
Amerika kara yomu T繫no monogatari (Reading Tales of T繫no from America). Symposium entitled Aratanaru Yanagita Kunio. Tokyo Gakugei University, January 29, 2011. In Japanese.
An Introduction to Anime: The History and Culture of a Transnational Medium. Invited by the Asian Educational Media Service at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. April 29, 2009.
Gender in Japanese Anime. Led faculty seminar for the St. Lawrence University Asian Studies Initiative. November 12, 2004.
Ethnology and Dialect: Yanagita Kunio and the Authorship of National Language. Japanese Humanities Lecture Series at the University of Washington. May 23, 2003.
PRESENTATIONS AT SCHOLARLY MEETINGS
World Literature Goes to School in Meiji Japan at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan. June 18, 2022. (held remotely)
The Childhood Memoir and Childrens Cultures of Reading in Meiji and Taish繫 Japan at Modernity, Memory, and Asian Childhood. National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. November 20, 2021. (held remotely)
Around the World in 80 Years: How an Italian Childrens Classic Went to Japan and Back at AAS (Association for Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Denver, March 21- March 26, 2021. (held remotely)
Resourceful Reading and the Childhood Memoir. Childrens Literature and Digital Humanities. Antwerp, Belgium, October 22-23, 2020. (held remotely)
Big World in a Small Package: Creating a Department of World Languages and Literatures Modern Languages Association Annual Convention. Seattle, WA, January 9-12, 2020.
Multilingual Literature and Literacy in the World Literature Classroom at Multilingual Literatures: An Interdisciplinary Conference. Gregynog Hall, Wales, July 17 - 19, 2019.
A Wild Goose Chase: Tracing the Reception of Western Childrens Classics in Japan at AAS (Association for Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Denver, March 21- March 24, 2019.
World Childrens Literature at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, USA, March 29-April 1, 2018.
Tracking the Elusive Historical Child Reader at IRSCL (International Research Society for Childrens Literature) Congress 2017. York University, Toronto, July 29-August 2, 2017.
Bringing Young Readers Into the World: The Pedagogical Uses of Literature Around 1900 at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. Utrecht, Netherlands, July 7-9, 2017.
Nationalist Texts With International Appeal: Or, the Strange Tale of Childrens World Literature at the Extended Fin de Si癡cle at Other Europes: Migrations, Translations, Transformations, MLA International Symposia: Translating the Humanities. D羹sseldorf, Germany, 25 June 2016.
Edmondo de Amicis Travels East: Cuore in Japanese Translation and Adaptation at Regional Identities on a Global Scale: Translation, Audiences, Reception, Transnational Perspectives in Italian Studies. University of British Columbia, April 2, 2016.
The Nursery of Meiji Literature: Eisai shinshi (Genius magazine) and Children as Authors at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Seattle, March 31-April 3, 2016.
Translating the modernizing landscape: Yanagita Kunio and the travelogue at UBC Japan Seminar. UBC, March 23, 2012.
Childrens Literature and Translation, or: The World Republic of Childhood at Scroll to Screen Symposium. UBC, October 3, 2011.
The Politics of Translation: Iwaya Sazanamis Tale of the Brave Dog Koganemaru(1891) as an Original Work of Childrens Literature at Modernist Studies Association annual meeting. Victoria, November 11-14, 2010.
(Re)Animating Folklore: Raccoon Dogs, Foxes, and other Supernatural Citizens in Takahata Isaos Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko at Kinema Club 2010 (an association of scholars of Japanese cinema) annual meeting. Honolulu, July 30 - August 1, 2010.
World Literature for Children: The Case of Iwaya Sazanamis The Brave Dog Kogane-maru (1891) at ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association) Annual Meeting. New Orleans, April 1-4, 2010.
Thinking like a Patriot, Speaking like an Individual: Yanagita Kunio and Prewar Education at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Chicago, March 26-29, 2009.
Teaching Children to Do Things With Words: Yanagita Kunio and the Postwar Education Debate at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Atlanta, April 3-6, 2008.
Yanagita Kunio to Nihon no kindaika: T繫no monogatari kara sengo no ky繫kasho made at the Yanagita Kunio no kai. tani University (Kyoto), July 28, 2007. In Japanese
Indexing the Past: Visual Language and Translatability in Kon Satoshis Millennium Actress at Kinema Club Conference VIII. Frankfurt (Germany), April 23, 2007.
National History as Otaku Fantasy: Kon Satoshis Millennium Actress at ACAG 2006 (International Conference on Asian Comics, Animation and Gaming). York University (Toronto), May 18-19, 2006.
Authentic(ating) Voices of the Folk: Yanagita Kunios Criticism of Language Reform at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Chicago, March 28-31, 2005.
Landscape and the Lonely Traveler: Yanagita Kunio and Sugae Masumi at the Association for Japanese Literary Studies Annual Conference. University of Washington (Seattle), October 22-24, 2004. Abstract
Yanagita Kunios Reflections on Snails and the Role of Dialect in Authoring National Language at the Modern Languages Association Annual Convention. San Diego, December 27-20, 2003.
Miyazaki Hayaos Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi: Escaping Japan? at The New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) 2002 Annual Meeting. Skidmore College (New York State), October 25-26, 2002.
Sketching Out the Critical Tradition: Yanagita Kunio and the Reappraisal of Realism at the Association for Japanese Literary Studies Annual Conference. Purdue University (Indiana), October 4-5, 2002.
Competing Conceptions of Modern Selfhood: Native Ethnologist Yanagita Kunio and the Meiji-Taish繫 Literary Community at the DIJ Humanities Study Group. Deutsches Institut f羹r Japanstudien (Tokyo), May 23, 2001.
Travel Writing and Reimagining the Native Landscape: Yanagita Kunios Kainan shoki at AAS (Association of Asian Studies) Annual Meeting. Chicago, March 22-25, 2001.
Japanese Native Ethnology and Modern Travel Writing: Literary Genre and National Identity at the Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (ASPAC) 2000 Annual Meeting. University of Oregon, June 16-18, 2000.
Fictional Fantasy or Historical Fact? The Search for Japanese Identity in Miyazaki Hayao's Mononokehime at Beyond Babel: Common Language, Common Differences, Common Ground. UC San Diego, October 14-16, 1999.
Miyazaki Hayao no Mononokehime ni okeru shizenkan at Nihon Minzoku Gakkai dai 50kai nenkai. Bukky繫 University, Kyoto, October 3-5, 1998.
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Childrens literature and World literature
- Translation theory and practice
- Cultural studies and intellectual history of 20th-century Japan
- Crosscultural influences between European and Japanese literature and critical theory
- Comparative folklore studies
- Film and popular culture in contemporary Japan
COURSES CURRENTLY TAUGHT
- WL 101W - Writing About Literature: Fiction and Cultural Identity
- WL 105W - World Literature Lab
- WL 200 - Literary Analysis and Interpretation
- WL 201 - East/West: Representations of Japan in Popular Culture
- WL 301W - Advanced Composition: The World Republic of Childhood
- WL 330 - Special Topic in World Literature: Transnational Youth
- WL 404 - Literature and Translation
Please click here for course descriptions and outlines
FOREIGN LANGUAGES
- Modern Japanese: excellent reading, writing and speaking abilities
- Classical Japanese: very good reading ability
- German: excellent reading, writing and speaking abilities
- Spanish: good reading, speaking ability
- Classical Chinese: fair reading ability
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
- Modern Language Association (MLA)
- Association for Japanese Literature Studies (AJLS)
- American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
- International Research Society for Childrens Literature (IRSCL)