Histories of Now
Contemporary Histories of Activism, Gender, Environmental and Social Justice in Japan and the World
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On student-led activism against sexual against sexual assault
It was an honor to learn from three scholars — Sita Dewi, Bea Devesa, and Misha Cade — about their research on recent social movements in their local conditions of activism against campus sexual assault in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan, respectively for the latest issue of the Asian Journal of Women’s Studies. We also…
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A New Home for Lib Shinjuku Center’s Archive
I managed to just barely catch the exhibit of Lib Shinjuku Center Materials up at the National Women’d Education Center (NWEC), in Saitama. It was wonderful to see them again, in all of their vibrant glory. It was also wonderful to know that they had found a new forever home there. Here is another view…
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On Flavia Madaschi and Documenting Queer Histories
It has been very cool to work with several archives of feminist and queer movements in Bologna, Italy to prepare for a new iteration of the “Resisting Oblivion” exhibit at MAMbo (Museum of Modern Art Bologna), summer 2025. One of those archives is the Flavia Madaschi Documentation Center at Cassero. The Archive is named for…
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A Collective Reflection on Creative Commons
The planning and executing of an exhibit can be so all-consuming that one isn’t really left much time to reflect. So I really appreciated being able to work together with many of the collectives who participated in the “Creative Commons” exhibit in spring 2024 to write and publish a piece in the Asian Journal of…
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On the passing of Matsuo Keiko
The last time I spoke with Matsuo on the telephone, she told me she was in incredible pain. Her legs were swollen, her mobility limited. She didn’t like being contained. She still always asked about my child, whom she had met only once, on my first trip to the former mining town of Omuta, Kyushu.…
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Tokyo 1968 Graphic Novel Update
It was so deeply pleasurable to work intensively with Hélène Aldeguer over the month of October while she was on a residency in Yamagata. We took long walks, exploring haunts in Tokyo where our characters would have visited and chatting endlessly about the intersections of political and personal life. This creative period with her has…