Anne Giblin Gedacht , Ph.D
Associate Professor of History
Department of History
(973) 275-2207
Email
Fahy Hall
Room 344
Anne Giblin Gedacht, Ph.D
Associate Professor of History
Department of History
My research focuses primarily on the social and cultural history of modern Japan from 1852-1953. My interests include Japanese migration, regional identity formation, ex-patriot identity, disaster studies, dark tourism, settler colonialism, nation-building, memory studies, and folklore studies.
I teach both upper and lower division classes on World History, Asian History, and Japanese History. Some of my favorite courses designed for Seton Hall include classes on Global Food History, "Medieval Monsters: A Japanese History," "Age of the Samurai," "Japan's Pacific Empire," and "Japan's Modern Myths and Monsters" I bring into the classroom my own experience as a global citizen, having lived and worked in Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Israel, Singapore, and Brunei.
I published my book Tohoku Unbounded: Regional Identity and the Mobile Subject in Prewar Japan in December 2022. This work examined the domestic history of Japan using a global perspective with case studies in the Philippines, colonial Manchuria, Canada, the United States, and Brazil. Additionally, I have peer-reviewed articles in the Journal of Social History, the Japan Studies Review, and have a forthcoming chapter in an edited volume titled Global Medievalisms (Boydell and Brewer) on the intersection of Pokemon Go and Daoist correlative philosophy.
Currently I am working on a new book project, tentatively titled From Everywhere and Nowhere: Unpacking Japanese Ex-Patriot Identities in the Era of Globalism, that explores what happens to individuals who themselves transcend multiple nationally bounded spaces during their lifetimes. Inspired by my own experience living and working in seven countries over the span of a decade, this monograph will interrogate the pervasive category of national identity through the lens of Japanese ex-patriots and re-migrants in the twentieth century. An interdisciplinary project, this book will marry historical methodologies with anthropological theory to create thematic chapters, each spanning 50-100 years.
I am also a co-Primary Investigator for an ongoing research project "Voices of ‘Super Typhoon Yolanda’ and the ‘Great Tohoku Earthquake’ on Social Media in the Philippines and Japan" with Dr. Cherubim Quizon (Seton Hall, Anthropology) that seeks to discover how the trauma of major disasters impacts the development of identity among underrepresented voices, particularly that of ethnic minorities in the Philippines (Samar/Tacloban) and citizens of rural communities of Japan (Miyagi, Fukushima, Iwate). We will be using digital humanities tools like R and Delve on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Our current exploratory project is funded through the “Cultivating Research, Innovation, and Talent Award’s Opportunity Meets Innovation Challenge Grant” of the New Jersey State Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, awarded through the Seton Hall Provost Office’s Office of Grants and Research Services.
Education
- Ph.D., University of Wisconsin--Madison
- MA, University of Wisconsin--Madison
- A.B., University of Chicago
Scholarship
- Co-PI for a Cultivating Research, Innovation, and Talent Award’s Opportunity Meets Innovation Challenge Grant for the project "Voices of ‘Super Typhoon Yolanda’ and the ‘Great Tohoku Earthquake’ on Social Media in the Philippines and Japan." (2021-2023)
- Anne Giblin Gedacht, Tōhoku Unbounded: Regional Identity and the Mobile Subject in Prewar Japan, Studies in Global Social History, Studies in Global Migration History, (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, Dec 22, 2022).
Journal Articles
- Anne Giblin Gedacht, "The Girl from Wakamatsu: Narrative Afterlives of a Boshin War Refugee, 1868-2018," Journal of Social History (Oxford University Press, Summer 2022): 1-24.
- Anne Giblin Gedacht, "Global Histories, Local Resources: Exploring Tohoku’s International Past from within Akita Prefecture," Journal of the Institute for Asian Studies and Regional Collaboration, vol. 8 (Akita International University, February 2019): 21-30.
- Anne Giblin Gedacht, “Immobility through Motion: Historicizing Emigrant Regionalism in Japanese Proletarian Literature, 1929-1939,” Japan Studies Review vol. 26, (2022): 3-34
Book Reviews
- Book Review of In Search of our Frontier: Japanese America and Settler Colonialism in the Construction of Japan’s Borderless Empire, by Eiichiro Azuma, Journal of American-East Asian Relations 28:1(2021): 89-91.
- Book Review of Ennobling Japan’s Savage Northeast: Tohoku as Postwar Thought, 1945-2011 by Nathan Hopson, Pacific Affairs vol. 92 no. 1 (March 2019).
- Book Review of Postwar Emigration to South America from Japan to the Ryukyu Islands by Pedro Iacobelli, History: Review of New Books vol. 46, no. 6 (November 2018).
- Book Review of The Diplomatic History of Postwar Japan, edited by Iokibe Makoto, translated by Robert D. Eldridge, The Middle Ground Journal: World History and Global Studies, (Fall, 2014).
Other Publications
- Teacher Curriculum Guide for "Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School," Brittingham Galleries VI, Chazen Museum of Art, (November 13, 2007-January 6, 2008).
Invited Podcasts
- "Episode 55: Dr. Anne Giblin Gedacht (Seton Hall)," Meiji at 150 Podcast hosted by Tristan Grunow, University of British Columbia, 28 August 2018. https://Meijiat150.arts.ubc.ca.
- "Anne Giblin Gedacht, Tohoku Unbounded: Regional Identity and the Mobile Subject in Prewar Japan," New Books Network hosted by Nathan Hopson, 11 July 2023. https://newbooksnetwork.com/t%C5%8Dhoku-unbounded-regional-identity-and-the-mobile-subject-in-prewar-japan
Accomplishments
- Seton Hall University, College of Arts and Sciences College Teacher of the Year Award (2020)
- Seton Hall University, Japan Studies Program Community Service Award (2019)
- Visiting Research Fellow, Institute for Asian Studies and Regional Collaboration (IASRC), Akita International University, Japan (Summer, 2018)
- Doris Quinn Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2013-2014)
- Citation for Distinguished Service in Teaching, UW-Madison History Department (2011)
- Japanese Foundation Japanese Studies Fellowship (2009-2010)
- Early Excellence in Teaching, UW-Madison History Department (2007)