Historian Garrett Washington was recently awarded seed funding to support the development of new collaborations between UMass and Hokkaido University.
Professor Washington’s collaboration with HU historian Jonathan Bull aims to analyze post-imperial migration at the end of empire through Hakata port (Fukuoka prefecture) between 1945 and 1947 in the context of urban and transnational history. Read more about the UMass-HU joint seed funding. This forms part of a new comparative history project on French and Japanese post-imperial repatriation.
Professor Washington’s research has largely focused on the histories of modern Japanese religions and their intersections with gender, architectural, intellectual, transnational histories. His most recent research has also received international attention. Professor Washington’s biographical study on the life of industrialist, women’s rights activist, and late-life Christian convert Madame Hirooka Asako (1849-1919) was featured in an interview he completed with Daido, a life insurance company founded by Asako. See the interview on Daido’s website.
At UMass, Professor Washington draws upon this research in his courses on modern and traditional Japan, Japanese women’s history, the cultural history of US-Japan relations, and the interplay of race, religion and nation in East Asia among others.