Rajyashree Pandey did her undergraduate degree at Oxford University in Japanese Studies. She received her Masters at Washington University and her PhD from Australian National University. She has taught in many universities across the world including Washington University (St Louis), University of Hawaii, and La Trobe University in Melbourne. She took up her current post in 2007.

Rajyashree has published widely in the areas of medieval Japanese literature, Buddhism and gender. She is particularly interested in examining the applicability of categories such as woman, body and gender, all of which emerged in the West, for understandind non-Western pasts and presents.

She also does research in postcolonial studies and popular culture, particularly on manga and anime, to consider how political concerns and ideologies are reflected in these contemporary artistic forms. Rajyashree has given several keynote addresses in these areas of her research in Estonia, Finland, Japan, UK and Germany, and some of her major publications have been translated into Japanese.

Academic Qualifications

• BA (Hons) in Japanese, Oriental Institute, Oxford University, 1976
• MA in Japanese Studies, Washington University, St Louis, USA, 1980
• PhD (Asian Studies Department), Australian National University, Canberra, 1989

Teaching

Rajyashree has taught across several disciplines. She taught at the Department of Asian Studies at Washington University, at the Department of Religions at the University of Hawaii, and was Head of Asian Studies for many years at La Trobe University, where she taught Japanese Language and Literature. She was a part-time Professor at Tallinn University, Estonia from 2007-2009. She has held a number of Fellowships in Japan, including the Japan Foundation Fellowship in 2003. She currently teaches an MA module entitled “Visualising Asia: Body, Gender, Politics”, and offers two undergraduate modules on Japan, “Making Modern Japan: Great Expectations, Hard Times”, and “An(Other) Japan: Politics, Ideology, Culture”. She also co-teaches “Politics of Other Cultures” at undergraduate level.

Area of Supervision

Rajyashree welcomes enquiries regarding supervision in the areas of gender studies, popular culture, and Japanese politics and culture.

Recent Work

Books:

• Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair: Body, Woman, and Desire in Medieval Japanese Narratives (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2016)
• Writing and Renunciation in Medieval Japan: The Works of the Poet-Priest Kamo no Chõmei (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan, Japanese Monograph Series, 1998)

Selected Articles in Books and Refereed Journals:

• “Reconfiguring sex, body and desire in Japanese modernity”, Postcolonial Studies, Vol 12, No 3, 2009, 289-301.
• “Medieval Genealogies of Manga Horror and Anime” in Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the world of manga and anime, Mark MacWilliams ed; M.E Sharpe, 2008, pp. 219-236
• “Performing the body in medieval Japanese narratives: Izumi Shikibu in Shasekishû”, Japan Forum: The International Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol.19, No.1, March, 2007