School of Social and Political Science

Research interests

Areas of Interest:

• Gender in International Relations
• East Asian Politics
• Critical Military Studies
• Japan
• International Security
• Postmodernism

In my PhD research, I analysed gendered portrayals of the Japanese Military and how it draws on popular culture and subcultural elements (otaku culture) to craft a new, postmodern form of de-politicised militarism. I consider the Japanese military to be an avant-garde case for a culturally-centred kind of militarism that turns militaries into cultural entrepreneurs and speaks to relatively narrow military subcultures rather than larger society. Theoretically, I have developed a distinctly postmodern analytical framework building on the works of Jean Baudrillard and Asada Akira, with introducing the latter and other important Japanese theorists to a wider Western audience being one of my goals as well. 

Currently I am in the process of transforming my doctoral research into peer-reviewed publications and developing postdoctoral research ideas, e.g. examining cases beyond Japan to see if the pattern identified in my PhD can be seen elsewhere too.