Family, relatedness and emotions in premodern Japan

[Pia Jolliffe]

Dear all, 

I hope this finds you well. In this email and attached to it I am sending a call for expressions of interest to present at a workshop on Family, relatedness and emotions in premodern Japan which Polina Barducci, Brigitte Steger and I are convening. 

Best wishes, Pia

Call for expressions of interest to present on

Family, relatedness and emotions in premodern Japan

at a work-in-progress workshop

supported by JAWS (Japan Anthropology Workshop) and the

Department of East Asian Studies, University of Cambridge

 

Time: 10 April 2026 (TBC)

Venue: University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK (TBC)

 

Conveners: Polina Barducci, Pia Jolliffe, and Brigitte Steger

 

In this historical-anthropological workshop we invite scholars to present their work-in-progress on practical and performative aspects of family life in premodern Japan. We understand “families” as people who are related through shared activities in everyday life, during seasonal celebrations and the various rites of passages that mark major life course transitions. We are particularly interested in the performative aspects of such activities, the emotions put at display and the forms of relatedness that are created in these ways between individuals and across time.

 

We aim to create a supportive community for scholars who use anthropological approaches to study the history of Japan, focusing on topics related to premodern families. This initiative seeks to foster dialogue, share resources, and build connections among researchers. The format of the workshop remains flexible and will be shaped by the responses to this call, ensuring that it reflects the needs and priorities of those who wish to participate.

 

Dr Polina Barducci, University of Cambridge, works on motherhood in the Ashikaga shogunate.

Dr Pia Jolliffe, University of Oxford, works on girlhoods, Buddhist communities and the transition from Sengoku to Tokugawa Japan.

Dr Brigitte Steger, University of Cambridge, works on sleep and family relatedness in Heian Japan.

Please get in contact with a brief abstract: pia.jo...@bfriars.ox.ac.uk

Dr Pia Jolliffe FRHistS

Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford

St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LY

https://earlymodern.web.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-pia-jolliffe