Mark your calendars - Jordan Sand's 2026 MJHA Distinguished Annual Lecture "The Stuff of Japanese History: Materialist Approaches" - Thurs. October 8 (October 9 in Japan)

[Nick Kapur]

The Modern Japan History Association is delighted to sponsor the 2026 MJHA Distinguished Annual Lecture, which will be given by Jordan Sand (Georgetown) and is titled "The Stuff of Japanese History: Materialist Approaches." A talk abstract is below.

Our flagship annual event, the Modern Japan History Association's Distinguished Annual Lecture recognizes the achievements and contributions of a foremost scholar in the field of modern Japanese history, as voted on by MJHA members. Each scholar in the field can give the lecture only once.

The Lecture is scheduled for Thursday, October 8, 2026 from 7:00-8:30 pm ET (Friday, October 9 from 8:00-9:30 am JST). This Zoom lecture is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required.

REGISTER FOR ZOOM HERE: https://mjha.org/event-6695701

The Stuff of Japanese History: Materialist Approaches

Digitization is altering how people apprehend lived reality. Historians can respond by producing work that is physically located, embodied, and material. Modern Japan provides unusually fertile ground for such materialist approaches. Using examples of four methods of learning from things—“unintentional witnessing,” “thing theory,” “thermodynamics,” and “object-oriented ontology”—this presentation will illustrate the insights to be gained from studying the “stuff” of Japanese history.