Autumn 2021: (Tokunin Jo-kyouju/Specially-appointed Associate Professor, Center for Global Communication Strategies)
[1] Strange Navigations: Towards a geography of folklore
This class introduces students to the study of folklore through a cultural and literary geographical perspective and explores the deep connection between landscape, spatial experience, and folklore. The first classes will be used to (further) develop a working knowledge of the interdisciplines of literary and cultural geography, before moving on to examine various examples of folklore from a geographical viewpoint. You will consider the use of geography in folklore writings and further examine the affective role of place in the production of folkloric narratives. The course is designed to help you think critically about the role of folklore writings as sources of geographical information.
[2] Writing Myth, Reading Culture: An Introduction to Folklore
This course will provide students with a foundation in working in English to conduct folkloric studies. Working through a series of comparative case studies, your class activities will be based around group discussions, screenings, in-class readings and student-led work – each designed to help develop your verbal, written and analytic skills in English language. Students will examine folklore from a cross-cultural perspective, exploring myths and legends from both the geographical East and West. As well as assessing the role of folklore from both contemporary and historical viewpoints, the class will also introduce students to methodological approaches in the investigation of folklore.
[3] Geographies of Horror
This course will introduce students to the role of geography in cinematic and literary horror, exploring the ways in which filmmakers and writers have tried to imagine the supernatural qualities of the world that surrounds them. Starting with a short introduction to cultural geography, the classes will move on to discuss specific examples of gothic, monstrous and ecological horror. Students will consider how the supernatural entities that appear in horror (ghosts, vampires, zombies etc.) can be seen to tell us about place and environment, expressing the complex relationship between people and the landscapes they inhabit. Using cultural geographic theory as a backdrop for the course, students will examine the impact of horror on the way we think about and describe the threat and decline of the natural world.
[4] An Introduction to Cultural Geography
This course provides students with an opportunity to explore the complex terrain of Cultural Geography through English language texts. Starting with an overview of cultural geography, the course will then look at specific cultural, critical and aesthetic theory, helping students to reflect on the relationship between culture, nature and representation. Each class will focus on a particular cultural geographic theme (e.g. the culture-nature divide; mobility; the anthropocene; landscape and memory; urbanism and rurality; folklore and landscape). By the end of the course students will have a comprehensive understanding of the connections between people, landscape and the geographic imagination.
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Spring 2020 to Present (Hijokin/Part-time Lecturer, Department of English and Culture, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University)
[1] Third-Year Thesis Writing I and II
The goal is to further develop the ability of students to write academic essays, but with a special emphasis on preparing them to write a successful Graduation Essay in an appropriate style with a high level of correct English. The majority of the class time will therefore be spent on introducing students to the process of researching and writing longer essays on topics directly related to their area of interest. An emphasis will be placed on developing methods for conducting extended research projects, such as the preparation of an annotated bibliography and a review of relevant literature.
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Previous classes include:
2017 – Present (Specially-appointed Associate Professor, Center for Global Communication Strategies)
- Literary Geographies of Folklore
- Writing the Landscape: British Nature Writing at the turn of the twentieth-century
- An Introduction to Cultural Geography
- Fortean Geographies: Critical engagements with supernatural spaces
- An Introduction to Creative Research Practices
- Nature, Culture and the Geographic Imagination
- Ecologies of Capital (and Culture)
- The Ghost Story: Describing spaces of the supernatural
- Thesis Writing
- English for Arts and Sciences.
2020-2021 (Part-time Lecturer, Department of English and Culture, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University)
- Examining Culture, Landscape and Place in British Nature Writing
2019 – 2020 (Part-time lecturer, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Saitama University)
- Studying Humanities Abroad II
- Japanese Material Culture (Graduate School)
2016-2017 (Project Assistant Professor, Center for Global Communication Strategies)
- Active Learning of English for Students of the Arts (ALESA)
- Active Learning of English for Science Students (ALESS)
- Fluency Oriented Workshops (FLOW)
2017-2018 Sophia University (Part-time Lecturer, Dept. of British Studies)
- English Skills II – Cultural Analysis (Aesthetics and Landscape)
2014-2016 University of the Arts London (Associate Lecturer, School of Media and Communication)
- Visual Cultural Theory
- Introduction to Media Communications
- Methods of Cultural Analysis
- Collaborative Media Project
- Photographic Theory (Visual Analysis)
- Introduction to Studying Higher Education
- Dissertation supervisor for final year BA Media Communication students.
2011 University of London (Teaching Associate, Department of Geography)
- Geographies of Commodities
2008-2009 Brooklands College, Weybridge (Lecturer, Dept. of Media and Film Studies)
- Advanced Level Media Studies
- Advanced Level Film Studies
- BTEC Media Studies
2005-2007 University of Northampton (Lecturer, Dept. of Sociology)
- Identity and Culture
- Introduction to Media Studies
- Global Cultures
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