Dr Carolyn Shannon Stevens
Japanese Studies Room 310 Tel: + 61 3 8344 7582 |
Background
Carolyn S. Stevens is Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Melbourne and Head of Japanese Studies (2004-2006). Originally from the United States, she migrated to Australia in 1994 after living in Japan for four years. Her AB (magna cum laude) from Harvard College is in social anthropology, and her PhD in cultural anthropology is from Columbia University. During her postgraduate career, she received a Japan Foundation Fellowship to study at the Inter-University Center for the Study of Japanese in Yokohama, Japan. Before coming to Australia, Dr. Stevens taught and conducted research at Jochi (Sophia) and Obirin Universities in Tokyo. More recently, she has been affiliated with the University of Tokyo (Faculty of International and Public Health) and Meiji Gakuin University (Faculty of International Studies and PRIME).
Dr. Stevens' publications include On the Margins of Japanese Society: volunteers and the welfare of the urban underclass (Routledge, 1997). This research monograph represents the first academic research conducted by a non-Japanese woman in a yoseba (gathering place for day labourers). More recent publications include work on the public health and welfare of foreign mothers and their children in Japan. Her other main research interest is Japanese popular music. Dr. Stevens worked for several years in the 1990s as a consultant to a Japanese entertainment management agency and this experience in the industry led to publications on Japanese rock fans, rock video analysis and concert souvenir consumption. Her most recent monograph is entitled Japanese Popular Music: culture, authenticity and power (Routledge, 2008 HB; 2009 PB).
Dr. Stevens served on the executive for the Japanese Studies Association of Australia for four years, as website manager and as secretary/treasurer. She established the website for the Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS). She also served as the co-editor of the Society for East Asian Anthropology column for the monthly publication Anthropology News, affiliated with the American Anthropological Association from 2005-2008. She is currently an Area Editor (Contemporary Culture) for the Routledge journal Japanese Studies.
Research Interests
- volunteer culture and social movements in Japan
- disability, social welfare and maternal and child health care in Japan
- foreigners in Japan
- Japanese popular music, 1950s to present
- consumer culture and fandom in contemporary Japan
Please also see Carolyn's Research and Publications Showcase.