Eriko Tomizawa-Kay

Eriko Tomizawa-Kay has taught Japanese language, art history, culture and society. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2013 from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, specializing in modern Japanese art history, and the perception of nihonga (Japanese style painting) and the formation of nihonga collections outside of Japan. Following the completion of her doctorate, she was awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Art History Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 2013 to 2014. In 2014, she was appointed as a Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellow at the Sainsbury Institute for the Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), where she is now an Academic Associate.

Japanese Language, Japanese Art and Culture, Japanese Society

Her latest research project is entitled: Okinawan Arts in its Regional Context: Historical Overview and Contemporary Practice.

The aim is to re-evaluate the significance of mutual influences among the islands of the Okinawan chain in regional, transregional, and transnational contexts.

The research explores the socio-cultural complexities of Okinawan identity over the course of history, and the intersection between art, politics, and identity from an interdisciplinary perspective. Its ensuing studies is to shed light on how Okinawan arts and cultures have been shaped by internal political situations and by a triple subjugation to the United States, Japan, and China.

She has been working with scholars in art history, history, politics, sociology, and performing arts, primarily to identify historical and political processes behind art and cultural forms.

Currently she has undertaken case studies of Okinawan art and culture, and how it relates to changing identities and regional struggles.