Research Summary
My book entitled, _Gendered Power: Educated Women from the Meiji Empress’ Court (University of Michigan Press, 2019) examines the sources and execution of power held by women of the Meiji Empress Shōken’s court. This project considers the power and influence held by Meiji women, particularly those linked to the Meiji empress, to engineer educational and social structures that had lasting influence on the lives and identities of women of Japan.
Education
- PhD, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
Biography
Mamiko Suzuki is Assistant Professor of Japanese in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. Her book, Gendered Power: Educated Women of the Meiji Empress' Court focuses on the emergence of women's education in the late 19th and early 20th century, and on the diaries, essays, poetry, and fiction, of Meiji female intellectuals affiliated with the Meiji empress Haruko’s, such as popular rights activist and poet Nakajima Toshiko (1864-1901) and influential Shimoda Utako (1854-1936).
She received the University of Utah Faculty Fellowship (2016) and an NEAC Short Term Travel Grant (2015) to work on her book manuscript. She has published in the refereed journals Japanese Language and Literature, CLCWeb, and U.S. Japan Women’s Journal and has also translated Japanese short fiction and essays by Sata Ineko, Futabatei Shimei, and Mitani Kuniaki.
Her research interests include the relationship between women’s literature and education of the Meiji period in connection to imperial power; Classical Chinese poetry and prose; and Confucianism in the lives of elite, educated women.