Education

A.B., Columbia College
​Ph.D., Stanford University

Biography

I’m interested in culture and history. How have we, as a species, made sense of where we’ve found ourselves over the centuries? While the human situation can be said to remain largely the same, our sense of ourselves as well as our modes of expression vary greatly with timeand place. My scholarly research largely focuses on religion and gender in the history of medieval Japanese Buddhism. How did men, women, and families imagine themselves, their world and their place in it, in Japan from the twelfth century’s courtly ideals, to the civil wars of the fifteenth century, to the urban bustle of the seventeenth century? In the classroom, I offer courses on Buddhism, Religion and Gender, East Asian Religions, Japanese Literature, Language, and History. I really enjoy teaching the Japanese Civilization course where we have the challenge of learning all about Japan, from the dawn of time through 1995 -- all in one semester. It’s a challenge to try to cover all the bases, but it lets me think in a broader way about issues in Japanese culture and history that I pursue more narrowly in my research. The best part about teaching at Haverford and Bryn Mawr is the sincerity and the enthusiasm of the students.