Research Summary

Hiromi Kaneda is a PhD candidate at Rutgers University, New Jersey. She received her B.A. in English and American Literature major in Linguistics at Soka University of Japan. After working a few years as a translator, an interpreter and a teacher at the Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo, she went back to study to earn a M.A. in Italian Literature at the University of Virginia. She wrote a thesis (MA) on the relations between myths, astronomical figures and animals in Il Gattopardo. In her dissertation, provisionally titled Representing the Economic Boom and its Anxieties: Italy and Japan, she investigates the momentous Post-World War II shifts in Italian and Japanese society, from traditional to modern, during the so called “Economic Miracle” (1958-1965) which generated changes in gender roles, perceptions, identifications, actions and interaction-relational issues. Using different approaches like cultural studies, gender studies, and theories of masculinity and space, she aims to analyze in Italian and Japanese novels and films the changes in gender roles and their implications. Her research interests include gender studies, masculinity, Italian and Japanese cinema, and cultural studies.

Education

M.A., University of Virginia, Italian Studies; Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese (2012)

B.A.: Soka University, Japan, Department of English (2003)

Research Interests

• Italian and Japanese Literature & Films
• Gender Studies
• Cultural Studies
• Masculinity
• Spatiality

Teaching

University of Virginia

• Elementary Italian I

Rutgers University

• Elementary Italian I and II
• Intermediate Italian I and II
• Italian Language Through Film
• Upper Intermediate Conversation