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Professor Matthew Allen

BA, PhD (Sydney)

Location:  19.2028
Email:  mallen@uow.edu.au
Telephone:  +61 2 4221 3706

Current Research Projects

My research interests are interdisciplinary and wide-ranging, but I have retained a fundamental interest in identity and history across these studies. I have written books on coalmining, disaster management and violence in Japan, identity and resistance in Okinawa, and most recently coedited a volume on globalization and popular culture. Most of my work revolves around solid ethnographic practice combined with historical methodology, mostly in Japanese language environments. I have also written a number of papers and reports on ethnopsychiatry, shamanism in Okinawa, and the impact of ‘traditional’ healing practices on current medical activities. Many of these papers were co-written with colleagues from Psychiatry at the University of the Ryukyus. Below is a list of my current research projects. More recently I have turned to popular culture and diasporas.

Globalization and Japanese food.

This project is concerned with the emergence of Japanese food on the global arena, and is particularly focused on the production and consumption of sushi, investigating its changing iterations in a global context. This is a joint project with Rumi Sakamoto from the University of Auckland. 

Mobilizing Identities: The Okinawan diaspora to Hawaii

The project tracks the development of the diasporic Okinawan community in Hawaii from its early days at the beginning of the twentieth century to contemporary times. 

Nationalism and Popular Culture in Japan

This is a new co-authored project on how nationalism has been incorporated into popular cultural discourse in Japan from the late twentieth century to the present. My co-author, Rumi Sakamoto, is a sociologist with expertise on nationalism. 

Selected Recent Research Publications

Books

• 2009 (revised reprint). ALLEN, M. Undermining the Japanese Miracle: Work and Conflict in a Japanese Coal Mining Village. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge and Melbourne. 290pp; illustrations, photographs, glossary, index. ISBN0-521-45009-8. Paperback.
• 2006. ALLEN, M. and SAKAMOTO, R. (eds) Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 240pp. ISBN10-415-36898-7. Hardback and Paperback.
• 2002. ALLEN, M. Identity and Resistance in Okinawa. Md. Rowman and Littlefield. 280pp; illustrations, photographs, glossary, index. ISBN 0-7425-1714-4. Hardback and Paperback. (Asian Voices series; series editor Mark Selden, Binghamton and Cornell Universities).
• 1994 (reprint 1995). ALLEN, M. Undermining the Japanese Miracle: Work and Conflict in a Japanese Coal Mining Village. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge and Melbourne. 290pp; illustrations, photographs, glossary, index. ISBN0-521-45009-8. Hardback. 

Selected recent refereed journal articles and book chapters

 On identity politics/history:

• 2009. ALLEN, M. ‘Okinawans in Japan.’ In Michael Weiner (ed). Japan’s Minorities (3rd edition) Routledge. 188-205.
• 2009. (forthcoming) ALLEN, M. ‘Unravelling Mobile Identities: Japanese and Okinawans in Hawaii.’ In J. Baxter (ed) Japan and Globalization. Nichibunken.
• 2007. ALLEN, M. ‘Mass Suicides (shudan jiketsu) in Okinawa during World War 2’ Japan Focus, July 15.
• 2006. ALLEN, M. ‘‘Rallying the Village: dialect and identity on Kumejima.’ In J. Kreiner (ed). Ryukuanness or Japaneseness? London. Curzon.
• 2004. ALLEN, M. ‘Imagining Okinawan Identity in Hawaii.’ Asia Pacific Cultural Studies. 1:1. 4-26.
• 2004. ALLEN, M. ‘Editorial.’ Asia Pacific Cultural Studies. 1:1. 1-2.
• 2003. ALLEN, M.  ‘Wolves at the Back Door: Remembering the Kumejima Massacres.’ In Mark Selden and Laura Hein (ed). Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American Power. Michigan. Rowman and Littlefield. 39-65.
• 1997. ALLEN, M. “Corporate control and labouring lives: coalmining in interwar Japan.”  In E. Tipton (ed). Society and the State in Interwar Japan. London. Routledge. 146-169.
• 1993. ALLEN, M. ‘The Media, Postmodernism and Anthropology.’ The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 2.1 120-142.

On shamanism, gender and psychiatry:

• 2005. ALLEN, M. ‘Being Male in a Female World: Masculinity and Gender in Okinawan Shamanism’ in M. McLelland and R. Dasgupta (eds) Gender and Transgender in Japan. Routledge. 111-126.
• 2004. ALLEN, M., NAKA, K., ISHIZU, H., ‘Attacked by the Gods or by Mental Illness: Hybridizing Mental and Spiritual Health in Okinawa. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 7:2, June, 83-107.
• 2002. ALLEN, M.  ‘Therapies of Resistance? Yuta, help-seeking, and identity in Okinawa.’ Critical Asian Studies. 34:2, 221-242.
• 2000. ALLEN, M., NAKA, K. ‘Okinawa ken ni okeru roujin to jisatsu suru kosatsu’ (An inquiry into suicide and aging in Okinawa). In Shuyama Yutaro (ed). Kourei no Youin: Okinawa shakai no raifustairu to shippei (The Primary Causes of Aging: Okinawan Society’s Lifestyle and Illness). Fukuoka. Kyushu University Press. 67-73.
• 2000. ALLEN, M. ‘Schizophrenia, Psychiatrists and Shamanism in Okinawa.’ In A.Tokita (ed). Identity Politics and Critiques in Contemporary Japan. Melbourne. Monash University. 7-24.
• 1998. ALLEN, M., NAKA, K. et al. ‘A Letter from Okinawa: Mental health and community groups.’ Journal of Mental Health (Britain), 7,4, 4. 425-30.
• 1997. ALLEN, M., NAKA, K., SAKIHARA, S., ‘Reflections on Ageing and Suicide in Okinawa: a cross-cultural perspective.’ Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare Annual Collection of Papers. July. 34-47.
• 1997. ALLEN, M., NAKA, K., SAKIHARA, S. ‘Okinawa ni okeru roujin to jisatsu ni kansuru shisai. Hikaku bunkateki shiten kara’ (Ageing and Suicide in Okinawa: A cross cultural view ) Okinawa no kikou fuudo to choushi ni kansuru kenkyu. (Research on the Climate and Natural Features of Okinawa and their Impact on Longevity) 3. 47-53.
• 1997. ALLEN, M. ‘Suicide in Okinawa: a cross-cultural perspective.’ Okinawa no kikou fuudo to choushi ni kansuru kenkyu. (Research on the Climate and Natural Features of Okinawa and their Impact on Longevity) 3. 55-66.

On popular culture:

• 2007. SAKAMOTO, R. and ALLEN, M. ‘Hating ‘The Korean Wave’’ comic books: a sign of new nationalism in Japan?’ Japan Focus, October.
• 2006. ALLEN, M. ‘South Park Does Japan: Going Global with “Chimpokomon”’ in M. Allen and R.Sakamoto (eds)  Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan. Routledge.
• 2006. ALLEN, M. and SAKAMOTO. R. ‘Inside-out Japan? Popular culture and globalization in the context of Japan’ in M. Allen and R.Sakamoto (eds) Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan. Routledge.

Recent reviews, essays, and comments

• 2008. ALLEN, M. Miyume Tanji, Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa. Review in Social Science Japan, 11,1, 172-4.
• 2007. ALLEN, M. Arne Rokkum, Nature, Ritual and Society in Japan’s Ryukyu Islands. Review essay in Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol 33:2, 454-458.
• 2004. ALLEN, M. Koichi Iwabuchi Recentering Globalization: Popular Culture and Japanese Transnationalism. Review in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 63, No. 2, May 2004, 510-511.
• 2002. ALLEN, M. Brian McVeigh, Wearing Ideology. Review in The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 14, 13-16.
• 2002. ALLEN, M. Theodore Gilman, No Miracles Here. Review in The Journal of Japanese Studies, 28:2, 99-103.
• 2001. ALLEN, M. Kenneth Henshall, Dimensions of Japanese Society: Gender, Margins and Mainstream. Review in The Australian Journal of Anthropology, Special Issue 13, 12-13, 395-6.
• 2000. ALLEN, M. Suzanne Culter, Managing Decline. Review in Monumenta Nipponica, Autumn 55:3. 475-7.
• 1998. ALLEN, M. Michael Weiner, Minorities in Japan. Review in Journal of Social Science Japan, 1:1. 25-8. September, 47-50.
• 1998. ALLEN, M. T. Fujitani, Splendid Monarchy: Power and pageantry in modern Japan. Review in The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 9.2. 230-1.
• 1998. ALLEN, M. Marilyn Ivy, Discourses of the Vanishing. Review in The Australian Journal of Anthropology, 9.2. 235-6.
• 1998. ALLEN, M. Donald Denoon et al, Multicultural Japan. Review in Asia-Pacific Viewpoint, January.
• 1997. ALLEN, M. Michael Hobday, Innovation in East Asia: the Challenge to Japan. Review in Asia-Pacific Viewpoint,December. 

Recent conference papers and recent invited lectures

• 2009. ALLEN, M. ‘“Fuck You Japanese, and Fuck You Haoles Too": The inconvenience of reconstructing an Okinawan self in Hawaii's ‘multiracial paradise’. University of Auckland, Faculty of Arts Seminar.
• 2008. ALLEN, M. and SAKAMOTO, R. “Sushi and the place of globalization in Auckland, New Zealand”. University of Auckland, School of Asian Studies Seminar.
• 2008. ALLEN, M. “Reconstructing Orientalism in Western Film: Japanese Story, Last Samurai, Lost in Translation.” Victoria University of Wellington, School of Asian Studies, Invited Seminar Series.
• 2007. ALLEN, M. “Whose Side Are You On? Okinawans and Hawaiians on the Okinawan Reversion to Japan”. New Zealand Asian Studies Conference, Otago University, New Zealand.
• 2005. ALLEN, M. China-Japan Symposium. “Selective Amnesia: China-Japan relations since Nanjing.” Universityof Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
• 2005. ALLEN, M. “Popular culture, globalization, and the tyranny of US cultural hegemony”. Public Lecture. University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
• 2004. ALLEN, M. ‘South Park does Pokemon’. Critical Studies Public Seminar. Universityof Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii.
• 2004. ALLEN, M. ‘Shamanism and psychiatric interventions in Okinawa’. Center for Japanese Studies Public Seminar. Universityof Hawaii Manoa, HI.
• 2004. ALLEN, M., ‘Okinawa and the Base Problem Today.’ Public Lecture. University of Hawaii Okinawa Club, Manoa, HI.
• 2004. ALLEN, M. ‘Okinawan History since Annexation.’ Guest lecture HawaiiUnited Okinawa Association Genealogy Society, Waipahu, HI.
• 2003. ALLEN, M. “Unravelling Mobile Identities: Japanese and Okinawans in Hawaii.” Nichibunken Conference: “Globalization, Localization, and Japanese Studies in the Asia-Pacific”, Sydney, November.
• 2003. ALLEN, M. “Gender and Transgender in Okinawan Shamanism.” Japanese Studies Association of Australia Conference. Brisbane, July.
• 2003. ALLEN, M. “Killing Time: Memories and murder in the Pacific War.” ASAA Conference, New York, March.
• 2002. ALLEN, M. “Identifying Illness in Okinawa: Mental health and shamanic practice.” Anthropology of Japan in Japan Fall Meeting. Sophia University, Tokyo, November.
• 2002. ALLEN, M. “It’s Not Easy Being a Priestess, But Someone has to do it,” Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference. Hobart, Chancellor Hotel, June-July.
• 2002. ALLEN, M. “Rallying the Village: Identity and dialect on Kumejima,” 4th International Conference on Okinawa. Bonn University, March.
• 2000. ALLEN, M. “The Clash of Systems in Okinawa: Identity, Psychiatry and Shamanistic Practices,” Diversity Within Unity. Oxford University, Lady Margaret Hall, August.
• 2000-3. ALLEN, M. Japan Day: Public Lecture. Japan, modernization, and cultural dissemination. Auckland Town Hall. Auckland, New Zealand.
• 2000. ALLEN, M. Distance Learning Experiences from Auckland University. International Distance Learning Education Conference, Wellington, New Zealand. Hyatt Hotel.
• 2000. ALLEN, M. Distance Learning, Italian, and Assessment Issues. International Distance Learning Education Conference. Auckland, New Zealand. Hyatt Hotel.
• 1998. ALLEN, M. Allen, “Yuta ni naranakatta obaasan wa bunretsusho no atta ka, tatta kami daari darou.” (The Unsuccessful Shaman’s Apprentice: schizophrenia or ‘divine spirit attack’?) Japan Human Ecology Conference. Naha, Okinawa, August.
• 1995-2004 Auckland University of Technology, Guest lecturer in: Media Studies, Japan and Popular Culture. Auckland, New Zealand. 

Translations

• 2003-9 Various translations of articles from Japanese to English for Japanfocus.org. Please see website for details. Topics include the Iraq war, medical practices in Okinawa, shamanistic practices, World War 2 trials.
• 1997-2000 Various translations in mental health and psychiatry for School of Medicine at the University of the Ryukyus. Okinawa, Japan.