Kadia, Miriam

Research

research overview

Dr. Kingsberg Kadia is interested in various topics within the histories of modern Japan and East Asia: intoxicants, 'race,' knowledge and science, and daily life. She is currently working on research projects on the history of time accounting and time use in Shōwa Japan, and on the history of Japanese mountaineering during the Cold War.

keywords

history of modern Japan and East Asia

Publications

selected publications

chapter
- Status and Smoke: Koreans in Japan’s Opium Empire 2013
journal article
- Significant Soil: Settler Colonialism and Japan's Urban Empire in Manchuria. Journal of Japanese Studies. 183-186. 2017
- Beyond the Metropolis: Second Cities and Modern Life in Interwar Japan. Monumenta Nipponica: studies in Japanese culture. 241-244. 2016
- Beriberi in Modern Japan: The Making of a National Disease. Journal of Asian Studies. 1132-1133. 2014
- Becoming Brazilian to Be Japanese: Emigrant Assimilation, Cultural Anthropology, and National Identity. Comparative Studies in Society and History: an international quarterly. 67-97. 2014
- Japan’s Inca Boom: Global Archaeology and the Making of a Postwar Nation. Monumenta Nipponica: studies in Japanese culture. 221-254. 2014

Teaching

courses taught

HIST 1708 - Japan from Clay Pots to Robots
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022
Surveys the history of Japan from earliest times through the 21st century. Topics may include: the origins of civilization in the Japanese archipelago, the development of religions such as Shinto and Buddhism, the writing of the world�s first novel, the rise of the samurai, the persecution of Christians, empire-building in Asia, World War II, occupation by the United States and its allies, J-pop, and contemporary headline news.
HIST 1800 - Introduction to Global History
Primary Instructor - Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
The first cornerstone course for history majors applies a broad perspective to the global past in order to illuminate how common historical patterns and processes, as well as unique elements, shaped the human experience. Using a thematic approach, all topical variations of this course highlight cross-cultural interactions among societies, and, when relevant, how historical processes that began centuries ago still impact the contemporary world. Topics will vary by section. Department enforced prerequisite: 3 hours of any history coursework.
HIST 2728 - Japan: From Samurai to Kamikaze
Primary Instructor - Summer 2020 / Summer 2021 / Summer 2022 / Summer 2024
Death-defying warriors prepared to cut their bellies and die over the slightest insult to their honor. Conscripted soldiers who charged uphill directly into the line of fire while shouting their loyalty to the emperor. Pilots who took off knowing they wouldn't return, blowing up military targets and themselves. This course peeks beneath stereotypes in the military history of Japan from the first evidence of armed conflict through World War II and beyond.
HIST 4448 - Wars of Liberation in Southeast Asia
Primary Instructor - Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Uses the contemporary nations of Indonesia, Myanmar, and Singapore as case studies to examine the making and unmaking of European and Japanese colonialism in Southeast Asia in the years surrounding World War II. In what ways did different communities understand and narrate imperialism and independence? How can we understand wars of liberation as local, regional, and global experiences, with legacies for today? Same as HIST 5448 and ASIA 4448.
HIST 4728 - Japan�s Empire: Birth and Death
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Fall 2023
Examines the origins of Japan�s wartime military state in the age of the samurai and the subsequent dislocations of revolution, industrialization, Westernization, and nation-building. Topics may include: colonialism in Asia, evolving roles for women, the rise and fall of democracy, the origins of fascism, the home front, military atrocities, the atomic bombs, war memory, and the art and literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Same as HIST 5728.

HIST 4758 - The History of Postwar Japan, 1945 to Present
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
Explores political, economic, social and cultural factors in postwar Japan. Although the defeat in 1945 is often seen as "zero hour", a moment of near total disjunction, the outlines of postwar Japan emerged during World War II. Beginning with the 1930s, traces growth and development, social change, globalization, the quest for collective identity and other themes in the evolving Japanese nation-state.

HIST 4800 - Special Topics in Global History
Primary Instructor - Spring 2021 / Fall 2023
Organized around themes that change yearly, this class allows students to study and research processes, phenomena, and events of global significance in historical context. Will stress historical subjects that span multiple geographic regions of the globe. Topics could include the global history of: the arms trade; slavery; health and disease; youth culture; women's rights; genocide, the environment, migration, economic trade, warfare exploration etc... May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.

HIST 6800 - Readings in Global History
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020
Explores various topics, regions, and methods in history and historical writing by utilizing a global/thematic approach. Geared toward graduate students in History, but students from other disciplines with graduate standing may enroll with instructor consent. Topic and content of course will vary depending on instructor. May be repeated up 12 total credit hours.

HIST 7119 - Graduate Research Seminar in Asian History
Primary Instructor - Spring 2023
Prepares students for research in historical documents in Asian languages in order to write a substantial original research paper based on primary and secondary source materials. Recommended requisite: background in Asian history.

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