AMES Postdoc Studies the Cultural Underbelly of Japanese Literature

The Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) welcomes Linda Galvane, postdoctoral associate in Japanese and East Asian cultural studies, to its faculty for the academic year.

Galvane, who hails from Riga, Latvia, holds both a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Osaka University. She studies the underbelly of culture, quite literally, focusing on excrement in Japanese literature.

Along with teaching three courses, she will  take part in scholarly events and activities, conduct research and work on her publication portfolio.

“Her research brings to the fore a crucial aspect of our lives that is not often discussed in culture courses and opens up a fascinating conversation about how we relate to our bodies and how we think of our bodies in relation to our environment,” explains Shai Ginsberg, chair and associate professor of the department. 

“This exploration of discharge and waste brings critical scholarship to AMES that addresses the global crisis we currently find ourselves in from a completely new perspective and allows us to illuminate it in productive ways.”

We sat down with Galvane to discuss her research and her plans while she’s at Duke.

What is your research focus while at Duke?

I am currently working on a book manuscript based on my doctoral dissertation on excremental rhetoric in modern Japanese literature. I started the work in 2021, during my one-year postdoctoral appointment at the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan, and I want to bring this project to completion.

This year, I am also hoping to include more significant considerations of visual media in my project since it allows for a synesthetic reconsideration of the excremental and its mediating relationship between aesthetics and disgust.

In my research, I am interested in engaging with the marginal, the transgressive and the liminal to expose the mechanisms that lie beneath various types of discrimination and prejudices.

What brought you to your research?

My current research on the excremental grew out of my first doctoral dissertation on the image of Japanese gendered bodies in Russian literature and the Othering of Japan by exoticizing and aestheticizing some of its sexual practices.

Gradually, I became interested in looking into a subset of sexual practices that relate to disgust, namely scatophilia: a sexual interest and arousal derived from talking about excrement and using obscene language.

This brought me to a broader examination of the tensions between disgust, aesthetics and power dynamics inscribed in excremental rhetoric. 

What are you looking forward to during your time at Duke?

I am looking forward to engaging with the vibrant academic community and exploring the new paths that my research might take through this engagement.

I had a fantastic experience as a postdoctoral research fellow in Michigan, which inspired me to include various phenomenological and artistic considerations into my current work. I am certain that during my time at Duke, I will gain new insights through my interactions with other scholars and students. 

Why did you choose Duke?

One of the particularly appealing aspects is Duke’s dedication to not only advancing the frontiers of knowledge but also promoting human wellbeing. I highly value Duke’s emphasis on advancing the research of its educators.

The university’s position in the Research Triangle and potential to engage with academic communities at other schools in the area are additional aspects that influenced my choice.