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Dr. Roman Rosenbaum (2025 onwards)
THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Level 6 Jane Foss Russell Building (G02) | University of Sydney | NSW | 2006
T +61 2 9114 2060 | E roman.rosenbaum@sydney.edu.au
Biographical Statement
Biographical Statement
I completed my undergraduate education at the University of Sydney in 1995 and continued my postgraduate education also at the University of Sydney. From 1994 to 1995, I was selected as an exchange student to Hosei University (法政大学） in Japan where I completed my undergraduate studies. I continued my research at the University of Sydney and spend three years as postgraduate research student at Waseda University （早稲田大学）in Japan. My research into postwar Japanese literature culminated in the completion of my doctoral dissertations in Japanese literature in January 2004. I have taught a variety of undergraduate courses as a casual lecturer at the University of Sydney, as well as Hōsei and Waseda University in Japan. Since 2002 I have been employed full-time in the Student Centre at the University of Sydney and have been active in the School of Languages and Cultures as an Honorary Associate. From 2010-2011, I was employed as Visiting Professor at the International Research Center of Japanese Studies (国際日本文化研究センター) in Kyoto.
Research Interests
Research Interests
I am currently conducting research in the field of ‘postwar Japanese literature’ and am working on an anthology of short story translations by Oda Makoto (小田実). My second project is the completion of a monograph on Oda Makoto. As far as popular culture is concerned I am particularly interested in the graphic novels and the manga media.
Current Projects:
Chris Perkins, New Ideas in East Asian Studies: Paper - 'Post-truths' in Contemporary Japanese Society."
Oda Makoto Shortstories
Oda Makoto Monograph
玄順惠とロマン･ローゼンバウム（対談）『小田実の豊かな足跡』a(Round-Table-Talk) Hyun Soon Hye and Roman Rosenbaum 'Oda Makoto's abundant footprints.'
日文研共同研究会『東アジア近現代における知的交流一概念編成を中心に』： 日本における「戦後」という概念の再編成に向かって。Forthcoming in Nihon Kenkyu.
Selected List of Publications:
Selected List of Publications:
2024:
25th Biennial Asian Studies Association of Australia 1-4 2024, Perth. Panel: The Intergenerational Impact of the Asia Pacific War.
'Japanese satirical cartoon traditions in the caricatures of Yamafuji Shōji,' in Laurent Baridon and Marie Laureillard (eds) CARICATURE EN EXTRÊME-ORIENT: Origines, rencontres, métissages (Caricature in the far east: origins, encounters and métissage). Paris: Hemispheres, 2024.
'Pop-cultural translations in graphic art: calamitous manga,’' in Routledge Studies In East Asian Translation (forthcoming 2024).
2023:
'The Representation of the U.S.-Japan Alliance in Manga,' in International Journal of Graphic Art (IJOCA), Vol.24, No.2, pp.115-161.
'Satirical cartoon traditions in Japanese caricatures,' in Marie Laureillard (ed) La caricature en Asie de l'Est : regards croisés. Paris: Maisonneuve Hémisphères 2023. Forthcoming.
Roman Rosenbaum, Yasuko Claremont (eds) Art and Activism in the Nuclear Age: Exploring the Legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. London: Routledge, 2023. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003320395
This book explores the contemporary legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the passage of three quarters of a century, and the role of art and activism in maintaining a critical perspective on the dangers of the nuclear age.
It closely interrogates the political and cultural shifts that have accompanied the transition to a nuclearised world. Beginning with the contemporary socio-political and cultural interpretations of the impact and legacy of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the chapters examine the challenges posed by committed opponents in the cultural and activist fields to the ongoing development of nuclear weapons and the expanding industrial uses of nuclear power. It explores how the aphorism that "all art is political" is borne out in the close relation between art and activism.
This multi-disciplinary approach to the socio-political and cultural exploration of nuclear energy in relation to Hiroshima/Nagasaki via the arts will be of interest to students and scholars of peace and conflict studies, social political and cultural studies, fine arts, and art and aesthetic studies.
2022:
Roman Rosenbaum, Elizabeth Rechniewski , Yasuko Claremont Judith Keene (eds) Art and Activism In The Nuclear Age . University of Sydney,: Tin Shed Gallery, April 2022. DOWNLOAD
Exhibition Review by the Sydney Arts Guide.
Roman Rosenbaum, 'Transnationalizing Spirituality: D. T. Suzuki’s Zen Textuality,' in John Breen, Fumihiko Sueki and Shōji Yamada (eds) Beyond Zen: D. T. Suzuki and the Modern Transformation of Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press 2022.
2021:
'Transnationalizing Spirituality: D.T. Suzuki’s Zen textuality'「越境する霊性：鈴木大拙の禅のテクスト性」in Yamada Shoji and John Breen (eds) 鈴木大拙：禅を超えて (Suzuki Daisetz: Beyond Zen). Kyoto: Shibunkaku, 2020.
Roman Rosenbaum (ed) The Representation of Japanese Politics in Manga:The Visual Literacy of Statecraft. London and New York: Routledge.
'Social Malaise in Japan' in Hiroko Takeda, Mark Williams (eds) Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 441-458.
2020:
“A.NZ.A.C: Australia, New Zealand and China – a global review.” December 2, 2020 in New Zealand Asian Studies Society.
CSULB College of Liberal Arts Scholarly Intersections Lecture: “The Representation of the United States-Japan Relationship in Manga.” Tuesday, February 25, 2020. 12:30pm-2:30pm. Anatol Center (AS119) at California State University, Long Beach.
2018:
2018:
'Oda Makoto and grassroots citizenship movements - Beheiren,' in Yasuko Claremont (ed) Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation: Wounds, Scars and Healing. New York: Routledge, 2018, 136-152.
2017:
2017:
The Hyphenated Films of Steven Okazaki: Japanese Identities in American Film,' in Japan Review (Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies), Vol.31, pp.171-193. 2017. DOI: http://doi.org/10.15055/00006842
2016:
2016:
Co-translation Yasuko Claremont and Roman Rosenbaum, ISHIBUMI: A memorial to the atomic annihilation of 321 students of Hiroshima Second Middle School, Poplar Press (ポプラ社), 2016.
'Postwar Australian–Japanese Grassroots Reconciliation Movements:Grassroots Presentations at the International Conference to Commemorate the Seventieth Anniversary of the End of the Asia–Pacific Conflict,' in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA).
'Oda Makoto and Grassroots citizenship movements – Beheiren' in Yasuko Claremont (ed) Seventieth Anniversary since the Asia-Pacific Conflict (tentative title). Routledge.
'Oda Makoto and literary reconciliation: the rise of civil societies in Japan and Korea in the wake of the Asia-Pacific War' in Michael Lewis (ed) History Wars' and Reconciliation in Japan and Korea: The Roles of Historians, Artists and Activists. Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54103-1
'Redacting Japanese History: Ishinomori Shōtarō’s Graphic Narratives' in Rebecca Suter and Nissim Otmazgin (eds) RewritingHistory in Manga: Stories for the Nation (tentative titel).
Special Guest Lecture: 'JPNS2670: Love and Death in Japanese Literature,' The academic dimension of manga. April 2016, University of Sydney, Veterinary Science Seminar Room 115, 15:00-17:00pm.
2015:
2015:
'Tezuka Osamu's postcolonial discourse towards a hybrid national identity' in Binita Mehta and Pia Mukherji (eds) PostcolonialComics: Texts, Events, Identities. London and New York: Routledge, 2015. Portuguese Review: <http://lerbd.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/postcolonial-comics-texts-events.html>
Roman Rosenbaum and Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt (Eds) Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and Literature. London and New York: Routledge, 2015. German Review: Außereuropäische Geschichte:Visions of Precarity in Japanese.
Contributor to Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism REM (sub-editor for Japan), 2015. Entries for: Abstract Expressionism ;Constructivism;Ai-Mitsu [靉光] (1907–1946) ;Aoki, Shigeru [青木繁] (1882–1911) .
2014:
'Ishinomori Shotaro: (Re)presenting Japanese graphic history,' in Vol.16, No.2, Fall/Winter 2014 International Journal of Comic Art (IJOCA), pp.212-224.
Waseda University International Network Article: Looking Forward to the Past, Monday, Oct 06, 2014.
'Post-3/11 Literature in Japan' in Roy Starrs (ed) When the Tsunami Came to Shore: Culture and Disaster in Japan. Leiden: Brill.
‘Transgressive Literature: Oda Makoto on Korea.' Conference Proceedings, The Academy of Korean Studies, April 2014.
'Australia in the Asian Century: The Fate of Australia's "New" National Cultural Policy,' in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA), Vol.46, 2014, pp. 74-95.
2013:
'What kind of place is the new nation of Manchuria? Roundtable talk in Nyonin geijutsu,' in Japan Forum, July, 2013.Online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09555803.2013.804111#.UdXrOG0tJMI - NEW-
Roman Rosenbaum (ed) 'Introduction: Memorial Diplomacy and the Asia-Pacific War' and 'Postwar-imagined Australian soldiers' (Chapt. 2) Special Issue: MEMORIAL DIPLOMACY AND THE ASIA–PACIFIC WAR. in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, Vol.44, 2012, 3-5; 27-47. - NEW-
Roman Rosenbaum (ed) Representation of Japanese history in manga. London and New York: Routledge, 2013. - NEW- http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415694230/
2012:
'The Gekiga Tradition: Towards a Graphic Rendition of History' in Richard Iadonisi (ed) Graphic History: Essays on Graphic Novels And/As History. London: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012, pp.260-284.See the Review in The Comics Grid: Journal of Comic Scholarship.
'Japanese Mythological Modernism: The Story of Puck and the Appearance of kindaijin.' in Starrs, Roy (ed) Rethinking Japanese Modernism. Leiden, Boston: Global Oriental (Brill), 2012.
「小田実の思想と文学ー全体小説を短編で書くこと」, ( The literature of Oda Makoto: Writing holistic short stories) in 『小田実のデモクラシーと希望：「小田実誕生８０年、没後５年」偲ぶ会記録集』(Oda Makoto democracy and hope: memorial collection 'celebrating Oda Makoto's 80 birthday five years after his passing). Tokyo: Otsuka Shoten.
2011:
'Towards a Graphical Representation of Japanese society in the Taishō period: jiji manga in Shinseinen.' Japan Review, No.23 (2011): 177-197. See: <https://www.jstor.org/stable/41304928>.
Joint Conference of Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS), celebrating 70 years of Asian Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, March 31–April 3. Panel: Imaging the Lost Generation: Representations of Japan’s “Unequal Society” (kakusa shakai) in Popular Culture. See Full Catalogue of 70th Anniversary Conference.
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM: NYONIN GEIJUTSU 女人芸術 (WOMEN’S ARTS)1928~1932. WHAT WERE THEY FIGHTING FOR? University of Sydney, Friday 8 July 2011, 10:00 ~6:00. Paper:'Round-table-talk on Shin-Manshūkoku (New state of Manchuria): Towards a literary debate in Nyonin Geijutsu.'
13th International Conference: European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS), 24-27 August, Tallinn, Estonia. Paper: ‘Towards a reconsideration of "postwar" Japanese literature.’
International Symposium - The Asia-Pacific War: Return, Representation,Reconciliation. University of Sydney, September 30 2011. Paper: ‘Imaginary Postwar Australian Soldiers.’
'From Diasporic Communities to 'Abandoned People' (棄民 Kimin). Chapter in Jacob Edmond, Henry Johnson, Jacqueline Leckie (eds) Recentering Asia: Histories, Encounters, Identities. Leiden; Boston: Global Ohttps://brill.com/view/title/19474riental, 2011, pp.149-168.
Rosenbaum Roman and Claremont Yasuko (eds) Legacies of the Asia-Pacific War: The Yakeato Generation, London: Routledge, 2011. Online at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t918923762. For a detailed review of the book see: Doug Slaymaker in The Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol.38, No.2, Summer 2012, pp. 386-390.
Essay and translation of 'Yamamoto Jiro: Arbeitsdienst in Japan,' (「日本における勤労奉仕」訳と解説：ロマン・ロゼンバウム) in Suzuki Sadami (ed) 文芸春愁と「Japan To-day」, Tokyo: Sakuhinsha, 2011.
第２４０回日文研フォーラム、「小田実： 全体短編小説論に向かって」(Towards a theory of Oda Makoto's holistic short stories). Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 2011.
'Gekiga as a site of intercultural exchange: Tatsumi Yoshihiro's A Drifting Life', in Jaquline Berndt (ed.) Intercultural Crossovers, Transcultural Flows: Manga/Comics, Global Manga Studies, Vol.2, 2011, pp.73-92. Kyoto Seika University: International Manga Research Center (京都精華大学国際マンガ研究センター).
Selected Online Publications
Selected Online Publications
‘Shinseinen and the Iconography of War’, 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Melbourne 1-3 July 2008. Online at: http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/mai/asaa/romanrosenbaum.pdf.
'True Survivors: the ‘yakeato sedai’ in contemporary Japanese literature – towards a definition', 16th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Wollongong 26 June - 29 June 2006. Online at: http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2006/Rosenbaum-Roman-ASAA2006.pdf.
'Historical Revisionism in contemporary Manga Culture: From Subculture to Mainstream Art', 16th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Wollongong 26 June - 29 June 2006. Online at:
http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2006/Rosenbaum-Roman-No.2-ASAA2006.pdf.
Older Publication
Older Publication
2008:
'Revisiting the Enigma of Oda Makoto,’ in ASIA, Vol.3, no.3 (Autumn 2008), 291-325.
‘Mizuki Shigeru's Pacific War’, International Journal of Comic Art (IJOCA), Vol.10,No.2, 2008, 354-379.
'Gyokusai as metaphor for the history of suicide attacks: From the Pacific war to the War in Iraq.' in The Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, Vol.39-40 (Part2) 2007-08, pp.418-438.
2007:
2005:
‘A Translation of Oda Makoto‘s “Aboji” wo fumu,’ in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA), Vol.36-7, 2004-05, pp.86-103.
Conference Panels and Presentations:
Conference Panels and Presentations:
(2024) Asia Studies Association of Australia ASAA-Perth; 1-4 July 2024.
(2018) Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) Conference 2018: 3–5 July 2018.
Book of abstracts is HERE.
(2018) ANU Religion Conference 2018: Sacred Sites/Sacred Stories: Global Perspectives: 05-07 April 2018
(2016) TD Suzuki Anniversary Symposium: Reflections on DT Suzuki: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of His Death, Abstract Submission: 5-6 December 2016.
(2014) Two-day Pacificism (sic) seminar at Ritsumeikan - Kinugas Campus (立命館大学衣笠キャンパス), Kyoto (6-7 December): Wounds, Scars, and Healing: Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation.Paper: 'Beheiren Activism: Oda Makoto and postwar peace and reconciliation.'
(2014) - EAJS 2014 - Ljubljana (Slovenia): Paper: 'Modern Literature - Japanese paliative literature' (Conference Paper).
(2014) International Symposium (Part 3): Initiatives towards peace and reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific Basin (アジア太平洋諸国の平和への発信). Seoul: Academy of Korean Studies, 23-25 April. Paper: ‘Oda Makoto and literary reconciliation: the rise of civil societies in Japan and Korea in the wake of the Asia-Pacific War.’
(2012) Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA) 19th Biennial Conference 2012: Knowing Asia: Asian Studies in an Asian Century. University of Western Sydney, 11-13 July 2012. Paper: 'Australia’s ‘new’ National Cultural Policy in the Asian Century.'
(2011) International Symposium - The Asia-Pacific War: Return, Representation,Reconciliation. University of Sydney, September 30 2011. Paper: ‘Imaginary Postwar Australian Soldiers.’
(2011) 13th International Conference: European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS), 24-27 August, Tallinn, Estonia. Paper: ‘Towards a reconsideration of "postwar" Japanese literature.’
(2011) INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM: NYONIN GEIJUTSU 女人芸術 (WOMEN’S ARTS)1928~1932. WHAT WERE THEY FIGHTING FOR? University of Sydney, Friday 8 July 2011, 10:00 ~6:00. Paper:'Round-table-talk on Shin-Manshūkoku (New state of Manchuria): Towards a literary debate in Nyonin Geijutsu.'
(2011) Joint Conference of Association for Asian Studies (AAS) and the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) in Honolulu, March 31–April 3. Panel: Imaging the Lost Generation: Representations of Japan’s “Unequal Society” (kakusa shakai) in Popular Culture.
(2010) International Conference: 'Intercultural Crossovers, Transcultural Flows' (Japan Foundation, Japanisches Kulturinstitut, Kyoto International Manga Museum), 30Sept – 2October 2010, Cultural Institute of Japan, Cologne. Paper: “From the national to the transcultural: Tatsumi Yoshihiro's gekiga.
(2010) Nyonin Geijutsu Workshop -'What were women fighting for?: Nyonin geijutsu (1928-1932),' 11 – 12 February 2010, The University of Sydney. Paper: “Round-table-talk on Shin-Manshūkoku: Towards a literary debate in Nyonin Geijutsu.”
(2009) The 18th New Zealand Asian Studies Society International Conference 2009, Victoria University of Wellington, 6-8 July, 2009, Downtown (Pipitea) Campus. Panel Proposal: Popular Cultural Representations of History in Graphic Art (Ellen Van Goethem, Rebecca Suter, Roman Rosenbaum, Yasuko Claremont). Paper: Reading Showa History Through Manga (Book Proposal Forthcoming)
(2008) 12th International Conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS), University of Salento, Lecce, Italy. September 20-22. Paper: "Mizuki Shigeru: Repainting the Pacific War."
(2008) The 17th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA): Is this the Asian Century? Melbourne, Monash University, 1–3 July 2008. Paper: 'Shinseinen and the iconography of war.'
(2006) Asia Reconstructed: from critiques of development to postcolonial studies - 16th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), Wollongong 26 June - 29 June 2006. Online at: http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/conferences/asaa/ Paper: Historical Revisionism in contemporary Manga Culture: From Subculture to Mainstream Art, Panel: True Survivors: the ‘yakeato sedai’ in contemporary Japanese literature.
Both Papers have been published online at:
1.http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2006/Rosenbaum-Roman-No.2-ASAA2006.pdf
2. http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2006/Rosenbaum-Roman-ASAA2006.pdf
(2006) World Without Walls: East and West: 21st Century Perspectives - The Oriental Society of Australia (OSA), The University of Sydney December 3-7, 2006. Double Panel: Breaking through the walls of the past: the legacy of the yakeato sedai in contemporary culture and society. Paper: The Anaphoric Postwar.
(2005) 11th Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) Aug.31-Sept.3, 2005. Paper: The literary manifestation of the German-Japanese dialectic in postwar Japanese fiction: Oda Makoto's Contribution.
Career Highlights
Career Highlights
2010 Visiting Professor at The International Research Center of Japanese Studies (国際日本文化研究センター)
2008 Inoue Yasushi Award for best Australian Research Essay on Japan.
2004 Completion of Ph.D in Japanese Literature
2000 Sydney University completion scholarship
1997 and 1998 Japanese Monbusho Scholarship
1994 and 1995 Heiwa Nakajima Scholarship
1994 Sydney University Bursary
Professional Associations
European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS)
Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA)
Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA)
New Zealand Asian Studies Association (NZASIA)
Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
Book Reviews
Leith Morton, Alien Within: Representation of the Exotic in Japanese Literature, Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, c2009, reviewed in the Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA), Vol.41, 2010.
Makoto Oda, The Breaking Jewel, New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, published in the journal of Asian Studies Review. (2005), 29:1, 90 – 91.
Simon Andrew Avenell, Making Japanese Citizen: Civil Society and the Mythology of the Shimin in Postwar Japan. Berkley: University of California Press, 2011, reviewed in Japanese Studies, September Vol. 31, no.2, pp.291-293.
Greg Austin, Cyber Policy in China (China Today Series). Cambridge UK: Polity Press, 2014, Reviewed in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA).
Anne Allison, Precarious Japan. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013. Published in Japan Forum (Forthcoming).
Barbara Geilhorn and Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt (eds) Fukushima and the arts: negotiating nuclear disaster. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: New York: 2018. Review in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol.73, No.1, pp.170-177.
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