Christophe Thouny

Education

• Ph.D. in Modern Japanese Literature, Media Studies and Intellectual History (New York University, East Asian Studies Department, 2011)
• M.A. in Japanese Studies, (McGill University, East Asian Studies, 2003)
• B.A. in World History and Geography, specialization in European and Islamic Middle Ages (Lyon II University, Faculty of History, 1999)

Message to Students

The more important issue of our time is how to live together, how to live and how to be with others. By teaching everyday cultures in Asia and other places, how we eat, talk and sleep, how we work and enjoy each other's company, how we love and dream, I want to give students the tools and analytical skills needed to enjoy and further explore together online and offline the places where they live and travel to.

Courses Taught

Cultural Studies

This course is an introduction to cultural studies. The lecture will introduce basic concepts and factual knowledge (case study) necessary to understand the readings that the students will then discuss in small group in the following tutorial session. The course itself is divided in four parts. In the first part students will study basic concepts of cultural studies in terms of global culture and everyday life. The second part will focus on imperialism, postmodern societies and capitalism in the global North and Asia. In the third part we will turn toward questions of networked experiences and identities in urban spaces, social media and cyborgian fictions. The last two parts will in turn further expand on the previous parts by looking at youth culture, the 'Asian Century' and the age of climate change.

Research Interests

Christophe Thouny researches Modern Japanese urban culture in literature, film and urban studies. He is also interested in engaging from Japan with larger debates about environmentalism, queer studies and critical theory. Thouny is now working on three research projects: planetary urbanization and planetary thought in postwar Japanese visual culture (film and animation); a monograph on urban experiences in Meiji and Taisho Tokyo literature (Mori Ōgai, Nagai Kafū and Tayama Katai) and ethnography (Kon Wajirō); and an edited volume in English on postwar Japanese social critique in the work of the poet and essayist Yoshimoto Takaaki.

Supervision Information

I am happy to supervise thesis in the following fields: Modern literature, Modern Japan, Critical theory and Intellectual history, Urban culture, Visual culture, Popular culture, Queer and Gender studies, Ecocriticism.

Representative Publications

Edited Volume

• Christophe Thouny and Yoshimoto Mitsuhiro ed. Planetary Atmospheres and Urban Life After Fukushima (Palgrave Macmillan Press, 2016).

Book Chapter

• 'Fortress Cities: Ecosophy and World Becoming in Contemporary Japanese Popular Culture'. In Joff Bradley and Ju Yu Cheng eds. Thinking With Animation (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2021). (2019).
• 'Tokyo Heterotopia-In Search of Asia Within'. In Douglas Slaymaker ed. Wild Lines and Poetic Travels: A Keijiro Suga Reader (Lexington Books, 2021).

Journal Articles

• 'The Global University and Planetary Education' in Joff Bradley, Charles Cabel & David Kennedy (eds.) Bringing Forth a World: Engaged Pedagogy in the Japanese University (2019).
• 'Monstrous Narratives: Storytelling in Mori Ōgai's 'As If'', Japanese Studies (2019).
• '2012 The Land of Hope: Planetary Cartographies of Fukushima' in Frenchy Lunning (ed.) Mechademia Volume 10 (University of Minnesota Press, 2015).
• 'Encounters with the Planetary: Mori Ōgai's Cartographic Writing', Discourse 36:3, 2014.
• 'Waiting for the Messiah: The Becoming-Myth of Evangelion and Densha otoko' in Frenchy Lunning (ed.) Mechademia Volume 4 (University of Minnesota Press, 2009).
• 'When Carps Can’t Breathe in Water: On Tawada Yōko’s Planetary Musings in Corona Times – Critical Asia Archives'. In Critical Media Archives - Events and Theories Vol.1, December 2020
• 'Corona Eroguro: Oni Longing for a Face'. In Transcommunication 08-2, 2021.

Teaching History

• 2008-11 Instructor (New York University, East Asian Studies)
• 2012-16 Project Assistant Professor (Tokyo University, Global Communication Center)
• 2017-19 Associate Professor (Kyushu University, Department of Languages and Cultures)