DVORAK, Greg

写真a

Affiliation

Faculty of International Research and Education, School of International Liberal Studies

Job title

Professor

Profile

Dr. Greg Dvorak is Professor of International Cultural Studies (History and Cultural Studies, Art Studies, Gender Studies of Pacific and Asia) at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he is based in both the Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies (GSICCS) and the School of International Liberal Studies (SILS). Born in Philadelphia, USA, but with a personal background of growing up, studying, and working between the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Japan, the United States, and Australia, his research and teaching focus is on Japanese and American postcolonial histories in Oceania, with an emphasis on transoceanic intersections of art, gender, and militarism in popular culture. He completed his MA at the University of Hawai'i (2002) and his PhD at the Australian National University (2008), with a concentration in Pacific Islands History. In addition to several chapters in edited books and articles in academic journals, and journalism work as a contributor and editor to popular culture and art magazines (including acclaimed international culture magazine COLORS and the subjective guide to Tokyo, 'Tokyo Totem'), his own book, 'Coral and Concrete: Remembering Kwajalein Atoll between Japan, America, and the Marshall Islands' was published by University of Hawai'i Press in 2018 and reprinted in paperback in 2020. He also appears on television programs from time to time as a commentator, as in the popular international television documentary series, "Life-Sized City" (episode 6: Tokyo) and gives talks on postcolonial resistance and art in Oceania. Dvorak is the founding director of project35 (projectsango), a grassroots network that aims to raise awareness about the Pacific Islands region in Japan through art and scholarly exchange. As part of this initiative, he has been collaborating with local artists and researching/helping to curate art from Oceania, especially from Micronesia and areas that have been most impacted by Japanese and American colonialism. He was a key member of the Honolulu Biennial Curatorial Advisory Board in 2017 served as an interlocutor to the Asia Pacific Triennial 9 in Brisbane, Australia in 2018, and as a co-curator to the Asia Pacific Triennial 10 scheduled for 2021. In 2019 he also conceived, curated, and coordinated a special program at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival entitled "AM/NESIA: Forgotten 'Archipelagos' of Oceania." He served as curator in residence at the Bellas Artes Foundation for Art in the Philippines in the same year. In conjunction with this work examining the intersections between art, identity, science, and scholarship, he was awarded a three-year grant by the Japanese government (kakenhi) to study how indigenous artists from Oceania resist and decolonize through global art channels. At Waseda, he teaches a suite of history/gender studies/area studies/transnational culture undergraduate courses based in Pacific Islands Studies (Transoceania 1: Pacific Perspectives on Empire, War, and Globalization and Transoceania 2: The Pacific in the 21st Century World) every year (one of the above classes is offered per year in the fall). He also teaches a core culture and identity course on gender studies every spring semester. In addition to these courses, he teaches a first-year seminar around the theme of marginalized communities in contemporary society (especially gender/sexual minorities); an intermediate seminar that focuses on postcolonial themes in the Pacific along with themes of resistance through art and visuality; and a rigorous advanced seminar in cultural studies and self-reflexive feminist approaches to selected topics. His senior students write theses and produce films on a wide range of subjects, including war memory and militarism, indigenous issues, minority issues, queer studies, masculinities and femininities, and topics relevant to culture in Japan and local Pacific places. In addition to this, he offers more advanced and independently-tailored courses and guidance to master’s and PhD students in the Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies.
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Concurrent Post 【 display / non-display 】

  • Faculty of International Research and Education   Graduate School of International Culture and Communication Studies

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Education 【 display / non-display 】

  • 2008.07
    -
    2010.09

    The University of Tokyo   Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies   Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow  

  • 2004.04
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    2008.07

    The Australian National University   Research School of Asia and Pacific Studies   PhD Program in Interdisciplinary Cross Cultural Research (History, Anthropology)  

  • 2002.08
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    2004.05

    East-West Center   Graduate Degree Fellowship   International Cultural Studies Certificate Program  

  • 2002.08
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    2004.05

    University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa   Center for Pacific Islands Studies   Pacific Islands MA Program  

  • 1992.09
    -
    1996.05

    Rutgers University   Faculty of Arts   East Asian Languages and Area Studies (Japanese Literature Focus)/ Psychology  

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Degree 【 display / non-display 】

  • The Australian National University   Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D)

  • University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa   Master of Arts (M.A.)

  • Rutgers University   Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

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Research Experience 【 display / non-display 】

  • 2020.04
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    Waseda University   Graduate School of Culture and Communication Studies/School of International Liberal Studies   Professor (Tenured)

  • 2017.04
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    2020.03

    Waseda University   School of International Liberal Studies/Graduate School of Culture and Communication Studies   Associate Professor (Tenured)

  • 2011.04
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    2018.03

    Osaka University   Osaka University Cross-Boundary Innovation PhD Program   Adjunct Lecturer/Advisor

  • 2011.04
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    2017.03

    Hitotsubashi University   Graduate School of Law   Associate Professor (Tenured)

  • 2011.04
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    2017.03

    Hitotsubashi University   Graduate School of Law   Associate Professor (Tenured)

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Professional Memberships 【 display / non-display 】

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    American History Association

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    Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania

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    Association for Asian Studies

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    Pacific Arts Association

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    European Society for Oceanists

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Research Areas 【 display / non-display 】

  • Area studies

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Research Interests 【 display / non-display 】

  • climate change/environment

  • Cold War

  • war

  • culture

  • memory

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Papers 【 display / non-display 】

  • S/pacific Islands: Some Reflections on Identity and Art in Contemporary Oceania

    Greg Dvorak

    e-flux Journal   ( 112 (October 2020) ) (online) - (online)  2020.10  [Invited]

  • "Kwajalein Atoll, the Marshall Islands, and American Policy in the Pacific"(review)

    Greg Dvorak

    The Journal of Pacific History   53 ( 3 ) 351 - 352  2018.08  [Refereed]  [Invited]

  • Oceanizing American Studies

    Greg Dvorak

    AMERICAN QUARTERLY   67 ( 3 ) 609 - 617  2015.09  [Refereed]  [Invited]

  • “Who Closed the Sea?: Postwar Japanese Amnesia and the Pacific Islands”

    Greg Dvorak

    Pacific Historical Review   83 ( 2 ) 350 - 372  2014.10  [Refereed]  [Invited]

  • Who Closed the Sea? Archipelagoes of Amnesia Between the United States and Japan

    Greg Dvorak

    PACIFIC HISTORICAL REVIEW   83 ( 2 ) 350 - 372  2014.05  [Refereed]

    　View Summary

    There is a profound lack of awareness among younger generations about Jap an's prewar engagement with the Pacific Islands, let alone other colonial sites, yet arguably, this amnesia is not a spontaneous phenomenon. Forgetting about Micronesia and erasing it from the Japanese mass consciousness was a project in which both Japanese and American postwar forces were complicit. Focusing on stories of Japanese amnesia and selective memory in the Marshall Islands, I explore the Marshallese notion of "closing the sea," how U.S. power has long been a mediating factor in why Japanese forget their Pacific past, and also why Marshall Islanders remember it.

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Books and Other Publications 【 display / non-display 】

  • "Resisting the Tides: Responding to Nuclear and Environmental 'Insecurity' in the Marshall Islands" [In Mapping Security in the Pacific: A Focus on Context, Gender and Organisational Culture]

    Greg Dvorak (author, book edited, by Sara Amin, Danielle Watson, Christian Girard eds( Part： Contributor)

    Routledge  2020.03 ISBN: 9780367143923

  • Columns 2, 5, Chapter 60 in "Taiheiyō Shotō no Rekishi o Shiru Tame no Rokujū-shō" (60 Essays to Know About Pacific Islands History)

    Ishimori Daichi, Niwa Norio( Part： Contributor)

    Akashi Shoten  2019.12 ISBN: 9784750349091

  • Coral and Concrete: Remembering Kwajalein Atoll Between Japan, America, and the Marshall Islands

    Greg Dvorak( Part： Sole author)

    University of Hawai'i Press  2018.11 ISBN: 9780824855215

  • "Masculinities" in 'The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology'

    Hillary Callan (general editor, Greg Dvorak (auth( Part： Contributor)

    John Wiley and Sons  2018.07 ISBN: 9780470657225

  • "Military Masculinities" in 'The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology'

    Hillary Callan (general editor, Greg Dvorak (auth( Part： Contributor)

    John Wiley and Sons  2018.07 ISBN: 9780470657225

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Other 【 display / non-display 】

  • Greg Dvora...

    2020.02
    　
    　

    　View Summary

    Greg Dvorak was interviewed by the Contemporary Pacific Journal (an academic journal) about Pacific Islands Studies for the 75th year anniversary of the founding of the University of Hawaiʻi Center for Pacific Islands Studies. http://manoa.hawaii.edu/tcp/node/57

  • Establishe...

    2012.04
    　
    　

    　View Summary

    Established "PROJECT35" (Project Sango) in 2012, an ongoing transnational, transoceanic network of artists and scholars devoted to bridging communities between the Pacific Islands and Japan around themes of climate change awareness, resistance to colonialism/globalization/militarization, and consciousness of the ocean and Japan's Pacific neighborhood. Project35 consults with curators and art-related endeavors, while also facilitating the "Transoceania Symposium" occasionally in Japan to bring Pacific specialists (particularly Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people of Japan and Asia) together in conversation. It is also working towards incubating a Pacific Islands Area Research Center at Waseda University.

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Awards 【 display / non-display 】

  • Toyota Foundation Joint Research Fellowship

    2010.11   Toyota Foundation  

  • JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship

    2008.09   Japan Society for the Promotion of Science  

  • Japan Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

    2008.07   Japan Foundation  

  • Wenner-Gren Postdoctoral Fellowship

    2008.03   The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research  

  • Australian National University Postgraduate Award

    2004.07   The Australian National University  

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Research Projects 【 display / non-display 】

  • The Archipelago Speaks Back: Pacific Islander Art and Resistance between Oceania, Japan, and Postcolonial Metropoles

    Project Year :

    2019.04
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    2022.03
     

  • Transoceania: Pacific Approaches to War, Empire, and Globalization between the Islands of Japan and Micronesia

    Joint Research Fellowship

    Project Year :

    2010.11
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    2012.10
     

  • Nanyō Nostalgia: Remembering the “Reefs” of Japan’s Pacific Past (Stage 2)

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    Project Year :

    2008.10
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    2010.09
     

  • Seeds of Empire: Retracing Marshall Islander-Japanese Roots and Routes

    Fieldwork Research Funding

    Project Year :

    2008.03
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    2009.02
     

  • Nanyō Nostalgia: Remembering the “Reefs” of Japan’s Pacific Past (Stage 1)

    2008-2009 Research Fellowship Program (Short-Term)

    Project Year :

    2008.06
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    2008.08
     

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Presentations 【 display / non-display 】

  • Elephants in the Living Room: Resistance, Resistance, and Solidarity Despite Japanese and American Empires

    Greg Dvorak  [Invited]

    HYPHENATED BIENNIAL 2020 SYMPOSIUM: "Contemporary art and Resistance in the Asia Pacific – a Regional View of First Nations-Asia Intersections"  (Melbourne (Online))  Monash University/Melbourne Hyphenated Biennial 2020-2021

    Presentation date： 2020.12

  • Art in Oceania after Imperialism: A View from the North

     [Invited]

    Symposium: Sovereign Pacific / Pacific Sovereign  (Porirua, New Zealand)  Presented by CIRCUIT in association with Pātaka Art + Museum, Porirua

    Presentation date： 2020.10

  • "Māsharu Airando" e no Saijōriku: Oseania ni Okeru Nichibei no Gunkokushugi to Māsharu Shotō no Hitobito no Rejisutansu (Reinvading the Marshall Islands: American and Japanese Militarism in Oceania and Marshallese Resistance)

    Greg Dvorak  [Invited]

    Research Institute for Islands and Sustainability (RIIS) Lecture Series (Lecture 2)  University of the Ryukyus

    Presentation date： 2020.07

  • Which War? Reframing Visual Histories Of Militarism Between America And Japan In Oceania

    Greg Dvorak  [Invited]

    Asia Pacific: Visual Histories of War and Postwar  (Manila)  ESKWELA: Bellas Artes Projects

    Presentation date： 2019.08

    　View Summary

    This lecture and related workshops, led by Pacific/Asia cultural historian and curator Greg Dvorak, professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, invites participants to visually explore the deeper patterns of violence, dehumanization, resistance, and empowerment that run through the colonized and militarized landscapes and seascapes connected to, but beyond the horizon of, the Filipino experience. Focusing especially on the region of Northern Oceania (a region commonly known as Micronesia), the Philippines’ closest Pacific neighborhood, Dvorak will draw together diverse and transoceanic ideas around propaganda, art, resistance, visibility and invisibility between major nations and small communities. When asked about “the war” in the Pacific and their memories about it, Islanders tend to ask, “what war?” For Micronesians, and many Islanders, war is a topic that extends back through at least five hundred years of Western and Asian colonial history, and also into ancestral time over thousands of years. The Pacific War is not the only war that Islanders are aware of: In their consciousness exists many other battles, such as the struggle against militarism and nuclear testing, the struggle against the “environmental colonialism” that is causing climate change and sea level rise, and the ongoing struggle for sovereignty and self-determination. In a deeper perspective, Islanders also look back to the battles fought over land by their brave ancestors who navigated to these islands. Indigenous people throughout the Pacific region, dating back to the time of Ferdinand Magellan, share a great deal in common with the Filipino people, but this is not a history ordinarily taught in the Philippines. Additionally, the indigenous people of the Philippines share deep ancestral Austronesian roots with the people who settled the Pacific Islands. Paying attention to these visual and genealogical histories in the 20th and 21st centuries, while being mindful of the larger context of the ongoing wars in Oceania, will help participants gain a better literacy of contemporary decolonization and demilitarization as seen in art from the region, and how that links or does not link with conversations happening in the contemporary Philippines.

  • Part II of “The Ocean in Us - Flows of Art, Culture, and History Between Japan and the Pacific Islands.”

    Greg Dvorak  [Invited]

    "Urgent Talk" 35  (Tokyo)  Mori Art Museum

    Presentation date： 2019.07

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Specific Research 【 display / non-display 】

  • Transoceanian Trajectories: Tracing Global Flows of Representation and Resistance among Pacific Islander Artists

    2017  

    　View Summary

    Special Research Project 2017S-157 "Transoceanian Trajectories: Tracing Global Flows of Representation and Resistance among Pacific Islander Artists" was designed, proposed, and executed as a preliminary phase to a larger project planned for 2019 onwards, a joint research and curatorial project which will entail a symposium, exchange, and exhibition around issues of art, identity, memory, environment, gender, and self-determination between the Pacific Islands and Japan.  It was an initial project to complement some of the early work I had already been doing in surveying the work of Pacific Islander (indigenous) contemporary artists, which I conducted in the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Sāmoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand.  For this special project, I attended the Venice Biennale of contemporary art in August 2017, where I engaged with Pacific artists there who have succeeded in showing their art internationally, and other non-Pacific artists who work with themes surrounding Oceania.  With each of these artists and curators, I conducted visits and interviews, while also viewing how various international audiences engaged with their work.  I also viewed the overall exhibitions in Venice and Florence as a way to gain more contextual knowledge of the international art world.  This research led to a profound understanding of how difficult it is for indigenous artists, especially artists from the Pacific Islands region, to gain access to international audiences-- but also, how effective art can be when they do succeed in communicating their messages.  For instance, Lisa Reihana's work, "Emissaries," won many awards and communicated a devastating history of European colonization in the Pacific Islands which is not easily relatable through mere textual or archival knowledge.  These art interventions, together with more creative but rigorous academic work, are required to cultivate better, equal, transoceanic, trans-regional alliances between Japan and its Pacific neighborhood in the 21st century, and this initial research sets the stage for further programs that bridge historical and contemporary understandings of place around urgent themes of climate change, militarism, and globalization.  

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Syllabus 【 display / non-display 】

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Committee Memberships 【 display / non-display 】

  • 2019.08
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    2022.04

    Queensland Gallery of Art, Modern Art (QAGOMA)  Curator (Co-curator) for Northern Oceania, Asia Pacific Triennial 10

  • 2019.08
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    2022.04

    クイーンズランド美術館  キュレータ（コ・キュレータ）、北オセアニア地域、第10回アジア太平洋トリエンナーレ

  • 2018.06
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    2020.08

    Bellas Artes Projects  Curator in Residence

  • 2018.06
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    2020.08

    ベラス・アルテス・プロジェクツ  キュレーター・イン・レジデンス

  • 2017.09
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    2018.12

    Asia Pacific Triennial of Art Planning Division  Advisor/Interlocutor

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Social Activities 【 display / non-display 】

  • Curator (co-curator), 10th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT)

    Queensland Gallery of Art and Modern Art (QAGOMA)  APT10 10th Asia Pacific Triennial  （Exhibition in Brisbane, Australia (Research in Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands)） 

    2019.08
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    2022.04

  • Earth Company Impact Heroes Event, Public Conversation

    NGO Earth Company  Impact Heroes Day 2019  （Tokyo） 

    2019.10
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  • Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2019 Program Coordinator, Curator, Producer

    Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2019  "AM/NESIA: Forgotten 'Archipelagoes' of Oceania"  （Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture） 

    2019.10
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    　View Summary

    The vast Pacific Islands region, also known as Oceania, is a blue “continent” of water—the largest inhabited place on earth; yet it is among the most colonized and militarized areas on the planet, in the intersection of American and Japanese empires from the twentieth century to the present. AM/NESIA is a program of selected films that engage with important Lands, Bodies, and Crossings that have been silenced, forgotten, and marginalized between Japan and the United States. Films in the “Lands” selections of AM/NESIA engage, for instance, with Pacific Islander resistance to nuclear testing and climate change in ancestral sites where identity is interwoven with land. In “Bodies” we focus on how people’s identities and bodies have been marginalized, erased, or transformed by colonialism in Oceania—such as with changing understandings of indigenous gender ideologies, and the high rates of incarceration or military recruitment of Pacific Islander men. Finally, in “Crossings,” we explore the theme of forgotten migrations, cultural exchange, and in-betweenness in Oceania, particularly between the Japanese archipelago and the Pacific Islands. Critically exploring prewar propaganda films, testimonies of former settlers and soldiers, ambivalent nationalities, and circuits of hula dancing, we remember the routes and roots that historically have connected Japan with its Pacific neighborhood.

  • Special Onboard Lecturer (Navigator) on Peace Boat 81st Global Voyage

    Peace Boat (NGO)  81st Voyage  （Yokohama-Singapore） 

    2013.11
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    2013.12

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Academic Activities 【 display / non-display 】

  • Curator in Residence, Bellas Artes Projects

    Academic research

    ベラス・アルテス・プロジェクツ   フィリピン バターン、バギオ、マニラ

    2019.08
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