Williams College Professor Eiko Maruko Siniawer Named ACLS Fellow

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 15, 2015—Eiko Maruko Siniawer ’97, chair and associate professor of history at Williams College, has received a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).

Siniawer will receive support from the ACLS for her book project “Affluence of the Heart: Waste in Postwar Japan.” This research examines how people in post-World War II Japan thought about waste (of resources, time, money, and material possessions) and how these concerns reflected and shaped both understandings of affluence and concepts of a good and meaningful life. The fellowship will allow her to spend a year on full-time research and writing.

Siniawer holds a Ph.D. in history and an M.A. in East Asian studies from Harvard University, and a B.A. in history from Williams. She specializes in the history of modern Japan, and in 2008 she published her first book, Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan, 1860-1960. At Williams since 2003, Siniawer teaches a variety of courses on Japanese history, including surveys of early modern and modern Japanese history, a first-year seminar on the Japanese empire, and an advanced tutorial on war memory, as well as courses on Korean history and comparative histories of the 1930s.

ACLS is a private, nonprofit federation of more than 70 national scholarly organizations that aims to support the advancement of studies in the humanities and social sciences and encourage relations among national societies devoted to these fields. Established in 1919, ACLS has made these peer-reviewed fellowships a main component of its work. This year’s 70 fellows, selected from more than 1,000 applications, represent more than 50 colleges and universities and an array of humanities disciplines, including linguistics, religious studies, architectural history, and geography.

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Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students’ educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions on U.S. applicants are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

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Published April 15, 2015