UNSW Canberra’s Professor Nicole Moore will take up the position of annual Visiting Professor in Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo in 2021.
UNSW Canberra’s Professor Nicole Moore will take up the position of annual Visiting Professor in Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo in 2021.
Beginning in the middle of next year, it’s an exciting appointment to look forward to once the travel restrictions of 2020 ease.
“I’m really excited about the prospect of Tokyo,” Professor Moore said.
“The Greater Tokyo Area has 36 million people, compared to the ACT’s 380,000. It will mean a very different way of living and working.
“The Centre for US and Pacific Studies at the University of Tokyo is a very welcoming environment with great potential for collaboration and engagement.”
Professor Moore will be teaching a set of courses in Australian Studies to students of all levels at the university.
“I’ll be introducing them not only to some of the basic facts about Australia – its political structures, history, First Nations – but to its culture as well, particularly the great diversity of Australian cultural achievements and forms of expression, from multilingual poetry to Kath and Kim,” Professor Moore said.
“Australia’s reputation for a relaxed culture, outdoor lifestyle and beautiful environment is what initially appeals. Then we introduce them to what it’s really like!”
Professor Moore will also be pursuing research comparing regimes of print censorship during the Cold War, including Japan.
“It was a powerful means of controlling populations and information during those decades of dangerous global division,” she said.
Professor Moore said UNSW is very strong in Australian Studies, with internationally acclaimed researchers in literary studies, history, politics, sociology and other disciplines all bringing their expertise to examine the complex culture and circumstances of Australia in comparison to the rest of the world.
This appointment recognises the worth of that expertise, not just for the University of Tokyo but for Japan and its region.
Professor Moore was selected by the International Australian Studies Association. Chair of the Selection Committee Professor Kate Darian-Smith said the appointment was “essential to developing Australia-Japan relations across our university sector”.
“I am greatly honoured by the appointment and looking forward to further exploring the many connections between Japan and Australia, and in the region," Professor Moore said.