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November 21, 2024

Invitation to celebration for Glenda Roberts at the AAA

From: Allison Alexy <aalexy@umich.edu>
Date: 2024/11/02

Dear colleagues,


I hope you all are doing well, or as well as possible in these complicated times.


It is my pleasure to write in order to share information about a celebration of Dr. Glenda Roberts. As you might know, after many years of teaching and mentoring, Glenda recently retired from Waseda University. Many of us will forever be grateful for her scholarship, support, and generosity. We will hold a session in her honor at the AAA conference in Tampa and I'm writing to invite you to join in the celebration, either in person in Tampa or asynchronously online. The conference theme is "praxis" which you'll see reoccurring in the event description below.


On Wednesday, November 20, from 4:15 to 5:30pm, Satsuki Kawano and I will host an interview with Glenda. This "interview" format is a newer category for the AAA and feels especially appropriate for this celebration. You are most welcome to join us in room TCC 114 or submit questions through this form. We know there are many people who want to celebrate Glenda but are unable to attend the conference, so feel free to leave any question or message for Glenda through that google form. You can find the session by number 3219 on page 214 in the draft conference guide.


After the panel, we plan to enjoy dinner together at a nearby restaurant. If you would like to join in, let me know by responding offlist to <aalexy@umich.edu>.


Please reach out with any questions. I hope you are able to join in the celebration!


With thanks,
Allison Alexy


3219 Reflections on a Career of Global Praxis: An Interview with Glenda Roberts
11/20/2024 04:15 PM-05:45 PM
TCC 114
Interview - In Person
What does praxis look like in long-term perspective? How does praxis take shape in the real world? What choices and strategies enable praxis in anthropological analysis? We consider these questions by reflecting with Dr. Glenda Roberts, who has spent her career conducting research on gender, labor, immigration, family, and care mostly - but not only - in contemporary Japan. Tracing her scholarly accomplishments and career turns, we center her implicit and explicit attention to praxis, especially her efforts to use anthropological research to improve social and corporate policy, and her comparative and collaborative work. Taking up a new conference format, this interview reconnects Dr. Roberts with two former mentees and one research collaborator to invite reflection on teaching social science in Japan, living commitments to feminism, and the impact of anthropological work. From "Staying on the Line: Blue-collar Women in Contemporary Japan" (The University of Hawai'i Press, 1994) through her ongoing work comparing French and Japanese women's tactics for work/life balance, this interview will offer a wide range of concrete examples of the value and importance of praxis in anthropological imagination.
Society for East Asian Anthropology
Satsuki Kawano , Allison Alexy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Glenda Roberts, Waseda University





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Allison Alexy (she/her)
Associate Professor, Dept. of Women's and Gender Studies 
University of Michigan
Asia Pop! book series / Portraits of Feminism in Japan exhibit
Office Hours appointments / Zoom / My calendar

Approved by ssjmod at 12:38 PM