Dr Mika Ko
Core Researcher
PhD, MA (University of Ulster); BA (Sugiyama University, Japan).
| Email |
m.ko@wreac.org |
| Telephone |
+44 (0)114 222 8405 |
Mika Ko joined the School of East Asian Studies in 2006 after working as a Japanese teaching fellow at the University of Leeds. Her research interests are in the fields of Film, Media and Cultural Studies. Her PhD thesis was entitled 'Otherness in Contemporary Japanese Cinema: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and the Problem of Japaneseness' in which she analysed the representation of minority groups in Japanese cinema and how these related to images of Japanese national identity.
Dr Ko's research interests also extend to East-Asian cinema more generally and she is particularly interested in the development of transnational East-Asian cinema and its potential to challenge traditional forms of national cinema.
Mika Ko's current research project involves the works of the prominent Japanese experimental filmmaker, Matsumoto Toshio. The research primarily focuses on the relationship between Matsumoto's films and the politics of the Japanese students' movement of the 1960s but also explores questions of gender and sexuality.
Mika Ko welcomes applications from prospective PhD students in the fields of Japanese popular culture, media and films.
'Mirroring Narcissism: Representation of Zainichi in Yukisada Isao's GO!' in John Hill and Kevin Rockett (eds), National Cinemas and World Cinema, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006, pp. 105-114.
'Takamine Go: A Possible Okinawan Cinema' in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 7:1 2006, pp. 156-170.
'The Break-Up of the National Body: Cosmetic Multiculturalism and the Films of Miike Takashi' (reprint) in Paul Willemen and Valentina Vitali (eds), Theorising National Cinemas, London: BFI Publishing, 2006, pp. 129-37.
'Representing Okinawa: Contesting Images in Contemporary Japanese Cinema' in John Hill and Kevin Rockett (eds), Film History and National Cinema: Studies in Irish Film II, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005, pp. 37-46.
'The Break-Up of the National Body: Cosmetic Multiculturalism and the Films of Miike Takashi', in New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film, 2:1, 2004, pp. 29-39.
