Christopher Lowy
Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies
341 Posner Hall
Department of Modern Languages
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Education: Ph. D., University of Washington, Japanese Literature. MA, University of Washington, Japanese Literature. BA Florida State University, English Literature & Japanese
Bio
I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, did my graduate work in Seattle, Washington, and spent much time studying and researching in Tokyo, Japan. I teach courses focusing on contemporary Japanese literature and culture, queer literature, contemporary thought, and literary representations of illness and disease. My research focuses on two main topics: the role of written language in Japanese literature and depictions of HIV/AIDS in Japanese literature from the 1980s and 1990s.
The first project primarily examines the dynamic role written language plays in Japanese-language fiction. There I establish the vocabulary needed to discuss the role of script in literature and provide the first analytical toolkit for examining Japanese language texts. I am currently serializing a 12-part series on this topic for Hituzi Syobo (link: https://www.hituzi.co.jp/hituzigusa/2022/08/29/architecture-01/).
With the second project I examine representations of HIV/AIDS in Japanese literature and culture from the early 1980s to mid-1990s. In addition to literary fiction, I survey and analyze various media such as poetry, manga, art, and submissions to gay journals. I am also interested in comparing the early critical discourse on HIV/AIDS to early discourse on COVID-19 and, more recently, monkeypox. I have published on this topic in various Japanese journals. I hope to teach courses related to both topics here at CMU!
Areas of Interest
-
Contemporary Japanese Literature and Criticism
-
East Asian Literary Criticism
-
Writing Systems
Courses Taught
- Introduction to Japanese I
- Anime: Visual Interplay between Japan and the World
Selected Publications
- An ongoing serialization: The Architecture of Written Japanese (Chris Lowy)/日本語表記のアーキテクチャ(今野真二)