Education

Ph.D. Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan  (2012)

M.A. East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University (2005)

Courses Taught

2019, Spring   “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 102

                        “Modern Japanese Thinkers and Writers” JPNS 411

                        “Post-War Japanese Literature” JPNS 431

2018, Fall .     “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 101

                       “Japanese Civilization” JPNS 150

                       "Freshman Seminar"  HUSC 194

2018, Spring  “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 102

                       "Meiji: Birth of Modern Japan" JPNS 391

2017, Fall       “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 101

                       “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 101

                       "Freshman Seminar"  HUSC 194

2017, Spring   “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 102

                        "Samurai and Geisha" JPNS 391

2016, Fall        “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 101

                        “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 101

2016, Spring    “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 102

                        “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 102

                        “Post-War Japanese Literature” JPNS 431

2015, Fall        On Leave

2015, Spring    “Intermediate Japanese” JPNS 202

           “Survey of Medieval to Early Modern Japanese Literature” JPNS 312

2014, Fall        “Japanese Civilization” JPNS 150

                        “Intermediate Japanese” JPNS 201

                        “Modern Japanese Thinkers and Writers” JPNS 411

2014, Spring    “Intermediate Japanese” JPNS 202

                        “Post-War Japanese Literature” JPNS 431

2013, Fall        “Japanese Civilization” JPNS 150

                        “Elementary Japanese” JPNS 101

                        “Intermediate Japanese” JPNS 201

2013, Spring    “Survey of Medieval to Early Modern Japanese Literature” JPNS 312

                        “Intermediate Japanese “ JPNS 202

                        “Advanced Japanese” JPNS 302

2012, Fall        “Intermediate Japanese” JPNS 201

                        “Advanced Japanese” JPNS 301

Research Interests

Modern and Pre-modern Japanese literature, Modern and Pre-modern Japanese language, Japanese language pedagogy, the long-nineteenth century, book history, print culture and technology, Edo and Meiji-period Japanese orthographies, historical fiction, Kyokutei Bakin, Mori Ogai, and Natsume Soseki. 

Selected Publications

Dowdle, B. (2020). The Generalist’s Dilemma: How Accidental Language Teachers Are at the Center of Japanese Pedagogy. Japanese Language and Literature, 54(2), 383-389. doi:https://doi.org/10.5195/jll.2020.136

Dowdle, B. (2020). [Review of the book Licentious Fictions: Ninjō and the Nineteenth-Century Japanese Novel, by Daniel Poch]. Studies in the Novel 52(3), 362-364.  doi:10.1353/sdn.2020.0039.

Brian Dowdle (2020) Kendall Heitzman. Enduring Postwar: Yasuoka Shōtarō and Literary Memory in Japan. Nashville: Vanderbilt up, 2019. 225 pp, Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures, 74:4, 252-254, DOI: 10.1080/00397709.2020.1819592

Dowdle, B. C. "Why Saikaku Was Memorable but Bakin Was Unforgettable." The Journal of Japanese Studies 42.1 (2016): 91-121.

Dowdle, Brian. "'Ega no kakutoku: Edo ni okeru gi, seisan, tenshi'" Rev. of Obtaining Images: Art, Production and Display in Edo Japan, by Timon Screech. Nihon KenkyÅ« 51 (2016): 186-188.

Dowdle Brian. “Obtaining Images: Art, Production and Display in Edo Japan, by Timon Screech.” Japan Review: Journal of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies 28 (2015): 244-245

Affiliations

National Consortium for Teaching about Asia

East Asia Resource Center

Past President of the Western Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS) Fall 2016-Fall 2018

WCAAS Representative to the Counicl of Confrences for the Assocation for Asian Studies 2017, 2018, 2019

Assocation for Asian Studies Board Member 2018-2019