Re-envisioning 'Women' in Late Twentieth Century Japan: Feminists, Lesbians, and Queer Manga Artists and Fans

James Welker is a professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural Studies at Kanagawa University. His research examines gender and sexuality in postwar and contemporary Japan, including the lesbian community, radical feminism, and queer media consumption and production. He is the author of Transfigurations: Feminists, Lesbians, and Shōjo Manga Fans in Late Twentieth-Century Japan (Hawai‘i, forthcoming), and co-editor of Rethinking Japanese Feminisms (Hawai‘i, 2018; with Julia C. Bullock and Ayako Kano), Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan (Mississippi 2015; with Mark McLelland, Kazumi Nagaike, and Katsuhiko Suganuma), and Queer Voices from Japan (Lexington, 2007; with Mark McLelland and Katsuhiko Suganuma). His current projects include editing a volume on the circulation and consumption of boys love (BL) media—media of Japanese origin that depicts male–male intimacy for female fans—around Asia, editing a special issue of the Asian popular cultural studies journal Mechademia on “Queer(ing),” and a collaborative research project supported by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science with Fujimoto Yukari, Kazumi Nagaike, and Ishida Hitoshi on queer manga and anime narratives, global fans, and LGBTQ issues around the world.