Kazuko Takemura (February 3, 1954 – December 13, 2011) was a Japanese scholar of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

. Her areas of expertise included Anglo-American literature,

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

film studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various film theory, theoretical, history of film, historical, and film criticism, critical approaches to film, cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media stud ...

, and feminist thought. She was a former professor at

Ochanomizu University is a women's national university in the Ōtsuka neighborhood of Bunkyō-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Ochanomizu is the name of a Tokyo neighborhood where the university was founded. History The university traces its origins to 1875, when Tokyo Wome ...

. Takemura translated the works of

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American feminist philosopher and gender studies scholar whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In ...

and

Trinh T. Minh-ha Trinh T. Minh-ha (born 1952 in Hanoi; Vietnamese: Trịnh Thị Minh Hà) is a Vietnamese filmmaker, writer, literary theorist, composer, and professor. She has been making films since the 1980s and is best known for her films Reassemblage (film ...

, among others, significantly contributing to the development of feminist theory and thought in Japan.

Biography

Takemura graduated from the Faculty of Education at Ochanomizu University. She then completed a master's program at Ochanomizu University and later withdrew from the doctoral program at the University of Tsukuba. In 1982, she began her academic career as an assistant at Kagawa University’s Faculty of Education. She was promoted to associate professor in 1985. After serving as an associate professor at

Seikei University is a private university in the Kichijōji area of the city of Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. Its name derives from a passage in the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. Its campus is noted for its rows of zelkova trees, which is listed as ...

and the University of Tsukuba, she joined Ochanomizu University in April 1996. In 2003, she earned a Doctor of Humanities degree from Ochanomizu University with her dissertation, ''On Love: The Politics of Identity and Desire''. On December 13, 2011, she died from a

malignant tumor Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal ...

at the age of 57.

Research and translation

As a literary scholar, film studies researcher, and feminist thinker, Takemura published works such as ''Feminism'' and ''On Love'' during her lifetime. Additionally, three volumes of her collected works were published posthumously. Her research aimed to deconstruct the category of "woman" through critiques of heterosexism, expanding feminism beyond its conventional focus on "women" as a given category. Takemura translated the works of

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (; born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative ...

, and

into Japanese. Following her passing, they published eulogies.

Selected works

Books

* ''Feminism''.

Iwanami Shoten is a Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo.Louis Frédéric, ''Japan Encyclopedia'', Harvard University Press, 2005, p. 409. Iwanami Shoten was founded in 1913 by Iwanami Shigeo. Its first major publication was Natsume Sōseki's novel '' ...

, 2000. ISBN 978-4-00-026432-7 / Iwanami Gendai Bunko, 2024. ISBN 978-4-00-600478-1 * ''On Love: The Politics of Identity and Desire''. Iwanami Shoten, 2002. ISBN 978-4-00-022011-8 / Iwanami Gendai Bunko, 2021. ISBN 978-4-00-600441-5 * ''The Challenge of Literary Power: Family, Desire, and Terrorism''. Kenkyusha, 2012. ISBN 978-4-327-48161-2 * ''What Is She Looking At?: The Deep Layers of Visual Representation and Desire''. Edited by Kiyomi Kono and Keiko Nitta, Sakuhinsha, 2012. ISBN 978-4-86182-418-0 * ''Subverting Boundaries: Sex, Life, and Violence''. Iwanami Shoten, 2013. ISBN 978-4-00-022597-7

Translations

* Nathaniel Hawthorne, ''The Great Stone Face''. Co-translated with Masayuki Sakemoto, Kokushokankokai (Babel Library Series), 1988. ISBN 978-4-336-02558-6 *

, ''Woman, Native, Other: Postcolonialism and Feminism''. Iwanami Shoten, 1995. ISBN 978-4-00-002950-6 / Iwanami Humanities Selection, 2011. ISBN 978-4-00-028514-8 * Peter B. High, ''An Outline of American Literature (Longman Edition)''. Co-translated with Iwao Iwamoto, Kirihara Shoten, 1995. ISBN 978-4-342-76060-0 * John Barth, ''Letters'' (2 volumes). Co-translated with Iwao Iwamoto, Kokushokankokai (Adventures in Literature Series), 2000. Vol. 1: ISBN 978-4-336-03578-3 / Vol. 2: ISBN 978-4-336-03579-0 * Sophia Phoca and Rebecca Wright, ''Illustrated Introduction to "Post" Feminism''. Co-translated with Kiyomi Kono, Sakuhinsha, 2003. ISBN 978-4-87893-561-9 * Sara Salih, ''Judith Butler''. Co-translated, Seidosha (Modern Thought Guidebook Series), 2005. ISBN 978-4-7917-6225-5 * Gayatri C. Spivak, ''Spivak Speaks in Japan''. Supervised by Tetsu Ukai, co-translated with Tetsuya Motohashi, Keiko Nitta, and Asako Nakai, Misuzu Shobo, 2009. ISBN 978-4-622-07447-2 * '' Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity''. Seidosha, 1999. ISBN 978-4-7917-5703-9 / New Edition, 2018. ISBN 978-4-7917-7047-2 * ''

Contingency, Hegemony, Universality ''Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left'' is a collaborative book by the Political philosophy, political theorists Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau, and Slavoj Žižek published in 2000. Background, structure and ...

: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left''. Co-authored by

Ernesto Laclau Ernesto Laclau (; 6 October 1935 – 13 April 2014) was an Argentine political theorist and philosopher. He is often described as an 'inventor' of post-Marxist political theory. He is well known for his collaborations with his long-term partner, ...

and

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek ( ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian Marxist philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, Global Distin ...

, co-translated with Toshikatsu Murayama, Seidosha, 2002. ISBN 978-4-7917-5957-6 / New Edition, 2019. ISBN 978-4-7917-7188-2 * ''Antigone’s Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death''. Seidosha, 2002. ISBN 978-4-7917-6013-8 * '' Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative''. Iwanami Shoten, 2004. ISBN 978-4-00-023392-7 / Iwanami Humanities Selection, 2015. ISBN 978-4-00-028813-2 * ''Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging''. Co-authored by Gayatri C. Spivak, Iwanami Shoten, 2008. * '' Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex"''. Supervised by Yoshiyuki Sato, co-translated with Hiromi Ochi, Kiyomi Kono, and Reiichi Miura, Ibunsha, 2021. ISBN 978-4-7531-0362-1

References

{{Reflist Ochanomizu University alumni Academic staff of Ochanomizu University Japanese academics Academic staff of Seikei University Japanese feminists Queer theorists