Professor Mori has received a resident faculty fellowship from the Institute for Research in the Humanities, to continue to work on her ongoing research project that examines the development, implementation, and legacy of the Japanese Language and Culture Assistant Program (JALCAP), administered by Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction from 1989 to 1993.
This study combines contemporary history and ethnography to explore how the fundamental purpose and benefits of Japanese language and culture education in Wisconsin were envisioned differently by diverse stakeholders. Partially autobiographical, the study is also informed by her personal experience with this internship program, which prompted her to move to Wisconsin from Tokyo and eventually led her to begin her academic career at UW-Madison.
The IRH fellowship will allow Professor Mori to be on research leave during the Spring 2025 semester to focus on preparing a book manuscript that examines this little-known aspect of Wisconsin history through the perspectives of cultural diplomacy, linguistic capital, & raciolinguistic dynamics. Her personal reflections as an Asian woman working in U.S. higher education was published in Japanese Language & Literature in 2022 under the title “Beyond Performing Ethnicity.”