C. Andrew Gerstle, FBA (born 18 June 1951) is an American-born

Japanologist Japanese studies (Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese ...

and academic, who has been Professor of Japanese Studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

since 1993.

Career

Born on 18 June 1951 in the United States, C. Andrew Gerstle studied Japanese culture at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, graduating in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He completed a Master of Arts degree at

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

six years later, and carried out his

doctoral studies A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

; in 1980, he was awarded a PhD for his thesis "Circles of fantasy: musical and dramatic conventions in the plays of

Chikamatsu was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' has written that he is "widely regarded as the greatest Japanese dramatis ...

". He was appointed to a lectureship at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

in 1980, and was promoted to Professor of Japanese nine years later. Since 1993, he has been Professor of Japanese Studies at the

(SOAS). He was also director of the

Arts and Humanities Research Council The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), formerly Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB), is a British research council, established in 1998, supporting research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities. History The Arts an ...

Centre for Asian and African Studies at SOAS from 2000 to 2005."Andrew Gerstle"
''SOAS University of London''. Retrieved 30 June 2018."Circles of fantasy : musical and dramatic conventions in the plays of Chikamatsu"
''HOLLIS: Harvard University Library Catalogue''. Retrieved 30 June 2018. According to his

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

profile, Gerstle's research focuses on "The cultural and social history of 17th–19th century Japan, with particular reference to ''

Bunraku (also known as ) is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century, which is still performed in the modern day. Three kinds of performers take part in a performance: the or ( puppeteers ...

'' and ''

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

'' theatres, popular literature, sexuality and the visual arts"."Professor Andrew Gerstle"
''British Academy''. Retrieved 30 June 2018. In 2013, he organised a project which resulted in the "''

Shunga is a type of Japanese erotic art typically executed as a kind of ukiyo-e, often in woodblock print format. While rare, there are also extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate ukiyo-e. Translated literally, the Japanese word ''shunga'' ...

'': sex and pleasure in Japanese art" exhibition at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Awards and honours

In 2015, Gerstle was elected a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

, the United Kingdom's

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

for the humanities and social sciences.

Select publications

* ''Circles of Fantasy: Convention in the Plays of Chikamatsu'', Harvard East Asian Monographs no. 116 (Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1986). * ''Eighteenth-Century Japan: Culture and Society'' (Allen & Unwin, 1989). * ''Theatre as Music: The Bunraku Play 'Mt Imo and Mt Se: An Exemplary Tale of Womanly Virtue (Centre for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1990). * ''Recovering the Orient: Artists, Scholars, Appropriations'' (Harwood Academic Publishers, 1994). * ''Chikamatsu: Five Late Plays'' (Columbia University Press, 2001). * ''Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage, 1780–1830'' (British Museum Press, 2005). * ''Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art'' (British Museum Press, 2013). * ''Shunga: Ten Questions and Answers'' (International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 2013).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstle, Andrew Living people 1951 births Japanologists Columbia College (New York) alumni Waseda University alumni Harvard University alumni Fellows of the British Academy Academics of SOAS University of London