Who: Dr. Fusako Innami
What: Associate Professor in Japanese and Performance Studies
Where: Durham University, Durham, UK
After publishing my book, I also realised that a book can create a new readership that one may not expect in advance. Apart from literary students and scholars with a focus on Asia, my book has been cultivating conversations with dance practitioners, therapists, medical scientists… [I]t was a happy surprise to see that the book has a potential use for people in medical science!
When I spotted a post from Dr. Fusako Innami on my social media feed, in which she shared that her book Touching the Unreachable was available to read via open access. I first met Dr. Innami at a British Comparative Literature Association conference many years ago, when we were both still PhD students. Her research struck me as highly original then, so I took the opportunity to reach out and ask her a couple of questions.
Having successfully turned your PhD dissertation into a book, what advice do you have for early career scholars that are hoping to publish their research?
It can be a tricky process to find home – a publisher that fits well with your project, especially for a certain type of scholarship (interdisciplinary work, cross-cultural work, certain type of theoretical work, etc.) or a combination of methods that may be a little unusual, but it is important not to compromise on the quality and content of the work and to keep a certain persistence. After publishing my book, I also realised that a book can create a new readership that one may not expect in advance. Apart from literary students and scholars with a focus on Asia, my book has been cultivating conversations with dance practitioners, therapists, medical scientists. I extensively engaged with phenomenological and psychoanalytical literatures, but it was a happy surprise to see that the book has a potential use for people in medical science!
You are a 2024-2025 Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley, California. What are you researching and what has your experience been like so far?
I am currently working on a book manuscript, tentatively titled, Dancing Trace: Performance, Topography, Writing. It concerns performance which by its very nature disappears. How do we recollect live performances that are not available in recordings, but only remain in the form of reviews, scores, pictures, or digitised archives? Gathering traces of dancers’ transcultural movements, contacts, and memoirs, I explore methods of reconstructing past performances.
A snapshot of my bio/project is here. (Note: You can find Dr. Innami under “British Fulbrighters in the USA – Scholar Award grantees”, first grantee in row #2.)
Based in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, this semester I have participated in various events held on campus, learning how such events – from art-practice talks to seminars, from book chats to guest lectures – can be effective ways to cultivate conversations, in an academic context different from the UK. Next semester, I am planning to organise a book workshop along with my project. Aside from academic work, I am taking dance classes regularly and am happy to have various cultural events nearby.
This interview is part of the Interview with a Scholar series.