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Akane Kawakami

Positions held:
  • Professor of French, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Professor Akane Kawakami arrived at ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú in 2006, having held lectureships previously at the Universities of Cambridge and Warwick. She teaches and researches in the field of twentieth–century and contemporary French and Francophone literature. Her interests include travel narratives and exoticism, photography and the photographic, contemporary fiction, and interactions between literary and visual culture.

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Contemporary French fiction
    • Travel Narratives and Exoticism
    • Photography and the photographic
    • Transnational narratives

    Research overview

    Professor Kawakami has published extensively in the field of modern and contemporary culture, with numerous articles in refereed journals on a wide range of 20th-century writers (see list of publications) and three monographs: A Self-Conscious Art: Patrick Modiano's Postmodern Fictions (Liverpool University Press, 2000), Travellers' Visions: French Literary Encounters with Japan, 1881-2004 (Liverpool University Press, 2005), and Photobiography: Photographic Self-Writing in Proust, Guibert, Ernaux and Macé, which discusses the interactions between autobiography and photography (Oxford: Legenda, 2013). A revised edition of her Modiano book was published in 2015, an unusual honour for a monograph in the humanities. This edition contains a new introduction considering the novelist's work in the light of his recent Nobel Prize win and two new chapters discussing his most recent novels: Patrick Modiano (LUP, Dec. 2015: .

    Professor Kawakami is currently working on a monograph on the contemporary French novelist Michael Ferrier.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • member of steering group,
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within ÌÇÐÄlogoÈë¿Ú:
    4

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who wish to undertake research in any of my specialist areas: contemporary French fiction, travel narratives and exoticism, transnational narratives, and the relationship between literature and photography.

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • TISH DASTAGIR
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Portrayals of South Asians in Contemporary Japanese Popular Culture.
      Awarded:
      2023
    • LESLEY LAVINGTON
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      'The treatment of certain themes from the Classical world in the work of the Parnassian poets' -
      Awarded:
      2026
    • MICHAEL THOMPSON
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Beyond the silence: the French Catholic novel in the late twentieth century. An analysis of works by Françoise Mallet-Joris, Christiane Singer and Sylvie Germain.
      Awarded:
      2025
    • DALILA VILLELLA
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Rhizomatic poetry. A form of political engagement against capitalist society in 21st-century France.
      Description:

      The main purpose of my project is to undertake a Deleuzo-Guattarian reading of the poetry of Jacques Sivan, Vannina Maestri and Jean-Michel Espitallier, in order to demonstrate how the concept of the ‘rhizome’ has affected their work. I argue that rhizomatic poetry is used by these three poets to criticise and undermine capitalist ideology.

      The rhizome – a sprawling plant stem – is used as a model of thought by Deleuze and Guattari in opposition to the hierarchical, tree-like structure at the basis of capitalist thinking. Deleuze and Guattari consider that hierarchical or arborescent thought is a source of oppression in capitalist societies and they criticise the unimaginative way of life thatÌýderives from it. As poststructuralists and deconstructionists, they believe that the way rhizomes evolve – unstructured, horizontal and chaotic – can be replicated in thought to deconstruct or undo the capitalist model. In that sense, it is an effective tool to transform society and free human existence from the capitalist regime. The idea of rhizomatic thought has been influencing the way 21st-century French poetry politically engages in the fight against capitalism, and this is what I explore in my thesis.

      Ìý

      Awarded:
      2023
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Kawakami, Akane (2023) . Contemporary French and Francophone Studies 27 (5), pp. 662-670. ISSN 1740-9292.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2022) . Journal of Romance Studies 22 (1), pp. 49-71. ISSN 1473-3536.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2020) . Australian Journal of French Studies 57 (2), pp. 190-203. ISSN 0004-9468.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2019) . French Studies 73 (2), ISSN 0016-1128.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2016) . L'Esprit Createur 56 (3), pp. 120-133. ISSN 0014-0767.
    • Kawakami, Akane Yacavone, K., ed. (2014) . Nottingham French Studies. Nottingham French Studies 53 (2), pp. 232-246. ISSN 0029-4586. ISBN 9780748693665.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2011) . Modern Language Review 106 (2), pp. 388-406. ISSN 0026-7937.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2011) . Romance Studies 29 (2), pp. 81-92. ISSN 0263-9904.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2010) . French Studies 64 (4), pp. 451-462. ISSN 0016-1128.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2008) . Waseda Bungaku 2, pp. 328-345. ISSN 0388-1970.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2007) . Romance Studies 25 (3), pp. 211-225. ISSN 0263-9904.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2004) . French Studies 58 (4), pp. 499-512. ISSN 0016-1128.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2002) . Forum for Modern Language Studies 38 (3), pp. 278-290. ISSN 0015-8518.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2000) . Modern Language Review 95 (4), pp. 978-991. ISSN 0026-7937.
    • Kawakami, Akane (1999) . French Studies 53 (2), pp. 176-188. ISSN 0016-1128.
    • Kawakami, Akane (1999) . Romance Studies 17, pp. 151-161. ISSN 0263-9904.

    Book

    • Kawakami, Akane (2023) . Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781802074857.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2015) . Modern French Writers. 6, Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781781382745.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2013) . Oxford, UK: Legenda. ISBN 9781907975868.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2006) . Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9780853237301.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2000) . Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9780853235262.

    Book section

    • Kawakami, Akane (2024) . In: Duffy, H. and Tynan, A. (eds.) Trauma, Ethics and Hermeneutics: Essays in Honour of Colin Davis. Oxford, UK: Legenda. pp. 43-58. ISBN 9781839543289.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2021) . In: Watt, A. (ed.) The Cambridge History of the Novel in French. Cambridge University Press. pp. 688-705. ISBN 9781108683920.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2021) . In: Essais sur Michael Ferrier. Paris, France: Honore Champion. ISBN 9782745356130.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2016) . In: Arribert-Narce, F. and Kuwada, K. and O'Meara, L. (eds.) Détours par le Japon. Réceptions de la culture japonaise en France depuis 1945. Poétiques et esthétiques XXe-XXIe siècle. Paris, France: Honore Champion. pp. 157-178. ISBN 9782745330390.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2015) . In: Patrick Modiano. Modern French Writers. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 9781781384336.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2013) . In: Aubert, N. (ed.) Proust and the Visual. Studies in Visual Culture. Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press. pp. 95-114. ISBN 9780708325483.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2011) . In: Segal, Naomi and Rye, G. (eds.) 'When familiar meanings dissolve...' Essays in French Studies in Memory of Malcolm Bowie. Romanticism and after in France / Le Romantisme et après en France. Oxford, UK: Peter Lang. pp. 163-178. ISBN 9783034301084.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2011) . In: Ammour-Mayeur, O. and Ogawa, M. (eds.) Michel Butor : à la frontière, ou l’art des passages. Ecritures. Dijon, France: Éditions universitaires de Dijon. pp. 133-147. ISBN 9782915611847.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2011) . In: Ammour-Mayeur, O. and Ogawa, M. (eds.) Michel Butor: à la frontière, ou l’art des passages. University of Dijon Editions: Dijon, France. ISBN 9782915611847.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2007) . In: Flower, J.E. (ed.) Patrick Modiano. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi. pp. 257-269. ISBN 9789042023161.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2004) . In: Topping, M. (ed.) Eastern Voyages, Western Visions: French Writing and Painting of the Orient. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang. pp. 289-310. ISBN 9783039101832.
    • Kawakami, Akane (2000) . In: Mullen, A. and O’Beirne, E. (eds.) Crime Scenes: Detective Narratives in European Culture since 1945. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi. pp. 195-204. ISBN 9789042012332.

    Conference item

    • Kawakami, Akane (2019) . Modern Literary Association (MLA) Annual Conference, 2019, Lisbon, Portugal
    • Kawakami, Akane (2019) . Michaël Ferrier conference: Mémoires d’outre-mer/Over Seas of Memory, 2019, London, UK
    • Kawakami, Akane (2019) . Modern Languages Department Seminar Series, 2019, Lund University, Sweden
    • Kawakami, Akane (2017) . Colloque international "Michaël Ferrier : un écrivain du corail", 2017, Edinburgh, UK
    • Kawakami, Akane (2015) . French Studies Seminar Series, University of Tokyo, 2015, Tokyo, Japan
    • Kawakami, Akane (2015) . French Studies Seminar Series, University of Tokyo, 2015, Tokyo, Japan
    • Kawakami, Akane (2015) . Maison Franco-Japonaise Conference, 2015, Tokyo, Japan
    • Kawakami, Akane (2013) . Paris-Tokyo-Paris: Responses to Japan in French Art, Culture and Theory since 1945, 2013, Maison Franco-Japonaise, Tokyo, Japan
    • Kawakami, Akane (2013) . Intimate Archives: Photography and Life-Writing, 2013, Wolfson College, University of Oxford
    • Kawakami, Akane (2004) . Colloque Patrick Modiano, 2004, University of Kent
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Media

    I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

    • Patrick Modiano
    • contemporary French fiction
    • Franco-Japanese cultural relations