Robin O'Day, Ph.D.
Area(s) of Expertise: Cultural anthropology; contemporary Japan; labor and precarity; social movements and youth politics; oral narratives; digital media and archives
Overview
Dr. Robin O’Day is a cultural anthropologist whose research examines how transformations in work and the economy reshape social belonging, civil society, and political participation in contemporary Japan. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, his scholarship explores precarious employment, youth and student movements, digital activism, and oral-narrative approaches to disaster and migration.
Dr. O’Day’s teaching emphasizes clear communication, critical perspective-taking, ethnographic inquiry, and intercultural learning. His courses incorporate undergraduate research, digital storytelling, and virtual exchanges with students at Nanzan University in Japan. He received 国产自拍’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2023.
Courses Taught
- ANTH 1102 – Introduction to Anthropology
- ANTH 2020 – Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- ANTH 3000 – Ethnographic Methods
- ANTH 3600 – Contemporary East Asia
- ANTH 3610 – Ethnography of East Asia
- ANTH 3640 – Japanese Culture and Society
- EAAS 3660 – Studies in East Asia: Japanese Research
- JAPN 3990 – Special Topics in Japanese: Research Methods
Education
- Ph.D., Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2012
- M.A., Religious studies, McMaster University, Canada, 2004
- B.A., Comparative religion, Dalhousie University, Canada, 1999
Research/Special Interest
- Contemporary Japanese society and culture
- Labor precarity and changing employment systems
- Social movements, protest, and civil society
- Youth and student politics
- Oral-narrative and ethnographic research
- Disaster, migration, and refugee experiences
- Digital humanities and public archives
Publications
O’Day, Robin. 2024. “” In Alternative Politics in Contemporary Japan: New Directions in Social Movements, edited by David H. Slater and Patricia G. Steinhoff, 89–112. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.
O’Day, Robin, Satsuki Uno, and David H. Slater. 2021. “.” Melbourne Asia Review 6.
Uno, Satsuki, and Robin O’Day. 2020. “” The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus 18 (18), no. 8.
Fulco, Flavia, Robin O’Day, and David H. Slater. 2019. “Voices from Tohoku: From a Digital Archive of Oral Narratives to Scientific Application in Disaster Risk Reduction.” Journal of the Japan Society for Digital Archives, 89–115.
O’Day, Robin, David H. Slater, and Satsuki Uno. 2018. “” In Social Movements and Political Activism in Contemporary Japan: Re-emerging from Invisibility, edited by David Chiavacci and Julia Obinger, 177–197. Routledge.
2015 O'Day, Robin, "Differentiating SEALDs from Freeters and Precariats: The politics of youth movements in contemporary Japan", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 37, No. 2, September 14, 2015.
2015 David Slater, Robin O'Day, Satsuki Uno, Love Kindstrand, and Chiharu Takano, 2015. "SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy): Research Note on Contemporary Youth Politics in Japan", The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 13, Issue 37, No. 1, September 14, 2015.
Work Experience
- University of North Georgia – Professor of Anthropology, 2016–present
- Sophia University, Tokyo – Invited Visiting Professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts, 2018
- University of Tsukuba – Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2014–2016
- University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa – Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2012–2014