DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Biography

Alexandra De Leon is a PhD candidate in modern Japanese history. Her research focuses on memory of the Asia-Pacific War. Her work explores issues of historical commemoration, reconciliation, and U.S.-Japan relations through material culture. She is writing her dissertation on souvenirs (primarily consisting of the personal belongings of Japanese soldiers, such as flags, photos, and letters) taken from the Pacific Theater of WWII, and the attempts to return these items to the families of the deceased. She received a Nippon Foundation fellowship for language training at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama in 2017. She also received a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship for her fieldwork in Japan. Her website is here.