Alexander Murphy joined Kenyon in 2022. His research centers on modern Japan with a focus on the relationship between sound, language, and the body across literature, media and performance. In these settings, he is attentive to how aurality enlivens subject formation and social life in transmedial and border-crossing practice, and how the study of voice and sound can be brought to bear on matters of race, gender, and mobility. This concern also animates a range of teaching interests including transpacific cultural production, modernism and the global jazz age, popular and avant-garde performance, and media theory from the 1920s to the present.

Murphy’s current book project explores the aesthetics and politics of the voice in interwar Japan at the intersection of music, poetry and public speech. He is also a musician and translator of Japanese literature and criticism.

Areas of Expertise

Modern Japanese literature and cultural history, sound and performance, media studies

Education

2022 — Doctor of Philosophy from University of Chicago

2014 — Master of Arts from Columbia University

2010 — Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College

Courses Recently Taught

This first half of a year-long course continues building a solid foundation in the Japanese language while developing communication skills in Japanese. Students will also learn approximately 100 kanji. Coursework involves extensive assignments for speaking, listening, writing and reading, which will include materials about Japanese culture written in Japanese. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Students enrolled in this course will automatically be added to JAPN 214Y for the spring semester. Prerequisite: JAPN 111Y–112Y or equivalent. Offered every fall.

This second half of a yearlong course is a continuation of JAPN 213Y. The second semester continues to build a solid foundation in the Japanese language while developing communication skills in Japanese. By the end of the course, students will have learned all the basic grammar of Modern Standard Japanese and the cumulative total of 400 kanji. Coursework involves extensive assignments for speaking, listening, writing and reading, which will include materials about Japanese culture written in Japanese. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Offered every spring.

In this course, we will explore a wide range of topics related to Japanese culture, such as food, religion, popular culture and performing arts. In addition to deepening students’ understanding of Japanese culture this course also seeks to further enhance reading, speaking, listening and writing proficiency in the Japanese language. Moreover, it helps students gain skills in research and presentation in Japanese. This course is conducted in Japanese. This course is repeatable for credit up to 1.0 unit. Prerequisite: JAPN 213Y–214Y or equivalent. Offered every other year.

This course introduces Japanese culture through authentic materials in Japanese language, such as newspapers, fictions, essays, TV dramas and anime. Students will learn concepts essential for understanding contemporary Japanese culture and society, and participate in discussion, presentation and research on related topics. Meanwhile, this course seeks to further enhance reading, speaking, listening and writing proficiency in the Japanese language. Prerequisite: JAPN 213Y–214Y or equivalent. Offered every other year.