Academics
Taku Tamaki
Lecturer in International Relations Email: T.Tamaki@lboro.ac.uk |
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Biography
I gained my PhD at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. My thesis was on the role of identity in Japanese foreign policy, looking in particular at Japan-South Korea relations in the 1990s. The theme of applying International Relations (IR) Theory to the Asia-Pacific region continues to be the main focus of my current research. Theoretically, I am interested in exploring the intersection between Social Theory and IR. Here, I treat International System as a macro-level social sphere within which symbols and meanings are reproduced and contested.
Empirically, I apply this conceptual framework to the various aspects of international politics in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, I am engaged in a project exploring into how Japan’s perceptions of “reality” in the region are reproduced. This is where the intersection of Social- and IR Theories can provide us with a useful “toolkit” for further analysis.
I am also interested in casting the so-called Post-Positivist IR “lens” upon the numerous aspects of the Asia-Pacific region. Here, my intention is to locate the Asia-Pacific within the larger constellation of IR theories, rather than introducing theory into Asian studies.
My teaching interest ranges from IR Theory and International Regimes to international politics/international political economy of the Asia-Pacific region.
Detailed searchable list of publications
Recent publications
Book Chapters
“Constructing ‘Japan in Asia’,” in Stephanie Lawson (ed), Europe and the Asia-Pacific: Culture, Identity, and Representations of Region (London: CurzonRoutledge, 2003), chapter 11.
Journal Articles
“An Unholy Pilgrimage? Yasukuni and the Construction of Japan’s Asia Imaginary”, Asian Politics & Policy, 1:1 (2009), pp. 31-49. Forthcoming.
“Confusing Confucius in Asian Values? A Constructivist Critique”, International Relations, 21:3 (2007), pp. 284-304.
“Nikkan kankei ‘muzukashisa’ no kozu”, Ajia bunka kenkyu, 32 (2006), pp. 122-40.
“Japan’s Annexation of Korea as its Pre-war Identity Representation”, Asian Cultural Studies, 31 (2005), pp. 93-107.
“Taking the ‘Taken-for-Grantedness’ Seriously: Problmatizing Japan’s Perception of Japan-South Korea Relations,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 4:1 (2004), pp. 147-69.
“China and International Human Rights Norms: Making Sense of Different
Approaches,” International Journal of Human Rights, 6:3 (2002),
pp. 114-23.
Other Works
Deconstructing Japan’s Image of South Korea: Identity in Foreign Policy. Book manuscript. Contract signed with Palgrave.
Electronic-Chapter, “Foreign Policy as Identity Representation: The Social Construction of Japan’s External Relations”, for Steve Smith, Amelia Hadfield and Tim Dunne (eds), Foreign Policy in International Relations textbook (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008)