Maura McGrath・Emotional Labor and Workplace Conditions at Women-Owned Snack Bars in Tokyo
2024-08-27 17:00 - 18:30 (Asia/Tokyo) | University of Tokyo, iii Main Building, 6F, The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
Work-in-Progress Discussion

The MGS will meet at the University of Tokyo on Tuesday, 27 August 2024 to hear a presentation by Maura McGrath on her dissertation project entitled “Emotional Labor and Workplace Conditions at Women-Owned Snack Bars in Tokyo.”

Presenter:

Maura MCGRATH is a 3rd-year Ph.D. student in social anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA, USA). Her research interests include emotional labor, feminist geography (with a particular focus on the body as a spatial scale), and urban economies.

Abstract:

This research focuses on women’s emotional and entrepreneurial labor within snack bars, or “sunakku,” in Japan. McGrath asks how women who occupy the dual roles of business owner and service worker navigate gendered expectations regarding their labor when shaping their workplace conditions. She is also interested in exploring generational trends in snack bar ownership to understand changing attitudes toward women’s entrepreneurial labor in Japan.

*Not open to the public

Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2025
2025-05-20 10:00 - 2025-05-21 22:00
The symposium will be held online in order to accommodate participants in different time zones. This year again, we invited scholars, researchers, activists, and practitioners from around the world to participate in a multidisciplinary two-day exploration of the intersection between Japanese popular cultures and intersectional, trans-inclusive feminist studies. During this symposium, we will explore the convergence of gender, sexuality, race, queerness, disability and class. We aim to provide a platform for critical discussions about gender and Japanese animation, fashion, video games, literature and digital cultures. In doing so we hope to encourage new directions in feminist approaches to Japanese popular cultures and foster community among researchers from marginalized communities.

Conference Website
