Kazuko Takemura

Kazuko Takemura (February 3, 1954 – December 13, 2011) was a Japanese scholar of English literature. Her areas of expertise included Anglo-American literature, critical theory, film studies, and feminist thought. She was a former professor at Ochanomizu University. Takemura translated the works of Judith Butler and Trinh T. Minh-ha, among others,^[1][2] significantly contributing to the development of feminist theory and thought in Japan.^[3][4]

Biography

Takemura graduated from the Faculty of Education at Ochanomizu University. She then completed a master's program at Ochanomizu University and later withdrew from the doctoral program at the University of Tsukuba.^[5]

In 1982, she began her academic career as an assistant at Kagawa University’s Faculty of Education. She was promoted to associate professor in 1985.^[6] After serving as an associate professor at Seikei University and the University of Tsukuba,^[7] she joined Ochanomizu University in April 1996.^[4]

In 2003, she earned a Doctor of Humanities degree from Ochanomizu University with her dissertation, On Love: The Politics of Identity and Desire.^[8]

On December 13, 2011, she died from a malignant tumor at the age of 57.^[9]

Research and translation

As a literary scholar, film studies researcher, and feminist thinker, Takemura published works such as Feminism and On Love during her lifetime. Additionally, three volumes of her collected works were published posthumously.^[9]

Her research aimed to deconstruct the category of "woman" through critiques of heterosexism, expanding feminism beyond its conventional focus on "women" as a given category.^[10]

Takemura translated the works of Judith Butler, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Trinh T. Minh-ha into Japanese.^[2] Following her passing, they published eulogies.^[2][11][12]

Selected works

Books

• Feminism. Iwanami Shoten, 2000. ISBN 978-4-00-026432-7 / Iwanami Gendai Bunko, 2024. ISBN 978-4-00-600478-1
• On Love: The Politics of Identity and Desire. Iwanami Shoten, 2002. ISBN 978-4-00-022011-8 / Iwanami Gendai Bunko, 2021. ISBN 978-4-00-600441-5
• The Challenge of Literary Power: Family, Desire, and Terrorism. Kenkyusha, 2012. ISBN 978-4-327-48161-2
• What Is She Looking At?: The Deep Layers of Visual Representation and Desire. Edited by Kiyomi Kono and Keiko Nitta, Sakuhinsha, 2012. ISBN 978-4-86182-418-0
• Subverting Boundaries: Sex, Life, and Violence. Iwanami Shoten, 2013. ISBN 978-4-00-022597-7

Translations

• Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Great Stone Face. Co-translated with Masayuki Sakemoto, Kokushokankokai (Babel Library Series), 1988. ISBN 978-4-336-02558-6
• Trinh T. Minh-ha, Woman, Native, Other: Postcolonialism and Feminism. Iwanami Shoten, 1995. ISBN 978-4-00-002950-6 / Iwanami Humanities Selection, 2011. ISBN 978-4-00-028514-8
• Peter B. High, An Outline of American Literature (Longman Edition). Co-translated with Iwao Iwamoto, Kirihara Shoten, 1995. ISBN 978-4-342-76060-0
• John Barth, Letters (2 volumes). Co-translated with Iwao Iwamoto, Kokushokankokai (Adventures in Literature Series), 2000. Vol. 1: ISBN 978-4-336-03578-3 / Vol. 2: ISBN 978-4-336-03579-0
• Sophia Phoca and Rebecca Wright, Illustrated Introduction to "Post" Feminism. Co-translated with Kiyomi Kono, Sakuhinsha, 2003. ISBN 978-4-87893-561-9
• Sara Salih, Judith Butler. Co-translated, Seidosha (Modern Thought Guidebook Series), 2005. ISBN 978-4-7917-6225-5
• Gayatri C. Spivak, Spivak Speaks in Japan. Supervised by Tetsu Ukai, co-translated with Tetsuya Motohashi, Keiko Nitta, and Asako Nakai, Misuzu Shobo, 2009. ISBN 978-4-622-07447-2
• Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Seidosha, 1999. ISBN 978-4-7917-5703-9 / New Edition, 2018. ISBN 978-4-7917-7047-2
• Contingency, Hegemony, Universality: Contemporary Dialogues on the Left. Co-authored by Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek, co-translated with Toshikatsu Murayama, Seidosha, 2002. ISBN 978-4-7917-5957-6 / New Edition, 2019. ISBN 978-4-7917-7188-2
• Antigone’s Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death. Seidosha, 2002. ISBN 978-4-7917-6013-8
• Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performative. Iwanami Shoten, 2004. ISBN 978-4-00-023392-7 / Iwanami Humanities Selection, 2015. ISBN 978-4-00-028813-2
• Who Sings the Nation-State?: Language, Politics, Belonging. Co-authored by Gayatri C. Spivak, Iwanami Shoten, 2008.
• Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex". Supervised by Yoshiyuki Sato, co-translated with Hiromi Ochi, Kiyomi Kono, and Reiichi Miura, Ibunsha, 2021. ISBN 978-4-7531-0362-1