Research Interest: Digital and virtual media, performance, aesthetics | Research Interest: Expressive culture, language, materiality | Research Interest: Indigenous knowledge, environment, landscapes

Fuyubi Nakamura (中村冬日) is a socio-cultural anthropologist. She holds a joint position of Curator, Asia at the Museum of Anthropology and Assistant Professor of Visual and Material Cultures of Asia in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC. She obtained a doctorate (D.Phil.) in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oxford (2006) after completing an MSc with Distinction in Ethnology and Museum Ethnography (1999) also at Oxford. She has a BA (Hons) in Social Anthropology (with specialization in critical museology) from the University of Sussex in Brighton where she also studied Indian art and architecture.

Dr. Nakamura has taught in the graduate schools at the University of Oxford (2003), the Australian National University (2007-2010) and University of Tokyo (2012-2013), and curated exhibitions internationally prior to joining UBC in 2014. She regularly gives lectures in Asian studies, art history and anthropology courses at UBC.  She was an associate researcher with the Institute for Art Anthropology at Tama Art University, Tokyo (2010-2015) and was a guest curator at the National Museum of Oriental Art in Buenos Aires (2010-11) and the producer/curator for Tokunoshima island art project, Japan (2014-2015).

Outside academia, Dr. Nakamura has worked as a project coordinator for film festivals organized by NHK (Japan’s public broadcaster) and also in business in Tokyo between her degrees and also as a freelance translator for a number of years. Born in Tokyo, Fuyubi grew up in different parts of Japan and spent a year as an AFS exchange student in New Zealand before moving to England. She has travelled widely, especially in India and Europe and has spent several months in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil and Peru).

Fuyubi Nakamura specializes in the anthropology of art, museum studies, and material and visual culture studies. Her research interests include material and visual cultures with special interest in Japan and its diasporas in Argentina and Brazil; India and Tibet as well as contemporary art, photography and the relation between memory and objects, especially within the context of the 3/11 disaster in Japan. She took a leave from academia following the disaster in Japan in 2011, and was involved in relief/recovery activities in Miyagi, and continues to do research in Tōhoku.

Dr. Nakamura’s long-term research of 20 years is an anthropological study of contemporary Japanese calligraphy. Related to this research, she also carried out a project which investigated the world of Japanese calligraphy in Latin American countries with large Japanese immigrant communities such as Argentina and Brazil. Her curatorial projects include (In)visible: The Spiritual World of Taiwan through Contemporary Art (2015-2016) and Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia (2017) at MOA; Trazos del Tiempo, Trazos de Palabras (Traces of Time, Traces of Words) hosted by the National Museum of Oriental Art and showcased at Casa de la Cultura, Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Culture Centre, National Foundation of Arts) in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2011); Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia at the School of Art Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra (2010). While a graduate student, she also worked on a few exhibitions including photographic exhibitions at the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford as a curatorial assistant.

More information about her projects and publications: https://ubc.academia.edu/FuyubiNakamura

Books

• 2021. A Future for Memory: Art and Life after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Vancouver: The Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
• 2017. Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, Vancouver: Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing and MOA (Recipient of the Canadian Museum Association Award of Outstanding Achievement in the Research – Art category, 2018).
• 2015. (In)visible: The Spiritual World of Taiwan through Contemporary Art, Vancouver: The Museum of Anthropology at UBC.
• 2013. Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation across Borders. Edited with Morgan Perkins and Olivier Krischer. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic (Recipient of the Best Anthology by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, 2014).
• 2011. Trazos del Tiempo, Trazos de Palabras (Traces of Time, Traces of Words: Works by Japanese Artists), Buenos Aires: The National Museum of Oriental Art.
• 2010. Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia, Canberra: The Australian National University School of Art Gallery.

Selected Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• 2019. "Hokkaidō 150: Settler Colonialism and Indigeneity in modern Japan and Beyond" with Tristan R. Grunow et al. Critical Asian Studies, Vol. 51, No. 4
• 2017. “The Infinite Possibility of Words in Japanese Calligraphy” Nakamura, F. (ed.) Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing and MOA.
• 2017. “The Museum of Anthropology Asian Collection” in Nakamura, F. (ed.) Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing and MOA.
• 2014. “Introduction: Images of Asia across Borders”. Co-authored with Perkins, M. and Krischer, O. in Nakamura, F., Perkins, M. and Krischer, O. (eds.), Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation across Borders. London: Bloomsbury Academic (The lead author).
• 2012 . “Memory in the debris: The 3/11 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami”. Anthropology Today, Vol.28, Issue 3.
• “Introduction: Traces of Time, Traces of Words” in Nakamura, F (ed.) Traces of Time, Traces of Words: Works by Japanese Artists, Buenos Aires: National Museum of Oriental Art.
• 2010. “A Brief Introduction to Japanese Calligraphy” in Nakamura, F (ed.) Traces of Time, Traces of Words: Works by Japanese Artists, Buenos Aires: National Museum of Oriental Art.
• 2010 . “Introduction: Ephemeral but Eternal Words” in Nakamura, F. (ed.) Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia, Canberra: The ANU School of Art Gallery.
• 2010. “Tsubasa Kimura: The Infinite Possibility of Words” in Nakamura, F. (ed.) Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia, Canberra: The ANU School of Art Gallery.
• 2007. “Creating or Performing Words?: Observations on Contemporary Japanese Calligraphy” in Ingold, T. and Hallam, E. (eds.) Creativity and Cultural Improvisation (ASA Monographs 44), Oxford: Berg.

Other publications

• 2017. On MOA’s Asian collections: “ Qur’an, Iran, 3039/1”, “Seal, China, N1.266”, “Stamped brick, Iraq, M4.29”, “Calligraphy scroll by Jin Nong, China, N1.572”, “Leaf from a Qur’an manuscript in Kufic script, possibly Iraq, Iran, or Syria, 2988/1”, “Persian calligraphy in nastaʿliq style, Iran, 2645/3”, “Incense set with inscriptions in sini script, China, 2988/3 a-b, 2988/4 a-b, 2988/5, 2988/6”, “Chinese “Swatow” dish with Arabic scripts, China, 2988/2”, “Palm leaf manuscript in Sinhala script, Sri Lanka, 812/7”, “Palm leaf manuscript in Malayalam script, India, B557”, “Palm leaf manuscript in Tham script, Thailand, 2902/23”, “Palm leaf manuscript in Sinhala script, Sri Lanka, 2569/15” in Nakamura, F. (ed.) Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, Vancouver: Figure 1 Publishing and MOA
• 2016. “Calligraphy in Japan” in Ross, S. (ed.) Routledge Encyclopaedia of Modernism, London: Routledge (online).
• 2012. “Memory and photographs: reflections on the aftermath of the 3.11 disaster”. A blog post published on the Material World: A Global Hub for Thinking About Things (reviewed by the committee and published on July 24, 2012). http://www.materialworldblog.com/2012/07/memory-and-photographs-reflections-on-the-aftermath-of-the-3-11-disaster/
• 2008. “A Bomb Dome–Hiroshima”, “ Daibutsuden–Nara”, “Itsukushima-jinja”, “Kinkaku-ji”, “Konjiki-dô–Hiraizumi”, “Mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu”, “Minami-za”, “Nijô-jô”, “Nishi-Hongan-ji”, “Osaka-jô”, “Sanjusangen-dô”, “Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gû” and “Yasukuni-jinja” in Cavendish, R. (ed.) 1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die, London: Cassell Illustrated.
• 2006. “Kichijôten by Anon.”, “Winter Landscape by Sesshû”, “Chinese Lions by Kanô Eitoku”, “Poem Scroll with Deer by Tawaraya Sôtatsu and Hon’ami Kôetsu”, “Beauty Looking Back by Hishikawa Moronobu”, “Irises by Ogata Kôrin”, “Sketches of a Black and White Rabbit by Maruyama Ôkyo” and “Autumn Grasses by Sakai Hôitsu” in Farthing, S. (ed.) 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, London: Cassell Illustrated.

Translations

• Chihiro Minato’s “Typologic: Interactions between the Intellect and the Senses” in Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation across Borders. Edited with Morgan Perkins and Olivier Krischer. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic (Japanese into English).
• Chihiro Minato’s “The Memories of Kanji” in Nakamura, F. (ed.) Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia, Canberra: The ANU School of Art Gallery (Japanese into English).

*Only the ones where her name is acknowledged. She has translated many academic essays and other materials into English or into Japanese.

 Selected curated exhibitions and projects

• A Future for Memory: Art and Life after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Canada, February 11– September 5, 2021. Curator.
• Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Canada, May 11 – October 9, 2017. Curator.
• Traces of Words: Asian Material from the UBC Library Collections, Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, UBC Library, Vancouver, May 1-31, 2017. Created in collaboration with UBC’s Asian Library and Rare Books and Special Collections. Co-curator.
• (In)visible: The Spiritual World of Taiwan through Contemporary Art, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Canada, November 20, 2015 – April 3, 2016. Curator.
• Tokunoshima Island Art Project, Japan, July 2013 – August 2014. Curator/Producer.
• Trazos del Tiempo, Trazos de Palabras (Traces of Time, Traces of Words) at the Culture Centre of the National Foundation of Arts of Argentina hosted by the National Museum of Oriental Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1– 30 March 2011. Curator.
• The display of Japanese art for a special event, La Noche de Los Museos 2010 (The Museum Night) at the National Museum of Oriental Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 13 November 2010. Curator.
• Ephemeral but Eternal Words: Traces of Asia, the ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra, Australia, 6 April‐1 May 2010. Curator.
• I am a Curator, a process-based exhibition project by artist Per Hüttner at Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK. 13 December 2003. Co-curator.
• The Tibet Visual History 1920-1950 project, the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford, 2004–2006. Research Assistant.
• Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947, an exhibition at Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, 7 September 2003 – 30 November 2004. Curatorial Assistant
• Ladakh: Himalayan photographs by Karl-Einar Lofqvist, an exhibition at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, UK. September-October 1999. Curatorial Assistant.
• The Animals and Artefacts: Selections from the Pitt Rivers Museum Collection exhibition at the University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, Jan–March 1999. Research Assistant.

Dr. Nakamura has received numerous awards and grants including the Canadian Museum Association (CMA) Award of Outstanding Achievement in the Research – Art category, 2018 and Best Anthropology Prize for Asia through Art and Anthropology: Cultural Translation across Borders (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013) from the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand, 2014.

Curator, Asia, Museum of Anthropology

Associate Member, Department of Anthropology

Associate Member, Departments of Asian Studies

Affiliated with Centre for Japanese Research, Himalaya Program & Hong Kong Studies Initiative

D.Phil. University of Oxford, 2006