Dr Ruselle Meade

Publication

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Research

My research centres on the history of modern Japan. I have interests in the history of translation; the history of science and technology; and war memory.

To date, my research has primarily focused on scientific and technical translation during the Meiji period (1868-1912). My current project, which has received funding from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), explores the many functions of translation, including its role in building professional identities, and in engendering trust or distrust in scientific expertise. 

I was co-investigator on the UKRI-funded project, The Japanese scientist in Japan and in the world: de-centering the history of science, which explored the emergence of the ‘scientist’ as a social and professional category in Japan, and which investigated the role of transnational networks in the development of Japanese scientists’ careers.

Another area of interest is memory of the Asia-Pacific War in post-war Japan. I am particularly interested in how representations of wartime technologies have been mobilized in constructing and contesting such memories. I convene a final-year undergraduate module, Memory & Symbols in Japan, which explores some of the themes from this research.

I am Director of Research, Innovation and Impact in the School of Modern Languages.

Teaching

Module leaderships

• ML1580 Japan in Context
• ML5364 Memory & Symbols in Japan
• MLT406 Specialised Translation: Scientific and Technical
• MLT416 Specialised Translation:  Politics and Law

Teaching contributions

• ML2201 Introduction to Specialised Translation
• ML2375 Translation as a Profession
• ML1360 Culture, Political Protest and Dissent in the 1960s
• ML1365 Global Narratives of Colonialism, Slavery & their Legacies
• MLT401 Theory of Translation (postgraduate)
• MLT820 Culture, Creativity and Globalization (postgraduate)

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Biography

Before joining Cardiff University in September 2015, I was a lecturer in Japanese studies at the University of Manchester and then a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo. I have also been a D. Kim Foundation Fellow at the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge (UK), and an AHRC Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto (Japan).

I obtained my PhD from the University of Manchester in 2013, and hold an MA from SOAS (London).

I originally trained as an engineer. After completing undergraduate studies, I moved to Tokyo where I worked for an intellectual property translation firm. This experience sparked my interest in history of technical translation – the focus of my doctoral research – and in the development of science and technology in Japan.

Supervisions

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:

• history of translation, particularly in East Asian contexts
• specialised translation (scientific and technical)
• modern Japanese history
• war memory and memorialisation

Current supervision

Qipeng Gao

Research student

Lauren Constance

Research student

Tamayo Hussey

Research student