Gregory M. Pflugfelder
Research Interest
Early modern and modern Japanese history; gender and sexuality studies
Professor Pflugfelder’s current work engages the construction of masculinities, the history of the body, and representations of monstrosity. He teaches courses on the cultural history of monsters, Japan’s modern experience as seen through visual materials, and the longer historical trajectory of Japanese culture.
His books include JAPANimals: History and Culture in Japan’s Animal Life, coedited with Brett L. Walker (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, 2005); Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950 (University of California Press, 1999); and Politics and the Kitchen (in Japanese, Domesu, 1986). His latest writing project is “Growing Up with Godzilla: A Global History in Pictures.”
Professor Pflugfelder received his BA from Harvard (1981), his MA from Waseda (1984), and his PhD from Stanford (1996).
He began teaching at Columbia in 1996.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS
Gregory M. Pflugfelder and Brett L. Walker, editors, JAPANimals: History and Culture in Japan’s Animal Life (Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies, 2005).
Gregory M. Pflugfelder, Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600-1950 (University of California Press, 1999).
NEWS
WEAI professor Gregory Pflugfelder’s course “A Cultural History of Japanese Monsters” is named the Number One Coolest College Class in the U.S. by Zipcar. August 25, 2015
WEAI professor Gregory M. Pflugfelder has launched an interactive educational resource about the history of the Japanese monster movie: “Growing Up With Godzilla.” April 29, 2015