Assistant Professor at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
She explores how the overwhelming and dizzying nature of “real” might be understood or expressed through words and images, from an anthropological perspective. Her primary field site is Benin in West Africa, where she focuses on themes such as witchcraft, sorcery, Christianity, and religious healing. In addition to conventional text- and theory-based approaches, she experiments with various methods including creative writing, ethnographic filmmaking, installation and workshop.
Her major monograph, The Devil of the Gulf of Guinea: An Ethnography of Affect and Possession in Christian New Religious Movements (Sekai Shisosha, 2023), was awarded the 51st Shibusawa Award, the 36th Early Career Award of the Japan Association for African Studies, and the 19th Award of the International Institute for the Study of Religion.
Her notable article, “The Devil Listens: Imagination and Emotion in Possession at a Pentecostal-Charismatic Church in Southern Benin” (Japanese Journal of Cultural Anthropology, Vol. 86, No. 4, 2022), received the 18th Early Career Award of the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology.
Her ethnographic film Tohos (2018, 28 min) received a Special Jury Prize in the Short Film Section at the 1st Tokyo Documentary Film Festival.