Sasakawa Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Visual Media
Ulrich Heinze
Ulrich Heinze is the Sasakawa Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Visual Media. His position is jointly shared with the Faculty of Humanities at the University of East Anglia. He is a sociologist specialising in Japanese media studies, intercultural communication and visual arts. He received his PhD from Free University of Berlin in 1991 and then worked as a journalist and broadcasting editor at North German Radio (NDR) in Hamburg. From 1999 to 2005, he was teaching and doing research as a postdoctorate fellow and assistant professor at the University of Tokyo. In 2004, he was awarded the venia legendi (habilitatio) in Sociology from the University of Freiburg.
Current Research
Japan is one of the most 'medialised' societies in the world. In the 1960s the renowned French semiologist Roland Barthes called Japan the 'Empire of Signs' and the importance of communication and media in Japan and its global impact is as strong as ever. Japan is home of the walkman and the play station, of manga and pachinko, and also has a huge 'soft industry' exporting anime and visual J-pop to Western markets. The research strand in contemporary Japanese Studies at the Sainsbury Institute concentrates on media history and on intercultural comparisons of media genres and consumption patterns. Ongoing explorations target on the depiction of European history in manga and the design of Japanese TV advertising in the 1960s. With research partners from Europe, Kyoto and Tokyo, a 'Japanese Media Studies' research workshop is held every two years at the Sainsbury Institute in Norwich.
Contact
64 The Close, Norwich NR1 4DH , United Kingdom
E: u.heinze@sainsbury-institute.org
T: +44 (0)1603-597506
F: +44 (0)1603-625011