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 School of Film and Television Studies 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 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 the University of Tokyo. In 2004, he was awarded the venia legendi (habilitatio) in Sociology from the University of Freiburg.
Current Research
Ulrich Heinze's research includes Japanese popular culture, manga, television and film, as well as Japanese urbanism, psyche, body concepts and contextualism. The main research fields are TV and radio ratings, the ageing audience in Japan and Europe, advertisement, successful manga writers and narratives (Naoki Urasawa, Jiro Taniguchi, Motoro Mase) as well as special personalities of the Japanese public sphere (Ishihara Shintaro and Fujiwara Norika). Another focus is the access of Talcott Parsons' American system theory to Japanese (and German) society and culture. He also translated two essays of the media theorist Shunya Yoshimi on the Global City Tokyo.
Contact
Address: 64, The Close, Norwich NR1 4DH , United Kingdom
Email: u.heinze@sainsbury-institute.org
Telephone: +44 (0)1603-624349
Fax: +44 (0)1603-625011
Authored Books
Media Theory Update: Technical Acceleration and Communicative Action (Forthcoming 2012).
Writing Systems in the Globalized Economy (2006) (German title: Hautkontakt der Schriftsysteme) Bielefeld: Transcript. ISBN 3-89942-513-8.
Japanese Breaking Edges. Sociological Aspects of Contemporary Japanese Society (2006) (German title: Japanische Bruchkanten Konturen der kankei nai-Kultur). Muenster: Lit-Verlag. ISBN 3-8258-9652-8.
Edited Journal
'Rain Signs: Pathways to Japan' (2002) (German title: 'Regenzeichen: Spuren nach Japan'). Kulturrevolution 44/2002, Essen. Essays on the history of soccer in China, the semiotics of the Japanese capital, the history of the German School in Kobe during WWII and the Tokaido Renaissance Project in Kyoto and Tokyo.
Articles (selection)
'Attitudes Towards Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis: A German and Japanese Comparison'. In: New Genetics and Society, Vol. 26, No. 1, April 2007, 1-27 (with Kerstin Wuestner).
'kirisutokyo no shizenkan' ('The Concept of Nature in Christian Faith'). In: Kazuo Mizoguchi (ed.): kankyo to shukyo (Environment and Religion), Tokyo 2006, 127-142.
'doitsu kankyosenshinkoku' ('Germany as a Pioneer in Environmental Protection'). In: ekobumuwo tou: todaiseito manabu kankyogaku (Questioning the Eco-Boom: Learning Environmental Studies with the Students at the University of Tokyo). Gakugeishuppansha: Tokyo 2005, 139-157.
'doitsude rajioha donoyoni kikarete irunoka. Bunkani yotte chigau kikikata, choshushukan ni tsuite' ('How do the Germans Listen to the Radio? Some Cultural Specifications'). In: European Studies, Vol. II, Tokyo 2003, 65-74.
'The Japanese Displacement: Manga, Fun Parks and Video Games in the Empire of Signs'. In: Aesthetik und Kommunikation 115, Berlin, 101-106. Translations
'Yoshimi, Shunya: Der semiotische Raum des modernen Tokyo' ('The Semiotic Space of Modern Tokyo'). Original text: gendaitoshi no imikukan, from mediajidai no bunkashakaigaku (Cultural Sociology in the Media Age), Tokyo 1994, 188-217. Translation published in: Kulturrevolution 44/2002, Essen, 96-106.
'Yoshimi, Shunya: Das Paradox der Global City' ('The Paradox of the Global City'). Original text: gurobaru shiti no gyakusetsu, from gurobaruka no enkinho (Perspectives of Globalization) by Shunya Yoshimi und Sang-Jun Kang, Tokyo 2001, 87-117. Translation published in: Japanische Bruchkanten: Konturen der kankei nai-Kultur (Sociological Aspects of Contemporary Japanese Society), Muenster 2006, 107-129.