Research Associate

Alfred Haft

Alfred Haft completed his PhD at SOAS with a thesis titled, 'Patterns of Correspondence between the Floating World and the Classical Tradition: A Study of the Terms Mitate, Yatsushi, and Furyu in the Context of Ukiyo-e' (2005). The thesis examines how elements from the East Asian classical tradition were incorporated into Japanese popular culture during the Edo period (1615-1868), considering in particular the different interpretive strategies represented by the three terms mitate, yatsushi and furyu.

In 2001 he assisted the National Museum Cardiff and the Birmingham (UK) Museum and Art Gallery in cataloguing their collections of Japanese prints. His publications include 'Harunobu and the Stylishly Informal: Furyu Yatsushi as Aesthetic Convention', in Impressions 28 (2006-2007); 'Immortalizing the Yoshiwara Courtesan: Mitate in a Surimono Series by Gakutei', in John T. Carpenter, ed., Reading Surimono: The Interplay of Text and Image in Japanese Prints (2008); and two book reviews for The Burlington Magazine (2009).

Over the coming year he expects to contribute to the SOAS Diploma Course on Japanese woodblock prints, along with finalizing revisions to the thesis with an aim toward publication.
+ ah82@soas.ac.uk