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Mr Marco Di Francesco

Mr Marco Di Francesco

  • Position: Teaching Fellow in East Asian Studies
  • Areas of expertise: Japanese Studies; Anthropology; Ethnographic Methods; East Asian Studies; Area Studies; Rakugo; Performing Arts; Satire; Tradition and Modernity; Community Resilience, Gender, Class, Media
  • Email: M.DiFrancesco@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 1.24a Michael Sadler Building

Profile

I am an anthropologist of Japan working on contemporary Japanese society. My doctoral dissertation investigates how the art world of rakugo, a Japanese form of oral storytelling, experienced a significant revival in 21st Century Japan. Through the case of rakugo, I explore ideas of tradition and modernity, community resilience, gender, class, and political satire. While I work towards completion of my degree as a DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, St Antony’s College, I have taken on a role as a Teaching Fellow in East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds. I am a Clarendon Scholar, and my research has been supported by St Antony’s College and by the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies. During my ethnographic fieldwork in Tokyo, I was a visiting researcher at Sophia University.

I hold an MSc in Japanese Studies from Oxford and a BA in East Asian Studies from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Student education

At Leeds, I teach Japanese Language, Culture and Society, as well as broader courses with a transnational focus. I supervise Undergraduate and MA level final year projects in East Asian Studies and Intercultural Studies.