David Howell, professor of Japanese history at the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, will be speaking Wednesday, Jan. 19, at noon in 238 Herald R. Clark Building at Brigham Young University.
Howell’s lecture is titled “Mama, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Samurai.” The lecture is hosted by the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.
He specializes in the social history of Japan from the 17th century through the 19th century. His current research is a study of the fear of social disorder and foreign invasion in the hinterland of Edo (modern Tokyo) in the decades leading up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Howell grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, and following graduation from the University of Hawaii at Hilo, studied at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. He attended Princeton University, where he received a doctorate in history. Before joining the Harvard faculty this year, he taught at Princeton University and the University of Texas.
The lecture will be archived at kennedy.byu.edu/archive. For more information, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652 or lee_simons@byu.edu.
Writer: Mel Gardner
