Michael Hayata

Michael Hayata is a second year graduate student in the History Department with a focus on modern East Asia. His research interests include everyday cultural practices within the Ainu community, the indigenous people of northern Japan, during the first half of the twentieth century. He is currently examining how some Ainu writers deployed indigenous knowledge to claim cultural and environmental autonomy, as well as create new political trajectories. With the Scott Kloeck-Jenson Fellowship, Michael plans to pursue pre-dissertation research at the University of Hokkaido in Sapporo, Japan. He will explore the various archives within the city, and visit some of the museums and community centers around the region. In anticipation of writing a history of the Ainu people, Michael ultimately hopes to make their historical memory and vision of social justice legible to a wider audience.