Bio

I study premodern Japan through its manuscripts, objects, and languages.

I advocate for a “maker mindset” in the humanities. My research is just as much about building and doing as about reading and writing. My courses involve hands-on experiences and are often co-taught with colleagues in Classics, English, Religion, History, Mechanical Engineering, or Physics.

My first book, Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan (Harvard, 2026), charts the transformation of the poetry of the imperial court into a shared language for military and priestly elites, lower-ranking warriors, and eventually urban merchants.

My second project, Meet the People Who Built Japan, investigates the emergence of a “culture of work” in early medieval manuscripts and artifacts.

I welcome inquiries from students interested in classical through early modern Japanese literature through the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, as well as those pursuing transdisciplinary work through the program in Modern Thought and Literature, and grad makers in the humanities through Making and Creative Praxis.

More broadly, I am interested in how we engage with the world through our senses and skills, exploring fields such as the tea ceremony, psychoanalysis, woodworking, sailing, olfactory cultures, technology, and design.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures

Administrative Appointments

  • Faculty Coordinator, East Asian Humanities Workshop (2025 - 2026)

Honors & Awards

  • Undergraduate Teaching Prize, Phi Beta Kappa (2023)

Professional Education

  • PhD, Columbia University, Japanese literature (2015)
  • MA, Waseda University, Japanese literature (2012)
  • Midorikai, Urasenke Konnichian, Japanese Tea Ceremony (2007)
  • MA, SOAS, University of London, Japanese studies (2006)
  • Licenciatura, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Psychology/Psychoanalysis (2002)
  • Technical degree, ORT, Industrial Design (1996)

Contact

  • Academic
    stilerman@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures Position: Asst Professor

Additional Info

Links

Research Interests

  • Higher Education
  • History of Education
  • Lifelong Learning
  • Literacy and Language
  • Psychology
  • Research Methods
  • Social and Emotional Learning
  • Teachers and Teaching
  • Technology and Education

Projects

  • Supeingo shin’yaku genji monogatari wo kiku - juyō hon’yaku pafōmansu, Waseda University (7/2013)

    Workshop and spoken word performance of The Tale of Genji.

    Location

    Tokyo, Japan

    Collaborators

    • Hidenori Jinno, Professor, Japanese Literature, Waseda University
    • Ana Recalde, Actress/Performer, Independent
    • Norio Shimizu, Professor, Spanish literature, Waseda University
  • The Tea Ceremony of Japan and the Mary Griggs Burke Collection at MIA, Minneapolis Institute of Art (5/2017)

    Hands-on workshop for donors, docents, students, and staff.

    Location

    Minneapolis, MN

    Collaborators

    • Aaron Rio, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art
    • Urasenke Minnesota, Regional Branch, Urasenke Konnichian (Kyoto)
  • First International Conference Japón Interculturas, Universidad de La Plata and Columbia University (7/2014)

    International academic conference open to scholarship in Japanese, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

    Location

    La Plata, Buenos Aires

    Collaborators

    • Paula Hoyos Hattori, Docente e Investigadora de Historia de Asia, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento
  • 次代の中核研究者育成プログラム, Waseda University (5/8/2019 - 5/20/2019)

    Next-generation Core Researcher Development

    Location

    Waseda University

    Collaborators

    • Hirokazu Toeda, Professor, School of Letters, Arts and Sciences (Waseda University)
  • Material Pedagogies for East Asian Studies, Stanford University

    MPEAS (pronounced em-pēs) is a working group of scholars exploring the power of making for research and teaching on East Asia.

    We seek knowledge at the intersection of material-specific affordances, region-specific cultural practices, and discipline-specific learning goals. We then turn our findings into courses, assignments, and experiences that leverage design thinking, fabrication technology, and consumption habits.

    MPEAS is open to faculty and students at all levels. The group is run by faculty and graduate students in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and is hosted by the Product Realization Lab at Stanford University.

    We draw inspiration from sources such as historical manuscripts and technical manuals, objects in the collection of the Cantor Arts Center, and traditional techniques and skills.

    In AY23/24 our focus is on the material culture of food consumption in early modern Japan. Click here for the general schedule of activities.

    Location

    Stanford, CA

    For More Information:

2025-26 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan Harvard East Asian Monographs Stilerman, A. Harvard University Press (Asia Center). 2026; 485
  • The Portrayal of Work in Early Medieval Illustrated Scrolls Japan Review Stilerman, A. 2026; forthcoming
  • Go Make Tea! (ten cha ko): Assignment Design for Material Literacy and Critical Making. Teaching Tea: History, Practice, Art Stilerman, A. 2025
  • Material Heuristics in the Humanities: My Year Between the Center and the Lab Stanford Humanities Review Stilerman, A. 2025; 2: 165-72
  • Chanoyu hyakushu. Los cien poemas del arte del té Colección Clásicos Satori Stilerman, A. Satori. 2022
  • Cultural Knowledge and Professional Training in the Poetic Treatises of Late Heian Japan MONUMENTA NIPPONICA Stilerman, A. 2017; 72 (2): 153–87

    View details for Web of Science ID 000427449900001

  • Poema a tres voces de Minase Renga = 水無瀬三吟百韻 = Minase sangin hyakuin Stilerman, A. Sexto Piso. 2016
  • In the age of AI, we should still teach students to make things: Skills-based knowledge need not be considered the opposite of an intellectual life Stilerman, A. Financial Times. 2025
  • La poesía waka como práctica social en los períodos Heian y Kamakura Nuevas aproximaciones a la literatura japonesa Stilerman, A. edited by Pitarch Fernández, P. Bellaterra. 2020: 71–90
  • La interpretación de la poesía tradicional japonesa: texto, contexto e intertexto Mirai Nihon Kenkyū Kiyō Stilerman, A. 2018; 2 (0): 153-174

    View details for DOI 10.5209/MIRA.60502

  • El archipiélago : ensayos para una historia cultural de Japón edited by Stilerman, A., Hoyos Hattori, P. Lomo. 2018
  • How to Do Things with Poems: A Reassessment of The Wondrous Powers of Waka Performance and Japanese Literature Stilerman, A. Association for Japanese Literary Studies. 2015: 112–120
  • El estatuto del sujeto en el Japón clásico Nadie Duerma Publicación Digital de Psicoanálisis Stilerman, A. 2014; 4 (October)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2976-988X