Bio

My research examines the transformation of courtly literary and artistic practices into broader cultural forces across diverse social spaces.

My first book in English, Court Poetry and the Culture of Learning in Japan (Harvard Asia Center, 2025), traces the evolution of waka poetry as it embraced a wider base of practitioners. Initially the purview of the aristocracy, waka gradually engaged military and priestly elites, then lower-ranking monks and warriors, and eventually urban merchants. As waka became a shared cultural language, its form and content were reshaped to reflect new social priorities. When its significance waned amid the cultural reforms of the 19th century, the tea ceremony evolved to assume its role as a gateway into traditional culture.

My second project, Meet the People Who Built Japan: The Culture of Work in Early Medieval Japanese Literature, explores discourses on technology, community, and affect in connection to the lives of working people. It examines poems in which aristocrats imagine themselves as workers, illustrated tales that bring crafting communities to life, and long-form narratives that reframe violence as a professional pursuit.

My broader interests include the tea ceremony, psychoanalysis, design, and critical making.

I welcome proposals on classical, medieval, and early modern literature and culture through the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, as well as transdisciplinary projects through the Program in Modern Thought and Literature.

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Investigador, traductor y docente en literatura japonesa. Máster en estudios japoneses por la Escuela de Estudios Orientales y Africanos (Universidad de Londres) y en literatura clásica japonesa por la Universidad de Waseda, y doctor en literatura japonesa por la Universidad de Columbia. También egresado del programa del arte del té Urasenke Midorikai (Kioto).

Docente en las universidades de Columbia, del Estado de Florida y, actualmente, de Stanford. Miembro del comité académico del Instituto Superior de Estudios Japoneses de Buenos Aires.

Cada año, su seminario de literatura japonesa premoderna ofrece a los estudiantes de maestría y de doctorado entrenamiento en japonés clásico, sino-japonés y paleografía. Cursos para estudiantes de grado incluyen Belleza y Renunciamiento (sobre literatura clásica, con docentes de Medio Oriente, Europa e India), Objetos Funcionales Japoneses (tecnología y estética, con docentes de Ingeniería Mecánica y Física), y La Cultura del Té en Japón.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures

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

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:

2024-25 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • El estatuto del sujeto en el Japón clásico Nadie Duerma Publicación Digital de Psicoanálisis Stilerman, A. 2014; 4 (October)