E. Taylor Atkins

Current Research

Continuing my interest in cultural interactions between imperial Japan and colonial Korea, I currently working on two projects: sports nationalism at the 1935 Japan Football Association Emperor's Cup; and religious cosmopolitanism in Northeast Asia.

Major Publications

Books

Articles/Book Chapters

(some available through Huskie Commons)

Teaching Interests

One of the joys of being a teacher is the continual opportunity to learn new material. My principal teaching responsibilities at the lower division are modern World and Asian history classes. At the upper division I regularly teach a three-semester, 300-level sequence in Japanese history and a 400-level course on the Japanese empire. I have also taught thematic courses on Rebel Music, the Korean War, Asian women's history, Knights and Samurai (with Professor Valerie Garver) and graduate seminars on modern colonialism, popular culture, and the First World War. Some of my favorite courses are specifically methodological: Historical Methods, Oral History and Senior Thesis. " Engaged learning" is a regular aspect of my courses: my students have done oral history research for Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and collected interviews about the February 14, 2008, campus shooting, which are deposited in the University Archives; they have presented their work on political protest music at a public conference; the Knights and Samurai classes have researched, written and performed an original play, and developed a public history web-based resource site on knights and samurai; and students in my Historical Methods course worked on a group research project to respond to right-wing denials of Japanese military involvement in the forcible recruitment of " comfort women." I have developed and taught a study abroad course on premodern Japanese history at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities in Hikone, Shiga prefecture, using the local resources of the Lake Biwa region to investigate environmental, political, religious, economic and military history.

Courses Taught

  • HIST 141 Asia Since 1500
  • HIST 171 World History II: Problems in the Human Past
  • HIST 346 Women in Asian History
  • HIST 350 Japan to 1600
  • HIST 351 Japan since 1600
  • HIST 352 Popular Culture in Japan
  • HIST 395 Historical Methods
  • HIST 398 Themes in World History: The Korean War
  • HIST 399 Honors Seminar—Rebel Music
  • HIST 401 Third Clinical Secondary School Experience in History/Social Sciences
  • HIST 444/544 The Japanese Empire
  • HIST 491/591 Special Topics: Knights And Samurai (with Professor Valerie Garver)
  • HIST 494 Oral History
  • HIST 495 Senior Thesis
  • HIST 496 History and Social Science Instruction for Secondary Educators
  • HIST 680 Modern Colonialism
  • HIST 680 The First World War
  • HIST 790 Research Seminar—Popular Culture
  • ILAS 201 Introductory Clinical Experience

Interdisciplinary Affiliations

Affiliated Faculty, NIU World Music Program

Personal website

CV

Contact

atkins

E. Taylor Atkins
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Fulbright Program Advisor

815-753-6699
etatkins@niu.edu
Zulauf 702

Japan and Korea

Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997

Office Hours

Tuesday 2-3:30 p.m.
Thursday 9:30-11 a.m.
Or by appointment
(in person)