I am Lecturer in Sociology at the School of Social Science, Education, and Social Work.
I joined Queen’s in 2021. I am also a Fellow of the Mitchell Institute (Legacy Thematic Group). Previously, I was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge (2017-21) and a Research Fellow in Sociology at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge (2018-21). I hold a PhD in Sociology (2017) from the University of Cambridge.
My research straddles multiple areas including cultural sociology, memory studies, social theory, and sociology of religion.
I’m interested in the competitive processes surrounding collective memory, commemoration of mass violence, and public representations of the past. For the past few years, I have been researching atrocity denial by the Japanese far-right, and I have a developing research project on Myanmar’s denial of the Rohingya Genocide.
My first academic monograph titled Aum Shinrikyo and religious terrorism in Japanese collective memory was published by Oxford University Press in 2022 (British Academy Monographs Series). This book offers a detailed and multi-perspectival analysis of the long-term social, political, and cultural consequences of Aum Shinrikyō’s violent crimes and terrorist attacks that culminated in the deadly assault on the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995. Described as ‘a definitive account of a famous modern Japanese tragedy’, it explores how the Aum Affair developed as a ‘cultural trauma’ in Japanese collective memory following the Tokyo attack. Interrogating an array of sources including mass media reports and interviews with victims and ex-members, it reveals the multiple clashing narratives over the causes of Aum’s violence, the efficacy of ‘brainwashing’ and ‘mind control’, and whether capital punishment is justified. It shows that although cultural trauma construction requires the use of moral binaries such as ‘good vs. evil’, ‘pure vs. impure’, and ‘sacred vs. profane’, the entrenchment of such binary codes in commemorative processes can ultimately hinder social repair and reconciliation. The book has been reviewed in journals including Social Forces and Nova Religio.
I also have peer-reviewed publications in social theory, including work on ‘existence theory’ (with Patrick Baert and Marcus Morgan).
I originally started my research in sociology of religion and I maintain an active interest in topics including new religious movements, Japanese religions, and religious nationalism.
My publications have appeared in peer-reviewed journals including The British Journal of Sociology, Theory and Society, American Journal of Cultural Sociology, Memory Studies, Journal of Classical Sociology, and International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society.
I am currently a Co-Editor of Cultural Sociology, and Editorial Board Member for the International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society.
