Dr. Kimberly Hassel

Honored to be moderating this important conversation. Please join us over Zoom tonight at 7 PM (9 AM JST)!

Thrilled to be featured in the January 2026 issue of @thenation.com with my colleague David Landes! I argue “no” & draw attention to how the loneliness crisis is a symptom of late-stage capitalism & a society unable to support its youth. I also share insights on digital & youth culture in Japan. 📱

I Don’t Want a Seat at Every Table That Costs Me My Nervous System On Discernment, Power, and What Access Is Actually Asking of Us

“But that praise usually masks the reality that we’re absorbing stress the system refuses to hold. We become the buffer, the translator, the proof of concept, the person who makes things work without ever being asked what it costs us.” open.substack.com/pub/blckgirl...

Yayyy!! HUGE congrats! Have been recommending your book to my students and to the members of our Critical Digital Asia reading group here at Duke! 🤓

Critical Data Center Studies Critical Data Center Studies Books Amoore, Louise. 2020. Ethics Algorithms and the Attributes of Ourselves and Others Duke https://www.dukeupress.edu/cloud-ethics Bedir, M; Groen. L; Kuijpers. M; Sa...

Interested in data centers? In critical data center studies?

Here's an open biblio -- anyone can add or borrow from it. Please do add anything that's missing. Enjoy!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Professor Kimberly Hassel posing in front of a banner that says: “Next Chapters: Conversations with East Asian Studies Alumni.” She is pointing to her own image on the banner.

Photograph of a cafe table with an open laptop, cookie, iced coffee, and water bottle. The laptop has a document with the tentative name of Hassel’s book: “Intimate Solitudes and Solidarities: Digital Sociality and Pandemic Times in Japan.”

Returned to my PhD alma mater to speak with alumni, faculty, and current Princeton EAS PhD students about career pathways in academia! And in a full circle moment, I finished the first full draft of my book manuscript (!!) in the same cafe where I wrote my dissertation. 🥳 Excited for next steps!!

AAS 2025 Election Nominees and Issues - Association for Asian Studies We are pleased to announce the slate of candidates for the fall 2025 AAS elections. The online ballot will open on September 16, and all current AAS Members will receive an email with instructions for...

You can read my nominee statement here: www.asianstudies.org/aas-2025-ele...

I’m on the ballot for the Diversity and Equity Committee! As an Afro-Latina scholar in Asian Studies, advocacy for scholars of underrepresented identities has been central to my service. If elected, I will work with AAS in aiding these scholars to thrive—not just survive—in the field.

Dream sale from my dream press!

This looks AMAZING!! HUGE congratulations! ✨ Can't wait to read! I hope that you're celebrating and resting after this huge milestone!

Iconic

Hey folks, I was lucky enough to be invited onto Ashley ML Guajardo (Brown)'s stream/podcast, The Work Left Behind. If you're free Thursday night at 9 pm EST, feel free to stop by!

Twitch twitch.tv/professor_ashley
YouTube www.youtube.com/@TheResearch...
Spotify open.spotify.com/show/6pATELL...

Year 5 of the Black Feminist Theory Summer Institute: Applications are open, more info on our website. Please spread the word.

A poster for the symposium "Humanistic Approaches to the Study of Premodern Japanese Law" Sept 26-27, 2025, UCLA. It features horizontal excerpts of a Japanese painting showing three men in kimono of various colors sitting on the left, some pine trees and clouds in the middle, and a man kneeling reading from a piece of paper on the right.

Japan Past & Present is pleased to announce that online registration is now open for Japan Past & Present’s symposium, "Humanistic Approaches to the Study of Premodern Japanese Law," to be held at UCLA with virtual streaming from September 26–27, 2025. ⚖️ japanpastandpresent.org/en/jpp-event...

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

First day (night) has been worth staying up until almost 4 AM
@kimberly-hassel.bsky.social @paularcurtis.bsky.social
Great stuff, provocative discussion. And Prof. Schmidt-Hori taking on internet trolls (and winning). Good stuff!!

Nate!! Thanks SO much for tuning in! Hope all is well with you! ✨

omg??? @kimberly-hassel.bsky.social otaku hot girls rise up!!!

RIGHT??? I SCREAMED when I saw!! This is definitely getting added to my paper. 🔥 #otakuhotgirlstudies

Check this out online or in person! On Friday I'll be presenting on teaching Japanese Studies in Japanese universities alongside Junxiao Leng and Alexandra Hambleton.

My presentation is titled: “From Queens to Tokyo: Unraveling Japanese Studies as a Dominican American Anthropologist and Scholar-Activist.” I’ll be sharing my academic journey, including the opportunities and obstacles that I’ve experienced in Japan Studies. I’ll also talk about Japan & the DR. 🇯🇵🇩🇴

Excited to be back in Tokyo to present at this inaugural symposium! Please drop by/tune into our panel on 05/29: “Whose Japan Is It Anyway?: Navigating the Competing Desires and Crossed Thresholds as Japan Studies Scholars and More.” I’ll be presenting with Junnan Chen and Sachi Schmidt-Hori! ✨

政治経済学部教員の公募について | 明治大学 明治大学のオフィシャルサイトです。大学案内、受験生向けの入学案内、在学生向けコンテンツ、また一般の方向けの公開講座情報など、明治大学に関する情報をご覧頂けます。

Come work with me! My dept. at Meiji U. has an opening for a full-time, permanent faculty position (専任). Candidate must have native or near-native fluency in Japanese and be able to teach in both Japanese and English. App deadline: July 4. More info: (#7 on list): www.meiji.ac.jp/seikei/koubo...

Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2025 A platform for critical discussions about gender and Japanese animation, fashion, video games, literature and digital cultures

Just listened to an *incredible* keynote today by Dr. @kimberly-hassel.bsky.social, titled “Mediating Afro-Japanese Encounters from Yasuke to Megan Thee Stallion.” Dr. Hassel’s neologism #OtakuHotGirlStudies promises some exciting transnational feminist scholarship! 🤩 👏🏽

Thanks so much for attending and for being in conversation with me! I really appreciate your kind words (including in the chat during the keynote!). I loved your presentation and look forward to learning more about your work (and meeting up in Tokyo)!!

Great keynote and so much more going on here ✨💖

Thank you so much for attending! So glad that you enjoyed the keynote!

I'm sitting in on this for the Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2025 and it's fascinatingly wonderful! You should follow Kimberly! Especially if you're interested in Black focused feminist perspectives on Japanese media!💯🙌🏼

Thank you SO much for attending and for boosting my work!! So glad that you liked the keynote!

"can the otaku hot girl speak?" - @kimberly-hassel.bsky.social phewww i need that book/paper *now*