The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Darren's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Darren
Associate Professor in World History and Oral History
Dr Aoki's specialisms are in the social and cultural history of modern Japan with a focus on gender and sexuality as it intersects with race and ethnicity. His PhD explored masculinity and same-sex desire in the postwar period in Japan.
More recently, he has turned his attention to issues of identity in the trans-Pacific diaspora of Japanese. Through his research on Nikkei (people of Japanese descent), he has developed methodological and theoretical expertise, including in research, teaching, and community outreach, in oral history.
Supervised Research Degrees
Doctoral Supervision - Current
Ms Elaine Toth University of Lethbridge, Canada Thesis: '(Re)presentations of' Race, Place, and Community: Japanese Canadian Experiences in Southern Alberta, 1950 to the Twentieth Century'
Supervisory Team: Dr Darren J. Aoki, Professor Carly Adams
2020-2024
Doctoral Supervision - Completed
Dr Lyle DeSouza
Birkbeck, University of London
Thesis: 'Cultural Identity in Contemporary Canadian Nikkei Cultural Productions'
First Supervisor: Dr Darren J. Aoki
2011-2015
PhD Examination
Dr Zhen Liu
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Thesis: 'A Liberating Inheritance: Japanese Canadian Literature and Chinese Canadian Literature, 1970-2000'
External Examiner: Dr Darren J. Aoki
2015
University of Plymouth ResM Supervision in History
Mr David Angeles
Topic: 'British Body Modification: A Developing Identity 1987-2005''
ResM Supervisory Team including Dr Darren J. Aoki, Dr Brian Campbell 2020-2021
Ms Emily Hough
Topic: 'The Effect of Settler Colonialism in Hawai'i, 1941-2000''
ResM Supervisory Team including Dr Darren J. Aoki, Dr Simon Topping 2020-2021
Mr Connor Ruse
Topic: 'The Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the Representation of Physical Disability in American Film'
ResM Supervisory Team including Dr Darren J. Aoki, Dr Simon Topping 2020-2021
International Supervision
Ms Darcy Tamayose
University of Lethbridge
Masters of Arts
Topic: 'Redefining Okinawan Diaspora in Southern Alberta: Coal mines, Railroads, Farms, and the Battle of Okinawa'
MA Supervisory Team including Dr Gideon Fujiwara, Dr Carly Adams, Dr Darren J. Aoki 2018-2022
Ms Maddison Allen
University of Lethbridge
Masters of Arts
Proposed Topic: 'Japanese Canadians in the New Canadian [Title TBC]'
MA Supervisory Team including Dr Gideon Fujiwara, Dr Carly Adams, Dr Darren J. Aoki 2018-2022
Teaching
As Lecturer in World History, Dr Aoki’s resume of modules which he leads or on which he teaches include:
UNDERGRADUATE
First Year:
- HIST401: What is History
Second Year:
- HIST505: Middle Kingdoms: Themes in the Early Modern History of Japan, China, and/or Korea
- HIST522: Hearing History, Seeing History: Oral History and Visual Sources***
Third Year:
- HIST607: Japanese History: from Tokugawa to Hirohito
- HIST608: PostwarJapan
***Transnational Oral History Masterclass - digital / webex mini-symposium with Centre for Oral History and Tradition (University of Lethbridge). October 2016, November 2017, May 2018
POST-GRADUATEMasters:
- MAHI722: Key Themes in Modern Japanese History
- MAHI708: Key Themes in the Postwar History of Japan
In approaching World History, a key emphasis of Dr Aoki’s is connection: trans-national and global contact and connects through human movement. Far away cultures ‘over there’ are never just that: they are here.
Areas of expertise for post-graduate supervision:
- Modern Japan and East Asia
- Oral History
- Diaspora, contact zones, and postcolonial history
- Histories of the ‘Everyday’
- Gender and sexuality – especially Trans-Pacific same-sex/queer
- Race and ethnicity
- cultural history, visual culture
Doctoral Supervision - Current
Ms. Elaine Toth University of Lethbridge, Canada Thesis: '(Re)presentations of' Race, Place, and Community: Japanese Canadian Experiences in Southern Alberta, 1950 to the Twentieth Century'Supervisory Team: Dr Darren J. Aoki, Professor Carly Adams
2020-2024
University of Plymouth ResM Supervision in History
Mr. David Angeles
Topic: 'British Body Modification: A Developing Identity 1987-2005''
ResM Supervisory Team including Dr Darren J. Aoki, Dr Brian Campbell 2020-2021
Ms. Emily Hough
Topic: 'The Effect of Settler Colonialism in Hawai'i, 1941-2000''
ResM Supervisory Team including Dr Darren J. Aoki, Dr Simon Topping 2020-2021
Mr. Connor Ruse
Topic: 'The Impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the Representation of Physical Disability in American Film''
ResM Supervisory Team including Dr Darren J. Aoki, Dr Simon Topping 2020-2021
International Supervision - Masters Supervision in History
Ms. Darcy Tamayose
University of Lethbridge
Masters of Arts
Topic: 'Redefining Okinawan Diaspora in Southern Alberta: Coal mines, Railroads, Farms, and the Battle of Okinawa'
MA Supervisory Team including Dr Gideon Fujiwara, Dr Carly Adams, Dr Darren J. Aoki 2018-2022
Ms. Maddison Allen
University of Lethbridge
Masters of Arts
Proposed Topic: 'Japanese Canadians in the New Canadian [Title TBC]'
MA Supervisory Team including Dr Gideon Fujiwara, Dr Carly Adams, Dr Darren J. Aoki 2018-2022
Contact Darren
Room 109, 5 Portland Villas, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
+44 1752 585123
darren.j.aoki@plymouth.ac.uk
