Assistant Professor

Japanese history; History of science

Office Hours: Mondays 10:00 - 12:00 or by appointment

Office: 114 Randall Hall

Phone: (434) 924-6044

Fax: (434) 924-7891

Email: fm2uvirginia.edu

Ph.D.: Columbia University (2007)

M.A.: Columbia University (2004)

Laurea Degree: Universita' degli Studi "Ca' Foscari" di Venezia (1998)

Current Research and Interests

I teach classes on the social, cultural, intellectual, political and economic history of Japan from antiquity to the present, but I specialized in early modern Japanese intellectual history and in the history and philosophy of science, and am currently working on a book on the development of natural sciences in Japan between the late sixteenth and early twentieth centuries.
I have also begun working on two new projects: the first reconstructs the intellectual network of professional and amateur scholars and artists specializing in nature study who met in the salon of the wealthy Osaka merchant Kimura Kenkado in the 18th century; the second focuses on the development of a discipline of political economy in early modern Japan and the close relationship of its practitioners with scholars engaged in natural sciences.
While Japan is my main area of expertise and the field of my empirical research, I am also deeply interested in various issues of the history and philosophy of science, such as the debate on realism vs. anti-realism, the emergence of the notion of objectivity, Cantor’s set theory and its impact on contemporary metaphysics, and the historical connections of the so called Scientific Revolution with the development of a capitalist mode of production. I believe that my research on forms of proto-scientific practices in early modern Japan will shade new light on the formation and meaning of modern science in a global context.


Selected Publications

The Names of Nature: A History of Natural Sciences in Japan, 1600-1900 (forthcoming).

“Law and Society: The Story of the 47 Rônin.” ExEAS Teaching Materials & Resources. At: http://www.exeas.org/resources/law-society.html

Gian Carlo Calza. Ukiyo-e. London, New York: Phaidon, 2005. Transliteration and translation of the following poems and colophons: I.14, I.19, I.30, I.65, I.67, II.9, II.18, II.22, II.23, II.36, II,37, II.42, II.61, II.70, II.72, II.76, III.5, III.7, III.21, III.26, III.36, III.37, III.38, III.39, III.40, III.41, III.43, III.44, III.45, III.46, IV.2, IV.3, IV.8, IV.33, IV.51, IV.53, IV.64, V.17, V.18, V.22, V.23, V.27, V.38, V.41, V.65, V.66, V.70, V.91, VI.3, VI.9, VI.11, VI.24, VI.25, VI.27, VI.28, VI.36, VI.47, VI.48, VI.67, VI.78, VI.80.

Federico Marcon & Henry D. Smith II. “A Chûshingura Palimpsest: Young Motoori Norinaga Hears the Story of the Akô Rônin from a Buddhist Priest.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:4 (Winter 2003), pp. 439-465.

Motoori Norinaga. “The Story of the Loyal Samurai of Akô.” Ed. and trans. by Federico Marcon. Monumenta Nipponica 58:4 (Winter 2003), pp. 467-493.

J-F. Soum. Nakae Tôju et Kumazawa Banzan. Review Article by Federico Marcon. Asiatica Veneziana 5 (2000), pp. 218-221.


Selected Conference Papers

“The Polysemy of Nature: The Diversity of Honzôgaku Practices in Early Modern Japan.” Paper to be presented at the Mini-Symposium on History of Medicine in China and Japan (History of Medicine and Health in East Asia Colloquium Series), Stanford University. (November 2008)

“Surveying Nature: Tokugawa Yoshimune and the Sponsorship of Honzôgaku. ” Paper presented at the Fifth Annual Michael P. Malone Memorial Conference “Japan’s Natural Legacies: Bodies and Landscapes Realized, Idealized, and Poisoned,” Montana State University. (October 2008)

“Tokugawa Yoshimune and the Invention of Professional Naturalists.” Paper presented at the Modern Japan Workshop, Amherst College. (April 2008)

“What Nature? The Study of Plants and Animals in Early Modern Japan.” Paper presented at the Early Science Workshop, Harvard University. (April 2008)

“The Spectacle of Nature: The 1762 Exhibition of Medicinal Substances and the Study of Nature in Tokugawa Japan.” Paper presented at the 2008 Association of Asian Studies Annual Meeting, Atlanta. (April 2008)

“Honzôgaku: From Pharmacology to Natural History in Tokugawa Japan.” Paper presented at the Japan Forum, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. (October 2007)

“Intellectual Communities and Practices of Natural History in Tokugawa Japan.” Paper presented at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. (February 2007)

“Memorization versus Memory in Early Modern Japanese Intellectual Discourse.” Paper presented at the 11th International Conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies, Vienna. (September 2005)

“Some Reflections on Comparative History.” Paper presented at the Columbia University Graduate Student Conference on East Asia, New York. (February 2004)

“Confucian Crossfire: The Debate over the ‘Righteous Samurai.’” Paper presented at the symposium “Rethinking Chûshingura: A Symposium on the Making and Unmaking of Japan’s National Legend,” New York. (March 2003)

“Young Motoori Norinaga Hears the Story of the Akô Rônin from a Buddhist Monk.” Paper presented at the 2003 Association of Asian Studies Annual Meeting, New York. (March 2003)

“Edo Monsters and Intellectuals.” Paper presented at the Columbia University Graduate Student Conference on East Asia, New York. (February 2003)

“Monstrous Shinto: Edo Monsters and Norinaga’s Conception of Kami.” Paper presented at the “International Shinto Workshop,” Columbia University, New York. (October 2002)


Selected Awards and Fellowships

Weatherhead Junior Fellowship in Japan Studies, Columbia University. (Sep. 2006 – June 2007)

Japan Foundation Fellowship for Doctoral Candidates, Waseda University. (Nov. 2005 – Dec. 2006)

Summer Research Fellowship, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University. (2002 – 2004)

Columbia University Graduate Fellowship. (2001 – 2006)

Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbushô) Graduate Research Fellowship, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. (Sep. 1999 – Apr. 2001)

Alcantara Teaching Assistantship, Università di Venezia “Ca’ Foscari,” Italy. (Mar. 1999)

Takase Foundation Fellowship for Outstanding Foreign Students in Japan, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. (Oct. 1995 – Sep. 1996)


Selected Affiliations

American Historical Association
Association for Asian Studies
European Association of Japanese Studies
Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies