Biography
Dr. Zelideth María Rivas is a Professor of Japanese in the Department of Modern Languages. Dr. Rivas teaches courses in Japanese language, culture, and literature and interdisciplinary humanities courses for the Honors College, such as Asian Music Videos: Beyond Bollywood. She actively works with students to encourage study abroad with our partner universities and through our consortium with KIIS, Kentucky Institute for International Studies. She has refereed publications in many international journals, such as Comparative Literature Studies, Journal of Intercultural Studies, Journal of Asian American Studies, and Asian American Literary Review. She has co-organized and programmed national and international conferences and advised/curated a mixed-race initiative. Her research focuses on the conception of race through literature written by Asian immigrants in the Americas and the representation of race in Japan in post-World War II literature and film. Her research and expertise have contributed to two new fields that expand Japanese Studies beyond stereotypical representations of a closed, homogeneous society: Mixed Race Studies and Asians in the Americas. She has received fellowships and awards from the Ford Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, West Virginia Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has been at Marshall since 2012 and serves as the Hedrick Teaching Fellow at the Center for Teaching and Learning.