Thursday, February 18 06pm
Columbia University
116th St & Broadway, New York, NY 10027
In 1839, a twice-divorced temple daughter from a small village in Echigo ran away to Edo. Although her family was scandalized, she made a life for herself in the capital, working a series of temporary maidservant jobs and ultimately marrying a samurai in the service of a famous city magistrate. This talk places her story of urban migration and service work in a global context. It considers how we might find a place for Japanese women in the history of global early modernity, which tends to emphasize instances of travel and exchange at the expense of the stories of the majority of individuals (particularly women), who stayed within “national” boundaries.
Free admission! For more information visit: http://www.keenecenter.org