Sarah Thal
Associate Professor

eMail: thal@wisc.edu
Phone: (608)265-6033
Office: 4118 Mosse Humanities
Mailbox: 4035 Mosse Humanities

Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:30 - 3:30 or by appointment

Education: PhD: Columbia University; MA: Columbia University; BA: SOAS, University of London; BSc: Georgetown

Bio Sketch:

I am an historian of pre-twentieth-century Japan with special interests in the political and cultural transformations of the nineteenth century and the development of Shinto from the eighth century to the present. My current research focuses on social networks tied to the Japanese aristocracy in the years surrounding the Meiji coup of 1868.

Selected Publications:

• Rearranging the Landscape of the Gods: The Politics of a Pilgrimage Site in Japan, 1573-1912 (University of Chicago Press, 2005).
• “Redefining the Gods: Politics and Survival in the Creation of Modern Kami,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, vol. 29, nos. 3-4 (Fall 2002): 379-404.
  

Courses Taught:

Lecture Courses:

• History 104 - Introduction to East Asian History: Japan
• History 454 - Age of the Samurai

Undergraduate Seminars:

• History 200 - Historical Studies - Topics: "Film, Literature and the Japanese Past"
• History 600 - Advanced Seminar in History - Topics: "Religion and Politics in Japan"

Graduate Courses:

• History 725 - Pro-seminar in Modern East Asian History