Skip to Main Content
You are now in the main content area
Shaun Tanaka

Dr. Shaun Tanaka

Assistant Professor
EducationHonors BA, History (Queen’s University); MA, Geography (Queen’s University); PhD, Geography (Queen’s University)
OfficeJOR-324
Phone416-979-5000 x554193

Areas of Expertise: 

food geographies; culinary culture; race, racism, and ethnicity; Japanese Canadian internment and dispersal; mixed race studies  

Research:

My research aims to unpack the constructed identities of the cosmopolitan and the “Oriental Other” contained within Japanese culinary circuits in Toronto, while also examining the connections, constructions, and negotiations concealed within the Japanese restaurants’ cultural landscape. My research seeks to highlight the process of racialization, Whiteness, and the articulation of difference that are interconnected and interdependent on the production and consumption of Japanese food. Through this process, cultural differences are mapped out, allowing Japanese cuisine to become an accessible and readily available to search for identity making and the performance of Otherness. 

In addition to food studies, my research interests include human differentiation, race and racism, critical mixed race theory, and the intergenerational impact of the internment and dispersal of the Japanese Canadian community. 

Courses:

  • SSH 301: Research Design and Qualitative Methods