Professor Emerita of Anthropology
Affiliations
Gastronomy at Boston University
Areas of Expertise
Urban Japan; food studies; travel and tourism; family, elderly and social change in Japan; the cafe and social spaces in Japanese cities
About Professor White
Merry (“Corky”) White is Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, with specialties in Japanese studies, food, and travel. A caterer prior to entering graduate school, she has written two cookbooks, one of which—first published in the mid-1970s—was recently reissued by Princeton University Press.
She currently has the following projects in the works:
Completing a study of Japanese food workers and conducting new research on the Japanese whisky industry, including distillery visits, interviews, and participant observation.
“Don’t Tell the Kinder,” a family history of art and rescue in the exhibition, “Try All What is Possible”: How Emil Singer’s Art Saved Lives, 1936-1942.
Professor White was also recently featured in a WNPR podcast about miniaturization called “Audacious Little Things: Elevation by Reduction”.
Selected Publications
- Book Chapter, “Body, Tool and Technique: Elements of Work in the Japanese Kitchen” in Philosophies of Food, editors, Andrea Borghini and Patrik Engisch, 2021
- Journal Article, “When Yoshu Whiskey becomes Washu Whisky” in Arena (in Japanese) Fall 2020.
- Essay, “Always More to Learn: The Contemporary Coffee Scene in Japan” in Standart, Winter 2019-2020.
- Journal Article, “Assumptions and Distortions: Dore on Equality in Japanese Schooling” in Pacific Affairs, Winter, 2019.
- Review Essay, “Consuming Life in Post-Bubble Japan” in Social Science Japan Journal, Summer 2019
Courses
- CAS AN 344/744 Modern Japanese Society
- CAS AN 308/708 Food in Place: Identity, Location and the Cultures of Taste
- CAS AN 345/745 Moving Experiences: Cultures of Tourism and Travel
- CAS AN 505 Women and Social Change in Asia
- CAS AN 309/709 Boston: An Ethnographic Exploration