Lyle De Souza is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature and the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Kyoto Notre Dame University. His scholarship investigates how Nikkei literature articulates the complexities of diaspora, race, identity and belonging, offering critical insights into the lived experiences of contemporary migrant and minority communities. Informed by an interdisciplinary framework encompassing literary criticism, cultural studies, Japanese studies and sociology, his work effectively bridges traditional academic boundaries. His recent project, ‘Nikkei Global Literature: Diaspora, Race, Identity & Belonging’ (KAKENHI 21K12957), systematically explores these conceptual intersections within global diasporic texts.

News & Events

2025

Conference presentation: ‘(Re)Constructing Race in Transborder Vistas: Intersectionality and Takezawa’s 3R in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go’ at 33rd AALA Forum—'(Asian) Transborder Literature and Intersectionality: Race/Gender/Sexuality’, Nihon University, 20-21 September 2025. Handout ↗️.

Journal article: ‘On the Messiness of Understanding Minoritarian Elliptical Lives’ in AALA Journal Special Feature: 35th Anniversary Forum—'Transborder Asian Literature and (Post-) Colonialism’, No. 30, pp.29-33 (May).

Field trip: With De Souza seminar students to 海外移住と文化の交流センター, Kobe, 16 April, 2025.

Teaching: New course added Literary Criticism, begins April 2025.

Teaching: New course added History of British Literature, begins April 2025.

Journal article: ‘Intermarriage and the Transformation of Canadian Nikkei Identity’ in Bulletin of Kyoto Notre Dame Women's University, No. 55, pp. 17-32 (March)

Research trip: JICA: Japan Overseas Migration Museum, Yokohama, 22 March, 2025. Special Exhibition: San Jose Japantown: The Passion of Immigrants' Spirit and Spirit.

Research trip: Taipei, Taiwan, 16-20 March, 2025. Visits to Japan-related historical sites, Academia Sinica, National Taiwan Museum, National Museum of History (Taiwan).

Research trip: Museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii, Yamaguchi, 11 March, 2025.

Media: ビデオデ・スーザゼミナール：日系ディアスポラ文学、セミナー受講希望者向け。

Research trip: National Diet Library International Library of Children's Literature, National Diet Library, Tokyo, 4 March, 2025.

Research trip: Hawaii Emigration Museum Nihojima Village, Hiroshima, 1 March, 2025.

Research trip: Nagasaki Museum of History & Culture, Nagasaki, 22-23 February, 2025.

Research trip: JICA: Japan Overseas Migration Museum, Yokohama, 20 February, 2025.

Teaching: New course added "History of British Literature", begins April 2025.

Media: Video "De Souza Seminar - Nikkei Diaspora Literature", for prospective seminar students.

Intensive course: ‘Seminar in Global Communication: Nikkei Diaspora Short Stories’, Kobe University, 6 -8 February 2025. [Kobe University students only]

Archive (news & events)

Banner photo: Speaking at the 2022 Public Lecture at Kyoto Notre Dame University.

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