Marco ZAPPA

CURRENT POSITION

Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies (tenure-track) (2022-25)

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

Critical International Relations Theory; Contemporary Japanese politics; Japan-PRC relations; Japan-Southeast Asia relations; Environmental History.

EDUCATION  

• 2013-17 Ph.D. in Asian & African Studies (Focus on East Asian International Relations and Development). Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy (From 2014, joint supervision agreement with Humboldt Universität zu Berlin - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften). 
• Dissertation: Japan as “Thought Leader”: The Japanese Grant Scholarship for Human Resource Development and its implications in transitional economies in Southeast Asia. Supervisors: Boike Rehbein (HU), Andrea Revelant (Ca' Foscari)
• 2015 Sophia University, Global Studies Department, Tokyo, Japan (Exchange student & researcher, 8 months).
• 2012 MA in East Asian Languages and Economic and Legal Institutions Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Department of Asian & North African Studies, Venice, Italy.
• 2009 BA in Languages and Cultures of Asia & Africa (Japanese & English) University of Turin, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Turin, Italy.

ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES

Member of the Master's Program in Language, Economies and Insitutions of Asia and North Africa Teachers' Board
Member of the Ca' Foscari International College Teachers' Board. Coordinator of the minor course in Global Asian Studies.
Overseas Program BA exchange student coordinator.
Scientific committee member (History and Society sub-series, Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari).

INTERNATIONAL AND COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

• 2021
• RISAP/TIFO “Developing the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership: An analysis of European Union members states’ relations with Japan” (RISAP, Bucharest)
• Sinophone Borderlands (Palacky University Olomouc (UPOL) – core research team Richard Turcsanyi, Kristina Kironska, Alfred Gerstl and Jiri Cenek) - Asian Survey Project
• 2020
• “Seed Program for Korean Studies: East and West in Korean Studies” (Academy of Korean Studies - Korean Studies Promotion Service pr n. AKS-2020-INC-2230010)

INVITED TALKS

• 2022
  • "The art of (not) being a nuclear power. Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s legacy in contemporary Japan", AIRJTalk, Association of Italian Researchers in Japan, 29 November 2022 (online).
  • "Una relazione "inusuale": il Giappone di fronte all'ascesa cinese, dal Trattato di pace e amicizia al governo Kishida (An unusual relation: Japan in the face of China's rise, from the Peace and Friendship Treaty to the Kishida cabinet)", Seminari sull'Asia e il Medio Oriente, Dipartimento di Studi internazionali, giuridici, e storico-politici, Università degli Studi di Milano "Statale", 22 June 2022.
  • “Still a «dagger pointed at the heart»? Japan in the face of a global «Korea»: opportunities and challenges in the 21st century”. Perspectives on Japan-South Korea Relations: History, Security, and Cooperation Issues (Workshop), University of Turin, 30 May 2022.
  • “Lo stato, il capitale, l’ambiente: un’economia politica delle zone economiche speciali in Sud-est asiatico continentale (The state, capital and the environment: The political economy of special economic zones in mainland southeast Asia)". Course in Sociology of East Asia, “Alma Mater Studiorum” University of Bologna, 11 March 2022.
• 2021
  
  • “With great development comes great responsibility: Japan's (un)changing international role up to the Abe era”, International Relations of East Asia webinar series (webinar), Università degli Studi di Milano “Statale”, 24 May 2021.
• 2020:
• “At the Margin of the (New) Silk Road: Japan's Imageries, Identities and Party Activism along the Eurasian connections”, Global Japan: History, Politics & Society SAA Seminar Series, University of Pavia, 10 December 2020.
• "Il Giappone nel sistema internazionale dalla fine della Guerra Fredda all’era Abe", Corso in Sociologia dei Paesi Asiatici Laurea Triennale in Lingue Culture e Mercati dell’Asia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 19 October 2020.

CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

• 2022:
  • "Dall'impero alla "rivoluzione verde": ecosistemi, uso del suolo e scienza tra Giappone Shōwa e Asia sudorientale (From the Green Empire to the green revolution. Ecosystems, use of soil and science in Shōwa Japan and Southeast Asia)", Italian Association for Japanese Studies (AISTUGIA) 2022 Symposium, University of Bologna, 15-17 September 2022.
    "Incrementare il prestigio, costruire la sicurezza: immigrazione selettiva e internazionalizzazione dell’istruzione universitaria giapponese tra anni Ottanta e Duemila". Italian Society of International History, University of Siena, 7-9 July 2022. 
  • “A 'Digital Garden City Nation'? Abstract space designing and state’s withdrawal from rural areas as seen in Japan’s smart city programs. 16th Conference of the Nordic Association for the Study of Contemporary Japanese Society (NAJS), University of Oslo, 12-13 May 2022.
• 2021: 
• “The state, capital and the environment: The political economy of special economic zones in mainland southeast Asia”. 15th Annual Conference on Asian Studies ‘Continuity and Change, Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacky University Olomouc (online), 26-27 November 2021.
• Adding Value(s) to Japan’s Geoeconomics Strategy. Panel presentation, Kyoto Peace Conference 2021, 30 October 2021.
• “Gambling on the Little Dragon? EU-Japan convergences in Vietnam” The Europe-Japan struggle to preserve a rules-based international order (webinar), EU-Asia Project at the Global Governance Programme, European University Institute, 17 June 2021
• “Il Giappone nel sistema internazionale” Giappone e Sudest asiatico: Dipendenza reciproca e strategie di lungo termine nella regione dell'Indo-Pacifico (convegno online), Università degli Studi di Torino-Torino World Affairs Institute (T.wai), 4 June 2021
• 2020:
• Pleasing the “Bubble”: Abe Shinzō’s Strategical Self-exhibition on Facebook” The Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology (CALA) 2020, The Universiti Putra Malaysia/SOAS University of London, Bintulu, Sarawak Malaysia, 5-8 February 2020.
• 2019:
• Breaking Abe’s Political and Communication Hegemony: The Case of the Rikken Minshutō at the October 2017 Japanese General Elections 12th Annual NNC Conference & PhD Course: Digital Asia – Cultural, Socio-Economic, and Political Transformations, Lund, Sweden, 2-4 December 2019.
• Un nuovo ordine cinese? La cooperazione sinogiapponese nell’epoca di Abe e Xi (A new Chinese order? Sino-Japanese cooperation in the Abe-Xi Era). Italian Association for Japanese Studies (AISTUGIA) 2019 Symposium, University of Naples "Orientale", 26-28 September 2019.
• The socialization of Japanese politics: Harnessing the power of social media in the Abe era, XV NAJS Conference "Naming an Era", CEAS, University of Turku 23-24 May 2019. 
• The 'Smartification of Asian cities': A First Assessment of the Japanese Government Effort to Export Technologies and Forms of Governance, International Symposium: "The Transcultural Production of Urban Space in Eurasia", Ca' Foscari University Venice, 20-21 February 2019.

Organization of conferences, workshops and film screenings

• 2021
• Giappone e Sudest asiatico: Dipendenza reciproca e strategie di lungo termine nella regione dell'Indo-Pacifico (Japan and Southeast Asia: mutual dependence and long-term strategies in the Indo-Pacific region), 4 June 2021 (online workshop; speakers: Giulia Garbagni (Cambridge), Raimondo Neironi (Cattolica Un. Milan), Giulio Pugliese (Oxford), Giuseppe Gabusi (Turin)) organized in collaboration with the Dipartiment of Humanities, University of Turin and Torino World Affairs Institute (T.wai).
• Cultural Exchanges between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage, 7-8 May 2021 (online international conference) (organizing committee, modarator, technical support) – funded by Seed Program for Korean Studies (AKS-2020-INC- 2230010)
• EUrAsia 2021: the Pandemic, the Biden administration and their impact on European and Asian regionalisms (online roundtable), 18 March 2021 (relatori: Simone Dossi (Statale Un. Milan), Ulv Hanssen (Soka University Tokyo), Jiwan Hwang (Seoul NU), Francesca Ghiretti (KCL-IAI), Giulio Pugliese (Oxford)) – funded by Seed Program for Korean Studies (AKS-2020-INC-2230010).
• 2019
• Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 29 November 2019.

  GRANTS AND AWARDS

• 2013-16: Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research - Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Doctoral fellowship, 36 months.

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES

Italian Association for Japanese Studies (AISTUGIA)
European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS)
Association for Asian Studies (AAS)
European Society for Environmental History (ESEH)
Italian Society for International History (SISI)

 WORKING EXPERIENCE

• 2020-2021 Adjunct Professor - History of Japan, University of Turin.
• 2017-2019 Adjunct Professor of Japanese Language, Ca' Foscari University Venice.
• 2012-2019 Freelance reporting and commentary on East Asian affairs (in Italian). Editorial translation (Japanese-Italian). Ongoing collaborations with il manifesto (daily), Eastwest - Rivista di Geopolitica (online), Left (weekly), Il Fatto quotidiano online, Internazionale (weekly).
• 2017-18 Kaizen, Lean Production Coordination Staff at Cornaglia Group (TO).
• 2013 Staff, Venice International Film Festival, Industry Office, Venice, Italy.
• 2012 Editorial Intern (Ansa, China Files), Beijing, China.
• 2011-13 Teacher of Italian as a Foreign Language, Istituto Venezia, Venice, Italy.
• 2010-11 Intern, Slow Food Japan, National Office, Sendai, Japan.