Małgorzata K. Citko-DuPlantis

Małgorzata K. Citko-DuPlantis (Ph.D. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa) is an Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture at the University of Tennessee. 

She is currently working on her book monograph Embracing Instability: Imagining “Man’yoshū” in Medieval and Modern Japan, which challenges the exclusive legitimacy of one manuscript of Man’yōshū (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves, 759–785)—the first extant collection of Japanese court poetry (waka)—as the standard for research, teaching, and translation. She also argues that “Man’yōshū” is not just a text but an image, stabilized construct, genre, label, or matrix of knowledge of “Japaneseness” in Japan and beyond. 

Her research interests range from the instability of knowledge and mechanisms of stabilizing lines of knowledge transmissions in premodern cultures, to depictions of premodern Japan in contemporary pop-media, representations of women in Japanese culture, Japan’s intellectual history, and non-Western digital humanities. Recipient of many research grants and awards, including Japan Foundation, Fulbright, and Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Presenter at national and international conferences, including Association for Asian Studies, Modern Language Association, International Congress on Medieval Studies, and Medieval Academy of America; invited speaker at research institutions, including Yale University and Dartmouth College.

Publications

Monographs

• Clashes of Dragons and Dragonflies. Japan’s Foreign Policy towards the People’s Republic of China 1972–2008, Opole: Scriptorium, 2012, 175 pp (in English).

Co-authored books

• Porywacze Yodogo. Działalność japońskiej Frakcji Armii Czerwonej w latach 1969-1972 (The Yodogo Hijackers. Activity of the Japanese Red Army Faction, 1969-1972), co-authorship with Prof. Waldemar J. Dziak, Citko: 80%, Dziak: 20%. Warsaw: Polish Academy of Science Press, 2012, 182 pp (in Polish).
• Obywatele japońscy w północnokoreańskiej niewoli. (Japanese Citizens in the North Korean Captivity), co-authorship with Prof. Waldemar J. Dziak, Citko: 80%, Dziak: 20%. Warsaw: Polish Academy of Science Press, 2009, 95 pp (in Polish).

Peer-reviewed articles

• “Playing with the Classics, Playing the Classics—the Cyborg Ninja Genji in the Video Game Overwatch.” In Japanese Language and Literature no. 58/2 (2024), pp. 115–157 (in English).
• “The Poet Who Challenged the Shogun: Asukai Masayo and Shinshoku Kokin Wakashū.” In Journal of Japanese Studies no. 50/1 (2024), pp. 125–153 (in English).
• “Dai Nihon Teikoku nai, gai ni okeru ‘Nihon’ no imēji—sofuto pawā toshite no Man’yōshū” (Imagining ‘Japan’ Within and Beyond the Empire of Japan: Man’yōshū as Soft Power), Sensō to Man’yōshū, no. 5 (2023), pp. 223–234 (in Japanese).
• “Expanding the Web of Intertextuality. Table: ‘Man’yōshū Poems’ in Selected Secondary Sources, 772–1439.” In Studies in Japanese Literature and Culture no. 6 (2023), pp. 1–118 (in English).
• “How to Establish a Poetic School in Early Medieval Japan: Fujiwara Shunzei’s Man’yōshū Jidaikō.” Co-authorship with Dr. Kei Umeda, (Article) Citko: 100%, (Translation) Citko: 60%, Umeda: 40%. In Monumenta Nipponica no. 74/2 (2019), pp. 173–209 (in English).
• “Wizerunek najstarszej antologii poezji japońskiej Man’yōshū w epoce średniowiecza” (Medieval Image of the Oldest Collection of Japanese Poetry, Man’yōshū). In Przegląd Orientalistyczny (Oriental Review) no. 1/2 (2015), pp. 92–102 (in Polish).
• “Ancient Japanese Poetry in Early Medieval Poetic Discourse—Appropriation of the Man’yōshū in Selected Poems of Princess Shikishi.” In Acta Asiatica Varsovienisa no. 27 (2014), pp. 55–81 (in English).
• “Poezja ósmej antologii cesarskiej Shinkokin Wakashū w sztukach teatru nō pt. Kamo i Teika autorstwa Komparu Zenchiku” (Poetry of the Eighth Japanese Imperial Collection Shinkokin Wakashū in the Noh Plays Entitled Kamo and Teika by Komparu Zenchiku). In Litteraria Copernicana no. 2 (14). Toruń: Nicolas Copernicus University, 2014, pp. 45–63 (in Polish).
• “Reconsidering ‘Izumi Shikibu’.” In Silva Iaponicarum no. 37, (2013), pp. 11–65 (in English).
• “Elements of ‘Possibly Chinese’ Origin in Selected Poems by Princess Shikishi (1149–1201).” In Analecta Nipponica no. 2 (2012), pp. 21–56 (in English).
• Kraj Kwitnącej Wiśni czy Kraina kosmitów? Wizerunek Japonii w polskich mediach (Country of Blooming Cherry Blossoms or a Land of Aliens’?
• Image of Japan in Polish Media), in: Media i medioznawstwo (Media and Media Studies), no. 4, Scriptorium, Opole 2011, pp. 25–54 (in Polish).
• “Three faces of Lady Nijō, the Authoress of Towazugatari.” In Silva Iaponicarum no. 21/22 (2009), pp. 11–60 (in English).

Book chapters

• “Dzieciństwo i młodość damy Nijō, autorki Towazugatari” (Childhood and Youth of Lady Nijō, the Author of Towazugatari). In Dziesięć wieków ‘Genji monogatari’ w kulturze Japonii (Ten Centuries of ‘Genji Monogatari’ in Japanese Culture). Warsaw: Warsaw University Press, 2009, pp. 313–326 (in Polish).

Conference proceedings

• “Chi no fuanteisei no chikara—Fujiwara Kiyosuke to Fujiwara Shunzei no karon no bunseki kara mita chūsei ni okeru Man’yōshū no juyō nitsuite” (The Power of Instability—Medieval Reception Appropriation of Man’yōshū as Examined in Poetic Criticism by Fujiwara Kiyosuke and Fujiwara Shunzei). In Proceedings of the Forty-Second International Conference on Japanese Literature, 2019, pp. 27–41(in Japanese).
• “Patterns of Illicit Passions: Imagery and Poetic Techniques in Love Poetry of Princess Shikishi.” In Looking at Language and the World: Past, Present, and Future, College of Language, Linguistics, and Literature UH Mānoa (2010), pp. 120–132 (in English).

Email: mcitkodu@utk.edu

Education

Ph.D., University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

M.A., Collegium Civitas, Poland

M.A. & B.A., University of Warsaw, Poland