Graduate Student

"Elizabeth Self studies the relationship between women, identity, and visual culture in early modern Japan. Her dissertation, "Creating Women’s Identities in a Turbulent Era: The Art and Architecture of the Asai Sisters in Early Modern Japan," focuses on three influential women who used the creation of memorial art and architecture to participate in the public realm. The Asai sisters, Chacha, Hatsu, and Go, participated in the struggle for control of Japan during the tumultuous years of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Through their marriage and blood relations, the three Asai sisters were intimately connected to to the "Three Unifiers" (Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu) who sought to create and maintain legitimate political power in a time of great change. By examining women's connection with the visual culture of mortuary and memorial practices, Self's research demonstrates how women, like men, actively used patronage to further their social and political goals. 

Self's masters thesis dealt with the role of outcast populations in the Ippen Hijiri-e, a 14^th century handscroll. Before entering the PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh, she taught English in Japan for three years. In addition to modern Japanese, she has studied kanbun, classical Japanese, and classical Chinese."