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Elijah Bender

Announcements

"Heaven is high, and the emperor is far away."
-Chinese proverb

"The consciousness of self is the greatest hindrance to the proper execution of any physical action."
-Bruce Lee

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
-Roald Dahl

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Japan


PhD Candidate
BA Missouri State (2005), MA University of Hawaii-Manoa (2008)

Office: HSSB 3220
Hours:

Advisor: Luke Roberts
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I study premodern Japan from an environmental perspective. My specialty is the province of Kai, in eastern Honshu, during the sixteenth century. This was a period of intense warfare, fitful yet significant economic growth, massive social and political change, and myriad disasters both natural and human. (more...)

Teaching Fields

  • Japan
  • East Asia
  • World

Teaching Assistantships

  • History 80 - East Asian Civilization
    A survey of the major historical developments in East Asia from the earliest times to the present.
  • History 87 - Japanese History through Art and Literature
    A survey of Japanese history from prehistory to recent times with an emphasis upon artifacts and writing.
  • History 2B - World History 1000-1800
    The middle section of world history focusing primarily upon economic and technological contacts.

Awards

  • Japan Foundation Graduate Student Fellowship, spring 2012
  • UC Special Regents Fellowship, 2010-2015
  • UH Manoa History Department Graduate Merit Tuition Waiver, 2005-2008
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, summer 2006

Conference Papers

  • “Christians, Class, and the Closed Country: Japan’s anti-Christian Policies, Public Reactions, and Political Effects, 1543-1640.”
    Presented at the Western Association of Asian Studies regional conference in Ogen, Utah, October, 2006.

MA Thesis

  • “The Last Man Standing: Examining Daimyo Survival in Sixteenth Century Japan.”
    Attempt to systematically answer the question: "Why did some daimyo survive while others did not?"