Rate My Professor Travis Seifman

Travis Seifman is an Associate Professor and Research Manager at the Art Research Center, Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University, where he has held the position since April 2023. He earned a PhD in History from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2019, following an MA in Art History from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2012, an MA in Japanese Studies from SOAS University of London in 2007, and a BA in History and East Asian Studies from Brandeis University in 2004. Prior to joining Ritsumeikan University, Seifman served as a postdoctoral Project Researcher at the University of Tokyo Historiographical Institute from 2019 to 2023.

Seifman is a scholar of early modern Ryukyu (Okinawa) and Japan, with research focusing on the embassies dispatched by the Okinawan kingdom of Lūchū (Ryūkyū) to Edo in the 17th to 19th centuries, as well as visual, material, and performance culture, diplomatic and court ritual, and issues of heritage and tradition. His current book project, based on his doctoral dissertation, examines the role of visual, material, spatial, and performative aspects of diplomatic ritual in these historical interactions. In his role at the Art Research Center, he facilitates international research collaborations, serves on the Steering Committee and Editorial Committee for the journal ART RESEARCH, and coordinates the International ARC Seminar series. He maintains affiliations including as Research Affiliate at the Institute of Okinawan Arts and Culture, Okinawa Prefectural University of the Arts.