Episode 12: Professor Ron Stewart/The one about Cartoonists

Episode hosts: Ben Nickl and Jessica Milner Davis

About our guest on this episode:

Ronald, an Australian, is a professor in the Sociology Department of Daito Bunka University. He has lived and worked in Japan since 1998, earning his MA and PhD at Nagoya University on a Japanese government scholarship. Ronald is currently researching the work of Japan’s first professional cartoonist Kitazawa Rakuten (1876 – 1955) as part of a longer-term history of Japanese political cartooning project. His recent publications include: “Can Australian Cartoonists Monster the Gods of Asian Politics?” coauthored with Robert Phiddian in Moral Dimensions of Humour (2024); "Unlocking Verbal-Visual Puns in Late-Nineteenth-Century Japanese Cartoons” in The Palgrave Handbook of Humour, History, and Methodology (2021); and "Ito Hirobumi's Nose: Syphilis in Early 20th Century Japanese Cartoons," International Journal of Comic Art (2019). He also coauthored with CJ Suzuki the book Manga: A Critical Guide (2023). Ronald has been a member of the Japan Society for Studies in Cartoons and Comics since 2003.

About the episode hosts:

Ben is a Senior Lecturer in The University of Sydney’s Department of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies. He works on popular technologies of mediation like humour and laughter and is the research coordinator for the Australasian Humour Studies Network. His latest book is called Moral Dimensions of Humour (Tampere University Press, open access, 2024).

Jessica is an Honorary Associate in the School of Art, Communication and English, University of Sydney, and coordinates the AHSN. She is a member of Clare Hall, Cambridge and Research Affiliate with Brunel University London’s Centre for Comedy Studies Research. She has been Visiting Scholar at many universities in Europe and the USA, Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University (2012) and Senior Visiting Fellow at Bologna University (2013). Her interdisciplinary work on humour was recognised with Fellowship of the Royal Society of NSW in 2017 and the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the ISHS. An editorial board member for leading humour research journals and book series, her latest book is “Humour in Asian Cultures: Tradition and Context” (Routledge, 2022).

Acknowledgement of Country:

We would like to acknowledge and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which the University of Sydney has been built, and which were taken from them without their consent, treaty or compensation. Most episodes of this podcast were recorded on this land.
This land has always been a learning space for many Aboriginal nations, and as teachers and students, and people of all kinds of origins, we can draw strength and guidance from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge, one of the oldest knowledge systems in the world.

Want to come on as a guest or co-host, or get in touch about something else? Simply email [e-mail](AHSN research coordinator and ‘Cutting Edge’ host), visit the AHSN website https://ahsnhumourstudies.org/  and follow/subscribe to us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AHSNHumour/,YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ahsnconferenceor Twitter/X @AHSN_Humour.

Special thanks and all credit for editing and sound engineering goes to Jacob Craig/USYD FASS media room studios.