Dr. Ryo Morimoto is an esteemed cultural anthropologist exploring the complex dynamics of human engagement with nuclear technologies and their lasting societal impacts. As a first-generation college graduate and first-generation scholar from Japan, he currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University, where he continues to advance innovative scholarship at the intersection of technology and society. He earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Brandeis University in 2016, establishing a foundation for his distinctive interdisciplinary approach that bridges anthropological theory with contemporary environmental concerns. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Dr. Morimoto served as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University, building upon his extensive ethnographic fieldwork in post-Fukushima Japan. His academic journey has been supported by prestigious fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Japan Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council, reflecting early recognition of his significant contributions to the field.
Dr. Morimoto's groundbreaking research centers on what he terms 'nuclear things,' examining the surreal social life of radiation and radiological materials through meticulous investigation of Fukushima's 'gray zone' areas. His acclaimed 2023 monograph, 'Nuclear Ghost: Atomic Livelihoods in Fukushima's Gray Zone,' published by the University of California Press, represents a major scholarly contribution that has established new frameworks for understanding the sensory politics of invisible contaminants. Through ethnographic inquiry, he has revealed how radioactive materials become embedded in social relations, ecological systems, and cultural practices, challenging conventional understandings of toxicity and temporal scales of environmental harm. His influential articles in leading journals including Cultural Anthropology and Public Culture have significantly advanced discourse on the half-life politics of nuclear materials and the experiences of communities living with invisible contaminants. With his research cited over 117 times according to Google Scholar, Dr. Morimoto has created essential conceptual spaces for thinking about humanity's relationship with technological byproducts in the late industrial era.
Beyond his scholarly publications, Dr. Morimoto is shaping the field through his incoming membership on the editorial collective of Cultural Anthropology, the American Anthropological Association's flagship journal, demonstrating his growing influence in setting disciplinary directions. His work actively bridges anthropology with environmental studies, indigenous knowledge systems, and science and technology studies, creating innovative interdisciplinary connections that address pressing planetary concerns about contamination and energy futures. Dr. Morimoto's scholarship mobilizes theoretical frameworks from semiotic anthropology to explore how technologies materialize particular sensory-cognitive experiences while rendering others imperceptible in contemporary discourse. Currently, his research expands to examine energy issues, U.S.-Japan relations, and digital humanities methodologies, further developing his examination of how invisible threats are perceived and mediated in society. As nuclear issues remain critically relevant to global environmental challenges, Dr. Morimoto's anthropological insights provide essential perspectives for understanding the complex entanglements between technological systems and human livelihoods in our increasingly contaminated world.
