Alexander Kaplan-Reyes

BA: Occidental College (’11)

MA: University of California, Los Angeles (’14)

Ph.D: Columbia University (’22)

 

 Male-male Intimacy, Gender and Sexuality, The History of the Samurai, Historical Narrative, History as Popular Culture

 

Alexander Kaplan-Reyes is a historian of premodern Japan, specializing in the Warring States period (1467-1603) and the transition to the Edo period (1603-1868). His current research explores the intimate relations between male warriors during the Warring States and the ways in which such ties strengthened alliances and retainer bands, contributing to the process of unification that constitutes the era’s central narrative. He is also interested more broadly in the history of the samurai and the construction of warrior identity. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2022. His research has received support from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Shincho Foundation for the Promotion of Literature, and the Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture.