Research Focus
Kristin Roebuck is an historian of modern Japan, US-Japan relations, and Global Asias. Her research interests encompass the history of the body, medicine, and law; war, alliance, and international relations; race, gender, and eugenics; family and childhood; and trafficking and abolition.
Publications
Scholarship
Japan Reborn: Race and Eugenics from Empire to Cold War. New York: Columbia University Press, 2025.
Trade in Humans. A special issue of Verge: Studies in Global Asias Vol. 12.1 (Spring 2026).
"Science without Borders? War, Empire, and the Contested Science of 'Race Mixing' in Japan, East Asia, and the West." In Who Is the Asianist? The Politics of Representation in Asian Studies, eds. Will Bridges, Nitasha Tamar Sharma, and Marvin D. Sterling (New York: Columbia University Press, 2022).
“De-Provincializing Eugenics: The Persistence of ‘Race Hygiene’ in Japan after Its Decline in the West.” In Asia and Africa across Disciplinary and National Lines (Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Press, 2015).
Mass Media
“Japan Reborn: Race and Eugenics from Empire to Cold War.” New Books Network Podcast, hosted by Nathan Hopson and Da In Ann Choi (10 Feb. 2026).
"Princess Mako of Japan's Commoner Wedding Suggests Sexism Will Doom the Royal Family." NBC News (31 Oct. 2021).
"Akihito Bows Out, Ushering in New Era for Japan's Post-War Generation." The Hill (30 April 2019).
"Japan, U.S. Face Legacies of Forced Sterilization." Global Journalist, National Public Radio (25 Oct. 2018).
In the news
- How WWII changed ideas of racial purity in Japan
- Tensions with China give Japanese PM an opening for snap elections
- Election of Japan’s first female PM isn’t a win for women, says Cornell historian
- Cornell Center for Social Sciences names 14 faculty fellows
- History department begins three-year active learning initiative
- Princess Mako of Japan's commoner wedding suggests sexism will doom the royal family
- Japan’s imperial laws may doom the royal family
- Seymour lecture focuses on Japan’s Olympic history
- Grants advance social sciences research, collaboration
- Domestic violence victims at risk as Japan announces state of emergency
- Two dozen Engaged Faculty Fellows announced
- Akihito bows out, ushering in era for Japan’s post-war generation
- Seven projects awarded 2018 digitization grants
Courses - Spring 2026
- HIST 1622 : From Samurai to Superpower: Japan in World History II
- HIST 2001 : Supervised Reading - Undergraduate
- HIST 3002 : Supervised Research - Undergraduate
- HIST 4127 : The Body Politic in Asia
- HIST 6127 : The Body Politic in Asia
- HIST 8004 : Supervised Reading