Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Language not merely a means for representing the world, but also for constructing it and acting within it: in a sense, language is magic. Words do things.
I'm particularly interested in the relationship between words and social structure, between talk and our relationships to other people. How do we form new relationships? Make friends, fall in love, get married? What is the role of talk in creating emotions, forging social bonds, and creating and sustaining desire?
My doctoral dissertation focused on Japanese professional matchmakers and their ideologies of conversation. How do you create a good first impression on another person through talk? How do you incite in that other person the desire to see you again, and maybe even marry you? How are these communicative performances gendered—or not? And what kind of marriage relationship do matchmakers and their clients expect to create through talk, from the introductory meeting through to the proposal? In upcoming research, I plan to look at the language strategies used in Japanese online dating profiles, as well as expanding my research to include a comparative focus on other parts of Asia.
I've also, in the past, written about things like acoustic phonetics and language ideologies in sexual minority communities.
Education/Academic qualification
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Sep 2005 → May 2014
Award Date: May 2 2014
External positions
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Dive into the research topics where Erika Alpert is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
- 1 Similar Profiles
Projects
- 2 Finished
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Integrating Online Dating into Society: Japan as a Case Study
3/20/18 → 12/31/21
Project: Monitored by Research Administration
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Matchmaking Goes Online: A Preliminary Study of Online Dating in Japan
3/1/15 → 2/29/16
Project: Monitored by School
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Dis/Embodying Fieldwork in Japan
Alpert, E. R., 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Japanese Studies. 41, 3Research output: Contribution to journal › Special issue › peer-review
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The Role of Dating Site Design in Gendered Self-Representation and Self-Animation in Online Japan
Alpert, E. R., Oct 2020, In: Journal of Asian Linguistic Anthropology. p. 67–79Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Men and Monsters: Hunting for Love Online in Japan
Alpert, E. R., 2019, The GLOCAL in Asia 2019 Conference Proceedings. London: The Global Council for Anthropological Linguistics, p. 29–34Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution
Open Access -
Miraculous Photos and Beautiful Skin: Conativity, Indexicality, and the Art of the Profile Picture
Alpert, E. R., 2019, In: Semiotic Review. 7Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Matchmaking and the Value of Marriage in Neoliberal Japan
Alpert, E. R., 2018.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
Activities
- 2 Invited talk
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Requiem for romantic love, marriage, and children? Explorations in intimate relations in China, Japan, and South Korea
Erika Alpert (Speaker), Victor de Munck (Speaker), William Jankowiak (Speaker) & Alex Nelson (Speaker)
Feb 25 2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Animation and the Role of App Architecture in Studying Self-Presentation Online
Erika Alpert (Speaker)
Oct 15 2019Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk