Suma Ikeuchi, an assistant professor of East Asian languages and cultural studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has been awarded the Francis K. Hsu Prize for the best book in the anthropology of East Asia by the Society of East Asian Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association.
Dr. Ikeuchi’s book, Jesus Loves Japan: Return Migration and Global Pentecostalism in a Brazilian Diaspora (Stanford University Press, 2019), explores the lives of Japanese Brazilians who convert to Pentecostalism after returning to their ancestral homeland.
“I was overjoyed to hear that my book won the Hsu Award from the Society of East Asian Anthropology,” Dr. Ikeuchi said. “Like many people, I’ve felt more isolated this year, so this news was a welcome reminder that I am still part of the vibrant community of scholars and readers fascinated by this dynamic world region, East Asia.”
Dr. Ikeuchi joined the faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara earlier this year. She had taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Alabama.
Dr. Ikeuchi is a graduate of Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. She earned a master’s degree in anthropology at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in anthropology at Emory University in Atlanta.