Seijiro “Seiji” A. Takahashi
Seijiro “Seiji” A. Takahashi (髙橋 誠司郎) is a student on the DPhil in Anthropology course at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies and at the School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford.
As a doctoral student, Seiji is currently exploring research topics on the medical anthropology of Okinawa, Japan. Potential themes of focus in Okinawa include culturally relevant public health interventions in response to epidemiological shifts affecting human longevity; karate; the syncretic practices of Ryūkyūan religion, of the Anglican/Episcopalian tradition of Christianity, and of other belief systems; and the relationships between human, non-human organism, and environmental welfare analysed with a One Health and multi-species ethnographic approach. Funding for his DPhil studies includes generous support from the Sakaguchi International Scholarship Foundation and the Sasakawa Fund. Seiji is also an avid member of St Antony’s Boat Club and sings as a choral scholar at Worcester College, University of Oxford.
Prior to arriving at the University of Oxford, Seiji lived in his home state of California, United States of America, where he studied American Sign Language (Berkeley City College, Class of 2021) and French (Irvine Valley College, Class of 2022); worked as an emergency medical technician and as a cook in a ramen restaurant; tutored in various subjects at Irvine Valley College’s Student Success Centre; and taught lecture and laboratory courses in biological/physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and sociocultural anthropology at Berkeley City College and at Irvine Valley College - the latter where he continues to teach remotely during his doctoral studies at the University of Oxford.
Whilst in California, he also trained with the Berkeley Isshinryū Okinawa Karate Club; sung as a choir member at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah; served as the faculty advisor for the Japanese Student Association and the Technical Drawing and Production Club, both at Berkeley City College; and served as a teaching assistant for the American Sign Language Department at Berkeley City College and for the California School for the Deaf, Fremont; as a faculty mentor for the Community College Honours Research Conference hosted by the University of California, Irvine; as a co-convener for the French Club at Irvine Valley College; and as a faculty advisor for the Martial Arts Club, also at Irvine Valley College.
Seiji lived in Kigali and in Kayonza, Rwanda, after joining the Global Health Corps Fellowship during 2016-2017, through which he worked as a curriculum developer for the Master of Science in Global Health Delivery programme at the University of Global Health Equity; trained with the Nyamirambo Shōtōkan Karate Club; collected interview data for a study on reproductive health at Gihembe Refugee Camp; and taught English at St Patrick Secondary School.
Seiji completed the Master of Arts in Medical Anthropology and Global Health programme at Case Western Reserve University (Class of 2016) in Cleveland, Ohio, where he carried out interview-based research on migrant mental health experiences of Lhotsampa refugees from Bhutan, and assisted in the development and delivery of courses in linguistic anthropology and sociocultural anthropology.
Following his undergraduate studies, Seiji interned with Wellbody Alliance and Partners In Health in Boston, Massachusetts, where he aided in fundraising and collaborated with colleagues - including traditional birth attendants, ambulance drivers, community health workers, cooks, cleaners, security guards, civil engineers, and managers responding to Ebola virus disease outbreaks in Kono District, Sierra Leone - to produce interview-based articles.
As an undergraduate, Seiji studied anthropology, biology, and sociology at Earlham College (Class of 2015) in Richmond, Indiana, where he enjoyed a varied liberal arts education that included canoeing and portaging in Ontario, Canada; tutoring for the Japanese Language and Linguistics Department; playing for the Men’s Rugby Club; becoming a first-year student representative in the Earlham Student Government; working in the Bakken Oilfields of North Dakota; being aired as a guest speaker on environmental sustainability for WECI 91.5 FM Student-Run Public Radio; becoming a member of the Stables Cooperative and of the Equestrian Team; working at the Maintenance Department as the plumber’s assistant; volunteering as a member of the Public Health Club in Staten Island, New York, during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy; rock climbing in Kentucky; singing in the Concert Choir and in the Gospel Revelations Choir; joining the South Asian Students’ Association; co-convening the Students for a Free Tibet chapter; dogsledding in Minnesota; and participating in the Tibetan Studies programme in and around Dharamsala, India, where he studied Tibetan language, history, and Buddhist philosophy at Sarah College for Higher Tibetan Studies, at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, and at Esukhia Tibetan Language School; conducted research on the transmission of Tibetan culture in pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions located within and outside of Tibet; interned with the Kunphen Centre for Substance Dependence and HIV/AIDS; and volunteered as an English conversation partner for ex-political prisoners at the Gu Chu Sum Movement of Tibet.
Seiji completed an Advanced Subsidiary Level in Biology and Advanced 2 Levels in English Literature, History, Japanese, and Mathematics at Fyling Hall School (Class of 2011) in Robin Hood’s Bay, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom, where he was a member of the Boxing Club, the 1st XV and the 1st VII Rugby Union Football Clubs, the Christian Bible Study Club, and the Choir. He obtained a British Horse Society Qualification Level 1 Certificate in Riding Horses and a Level 2 Diploma in Horse Knowledge and Care via Snainton Riding Centre (2011).
Supervisor: Professor Roger Goodman
College: St Antony’s College
Department: School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography
