Lauren Anne Constance

I am a PhD student at Cardiff University's School of Modern Languages, researching witness testimony in Japanese nuclear memorial museums. My research asks how nuclear memorial museums in Japan aim to continue providing visitors with the opportunity to listen to witness testimony in an era when first-hand survivors are becoming fewer. My work focuses on three museums in particular: the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibition Hall in Tokyo, and the Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum in Fukushima. Through these case studies, I explore how testimony is presented, recorded, and remembered in museum spaces.

As part of my fieldwork, I've visited more than 40 memorial museums across Japan. I've had the chance to interview museum professionals, speak directly with survivors, and attend testimonial lectures and memorial events. These experiences have shaped the way I think about memory, storytelling, and the role of museums in preserving difficult histories, leading to the publication of a chapter within an edited volume:

Constance, L. 2024. Preserving hibakusha memories: Ōishi Matashichi and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru Exhibition Hall. In: Hulsmann, K. and Kohn, S. eds. Articulations of the Nuclear: Postwar Japan under the Spell of the Atomic Age. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 175-194.

I am a member of the British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS), the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS), the Japan Society and Japan Anthropology Workshop (JAWS). I am an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2022) and taught for two years (2021-22 & 2022-23) on the module ML8100 - Introduction to Translation Methods, leading the Japanese language-specific seminars. I also hold a BA in Japanese and Spanish from Cardiff University.