Karen Wigen in Japan

Kären Wigen, who joined Stanford’s faculty in 2002, is the Frances & Charles Field Professor in the Department of History, where she specializes in Japanese history and the history of cartography. Her courses include Japan in the Age of the Samurai; Global History; and Maps, Borders, and Conflict in East Asia. The author or co-editor of half a dozen books, including Cartographic Japan, Professor Wigen’s latest volume is Territorial Imaginaries: Beyond the Sovereign Map (2025).

At Stanford, she enjoys working with students at every level, from leading freshman seminars to directing the interdisciplinary Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities. Kären says, “My first loves were language and music, but while majoring in Japanese literature in college, I belatedly discovered the discipline of geography. Once I got a taste for that synthetic and grounded approach, I changed direction entirely. I ended up pursuing a PhD in Geography with a focus on nineteenth century Japan and have spent years analyzing the transformation of Japanese maps and landscapes from the early modern to the modern era.” During our adventure, she will discuss such topics as the cosmology of ancient Heian (Kyoto), the rise of the samurai, the Japanese discovery of Europe, and the exuberant print culture of early modern Edo (Tokyo).

• At Stanford: Frances & Charles Field Professor of History (2014–present); Professor of History (2009–14); Associate Professor (2002–09);

• Associate Professor, Duke University (1995–2002)

• Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin (1994–95)

• Assistant Professor, Duke University (1990–94)

• PhD, Geography, University of California at Berkeley (1990)

• MA, Geography, University of California at Berkeley (1985)

• BA (Highest Honors), Japanese Language and Literature, University of Michigan (1980)

• Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate Teaching Award, Stanford University (2018)

• Hiromi Arisawa Memorial Award, American Association of University Presses (1996)

• John K. Fairbank Prize, Association of American Historians (1995)