{"id":10396,"date":"2020-08-19T20:07:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T00:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/?post_type=profile&p=10396"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:08:04","slug":"merry-white","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/profile\/merry-white\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry (Corky) White"},"content":{"rendered":"

Affiliations<\/h3>\n

Gastronomy at Boston University<\/a>, Faculty Associate, E.O.Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Harvard University<\/span><\/p>\n

Areas of Expertise<\/h3>\n

Urban Japan; food studies; travel and tourism; family, elderly and social change in Japan; the cafe and social spaces in Japanese cities<\/em><\/p>\n

View Professor White’s CV – February 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

About Professor White<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Merry (“Corky”) White is Professor of Anthropology at Boston University, with specialties in Japanese studies, food, and travel. A caterer prior to entering graduate school, she has written two cookbooks, one of which\u2014first published in the mid-1970s\u2014was recently reissued by Princeton University Press.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She currently has the following projects in the works:<\/span><\/p>\n

Completing a study of Japanese food workers and conducting new research on the Japanese whisky industry, including distillery visits, interviews, and participant observation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t Tell the Kinder,\u201d a family history of art and rescue in the exhibition, \u201cTry All What is Possible\u201d: How Emil Singer\u2019s Art Saved Lives, 1936-1942.<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-Curator, “Objects of Use and Beauty” Exhibition of Japanese Culinary Tools, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-author with Dr. Benjamin Wurgaft, “Ways of Eating: Exploring Food through History and Culture,” Oakland: University of California Press, 2024. Coming out in eight foreign language editions. Currently on book tour\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Selected Publications<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Book Chapter, \u201cBody, Tool and Technique: Elements of Work in the Japanese Kitchen\u201d in Philosophies of Food, editors, Andrea Borghini and Patrik Engisch, 2021<\/li>\n
  • Journal Article, \u201cWhen Yoshu Whiskey becomes Washu Whisky\u201d in Arena (in Japanese) Fall 2020.<\/li>\n
  • Essay, \u201cAlways More to Learn: The Contemporary Coffee Scene in Japan\u201d in Standart, Winter 2019-2020.<\/li>\n
  • Journal Article, \u201cAssumptions and Distortions: Dore on Equality in Japanese Schooling\u201d in Pacific Affairs, Winter, 2019.<\/li>\n
  • Review Essay, \u201cConsuming Life in Post-Bubble Japan\u201d in Social Science Japan Journal, Summer 2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Courses<\/h3>\n
      \n
    • CAS AN 344\/744 Modern Japanese Society<\/li>\n
    • CAS AN 308\/708 Food in Place: Identity, Location and the Cultures of Taste<\/li>\n
    • CAS AN 345\/745 Moving Experiences: Cultures of Tourism and Travel<\/li>\n
    • CAS AN 505 Women and Social Change in Asia<\/li>\n
    • CAS AN 309\/709 Boston: An Ethnographic Exploration<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":9123,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/10396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9123"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/10396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16833,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/10396\/revisions\/16833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/anthrop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}