Dr. Duncan Williams

Biography

Duncan Ryuken Williams was born in Tokyo, Japan, to a Japanese mother and a British father. At age 17, he moved to the U.S. to attend college at Reed College and went on to graduate school at Harvard University, where he received a Ph.D. in Religion. Currently, he is a Professor of Religion at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and serves as the Director of the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture. Previously, Williams held the Shinjo Ito Distinguished Chair in Japanese Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also served as the Director of the Center for Japanese Studies and as an Associate Professor of Japanese Buddhism. His research interests include the social and cultural history of Japanese and Japanese American religions, with a focus on the early modern and modern periods of Japanese history, particularly Buddhism and its modernization. He explores themes surrounding the Japanese religion diaspora, especially in the Americas, and addresses topics such as environmental issues within Buddhism and the historical context of Japanese American incarceration during World War II.

Research Interests

Experience