Kunio Hara, an associate professor of music history at the University of South Carolina, has been awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Stipend. Hara is one of only two South Carolinians among the 97 scholars nationwide to receive funds for their humanities projects.
The NEH awarded a total of $26.2 million for 238 projects to stimulate new research in the humanities. These stipends support continuous full-time work on a humanities project for two consecutive months. NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe emphasized the importance of funding education, preservation, research, and public programs to expand cultural resources and foster learning in communities across the country.
Hara’s project, titled “Transpacific Refashioning of Giacomo Puccini’s Opera Madama Butterfly, 1941−2023,” focuses on the reception and performance history of Puccini’s famous opera. He aims to highlight the contributions made by artists of Asian backgrounds from World War II to the present.
The opera, which tells the tragic romance between a young Japanese woman and an American naval officer, has faced criticism for inaccurate and harmful representations of Japanese culture in some productions. Hara’s research aims to shed light on the historical and socio-political impact of the opera, especially in light of recent discussions on representation and inclusion of Asian and Asian American voices in classical music.
With the grant, Hara plans to travel to Japan to conduct archival research and explore the ways Japanese performers, directors, artists, and activists have promoted, challenged, and refashioned opera in the country following WWII. His work is not only academically significant but also contributes to ongoing conversations about diversity and inclusivity in the arts.