Alberto Zizza

Alberto Zizza is a PhD candidate at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, specialising in modern Japanese intellectual history. Since his Master’s studies at the Sapienza University of Rome, his research examines the construction of Japanese national identity in the Meiji period, focusing on Haga Yaichi’s influential work Kokuminsei jūron (1907).

Through the close reading and discourse analysis of the text, along with its contextualisation within the broader intellectual currents of the late Meiji period, he aims to shed light on the text’s debated nature, how it contributed to shaping Japanese self-perception, and how the work reflects the complex interplay between internal and external influences on national identity formation.

During his stay at the DIJ, he will focus on conducting archival research, engaging with Japanese experts in the field, and further developing his analysis of Kokuminsei jūron and discourses on national identity.