Dr Thomas McAuley (he/him)

BA, PhD

School of Languages, Arts and Societies

Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies

Thomas McAuley 2025 Profile Photo
Profile picture of Thomas McAuley 2025 Profile Photo
t.e.mcauley@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 8413

Full contact details

Dr Thomas McAuley
School of Languages, Arts and Societies
4.06
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

Premodern Japanese poetry (waka); poetics; criticism; poetry competitions, topics, conduct and judgements; diction and imagery; translation; textual analysis; Nara (710-794), Heian (795-1185) and Kamakura (1186-1333) periods
 

Qualifications
  • Phd (University of London)
  • BA(hons) Linguistics and Japanese (爆料TV)
     
Research interests

My research interests focus on Premodern Japanese poetry (waka) and poetics, and in particular the role of poetry matches (uta'awase) in contributing to the development of poetic styles and standards.

I have recently supervised to successful completion theses on ideological and propaganda content of children’s songs in the pre-war Japanese school curriculum, and on the integration of instruction on Intercultural Communicative Competence in to the Japanese university English language curriculum.

Publications

Books

  • McAuley T (2021) Sanekata-shū: The Personal Poetry Collection of Fujiwara no Sanekata. Sheffield: www.wakapoetry.net.
  • McAuley TE (2019) . Leiden: Brill.
  • McAuley TE (2016) Two Hundred Poem Sequences: The Entō Onhyakushu and Keiun Hyakushu. UK: www.wakapoetry.net.
  • McAuley TE (2016) An Anthology of Classical Japanese Poetry: From Man'yōshū to Shinkokinshū. UK: www.wakapoetry.net.
  • McAuley TE (2016) Sanekata-shū: The Personal Poetry Collection of Fujiwara no Sanekata. UK: www.wakapoetry.net.
  • McAuley T (2013) Introduction.

Edited books

  • McAuley TE (Ed.) (2001) Language Change in East Asia. Richmond: Curzon Press.

Journal articles

  • McAuley TE (2020) The power of translation : issues in the translation of premodern Japanese waka. Waseda RILAS Journal, 8, 427-446.
  • McAuley TE (2019) . Japan Forum, 33(4), 704-730.
  • McAuley TE (2019) イギリスの日本学会について (Concerning British Japanese Studies Associations). 文学語学 (Bungaku gogaku), 224, 77-79.
  • McAuley TE (2016) . Japan Forum, 28(3), 364-371.
  • McAuley TE (2016) Viewing a Myriad Leaves: Man’yō Botanical Gardens in Japan. International Journal of Contents Tourism, 1(2), 1-16.
  • McAuley TE (2015) . Babel: International Journal of Translation, 61(2), 219-241.
  • McAuley TE (2002) Switch-reference and semantic discontinuity in Late Old Japanese. Journal of Japanese Linguistics, 18, 29-58.
  • McAuley TE (2001) Idealism, Protest, and The Tale of Genji (Review). Japan Forum, 13(1), 118-119.
  • McAuley TE (1997) Cultural obstacles to Japanese language learning for native English speakers. Teanga Bliainiris na Teangeolaíochta Feidhmí in ?irinn, 17, 55-67.
  • McAuley TE () Viewing a Myriad Leaves: Man’yō Botanical Gardens in Japan. International Journal of Contents Tourism, 1, 1-16.

Book chapters

  • McAuley TE (2010) 源氏物語英訳における各種アプローチの比較的考察―異国文化のドメスティケーション In 京都大学大学院文学研究課 (Ed.), 世界の中の『源氏物语』―その普遍性と现代性 (pp. 101-126). 京都: 臨川書店.
  • McAuley TE (2001) The Changing Use of Honorifics in Japanese Literary Texts In McAuley T (Ed.), Language Change in East Asia (pp. 47-69).
  • McAuley T (2001) Introduction In McAuley TE (Ed.), Language Change in East Asia (pp. 1-3). Curzon Press
  • McAuley T () Waka and Poetry Competitions In Laffin C, Persiani GP & Heldt G (Ed.), Waka Culture Culture and Japan: Beginnings to Modern Times Leiden: Brill.

Book reviews

  • McAuley TE (2020) How to Read a Japanese Poem. MONUMENTA NIPPONICA, 75(1), 123-126.
  • Poulakis N, Fujiki K, McAuley TE, Riley JA & Guo T (2019) . East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, 5(1), 79-92.
  • McAuley T (2019) . Japanese Studies, 39(1), 137-139.
  • McAuley TE (2017) . The Journal of Japanese Studies, 43(2), 399-403.
  • McAuley TE (2013) Ambiguous Bodies: Reading the Grotesque in Japanese Setsuwa Tales (Review). Marvels & Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies, 27(2), 330-333.
  • McAuley TE (2010) A Historical Study of Referent Honorifics in Japanese (Review). Japan Forum, 21(2), 296-298.
  • McAuley TE (2006) A Waka Anthology Volume Two: Grasses of Remembrance (Review), 18(3), 439-442.
  • McAuley TE, Curtin S, Matanle P & Gilman TJ (2006) . Japan Forum, 18(3), 439-450.
  • McAuley TE (2002) Language Change and Language Planning in Japan (Review). Journal of European Area Studies, 10(1), 138-138.
  • McAuley TE (2001) Light Verse from the Floating World: An Anthology of Japanese Senryū (Review). Japan Forum, 13(1), 119-120.

Theses

  • McAuley TE (1995) The Genji Monogatari: A Loose Sequence of Vague Phrases?.
Research group

Research Supervision

I welcome the opportunity to supervise promising PhD students in a broad range of areas related to Japanese to English translation, linguistics and literature.

I have recently supervised to successful completion a thesis on ideological and propaganda content of children’s songs in the pre-war Japanese school curriculum, and am currently co-supervising a thesis on the integration of instruction on Intercultural Communicative Competence in to the Japanese university English language curriculum.

Teaching interests

If I had to sum up my teaching philosophy in a single phrase, it’s that I want to motivate students to learn for themselves. In my classes, the focus is on encouraging students to use the materials, whether it be my lectures, or Japanese poetry and literature, as a starting point for their own deeper analysis of intricacies of Japanese society, culture and language, and thereby enable them to develop their own understanding.
 

Teaching activities

Dr McAuley currently teaches on the following undergraduate modules:

  • LAS311/366 - East Asian Dissertation
  • LAS 367 - Japan Research Project 2
  • LAS 368 - Researching Japan 2
  • LAS 496 - Media and Public Communication in Japan
Professional activities and memberships

Peer Reviewer: Japan Forum; Journal of Japanese Studies; Japanese Studies
Editor, Sheffield-Routledge Japanese Studies Series