Summary
Current status: Ph.D. in progress
John Ostermiller is a third-year cultural anthropology Ph.D. student, focused on how Muslims and Muslim migrants navigate their religious convictions in non-Muslim majority societies. For his dissertation, he is investigating how transnational Muslims in Japan organize and how they use apps and social media to find halal food and prayer space in a "secular" society like Japan. He is particularly interested in how Muslims from diverse ethnic backgrounds use English as a common language in public arenas of communication like social media. Originally from Sacramento, California, John holds a B.A. in anthropology from CSU Sacramento as well as an M.A. in Asia-Pacific studies from the University of San Francisco. John is currently preparing for fieldwork in Japan with the help of the Ozmen Institute's Graduate Student Research Grant as well as the Department of Anthropology's Cultural & Linguistic Anthropology Graduate Promise Award.
Academic interests
- Islam
- Religion
- Migration
Digital fieldwork - Japan
- Media and popular culture
Selected publications
- Ostermiller, John. 2018. “ Currents of Consumption: How National Narratives of Japanese Cuisine Collide with Localized Forms of Sushi in Northern California.” Capstone. Master of Asia-Pacific Studies Program, USF.
- Ostermiller, John. 2017. “Transcendent Pandemonium: Reconnecting (the Americanization of) Yokai Watch with its roots in Japanese folklore.” Proceedings of the Southwestern Anthropological Association, 2017. 11 (1): 92-99.
Education
- M.A., Asia-Pacific studies, University of San Francisco, 2018
- B.A., anthropology, California State University Sacramento, 2013