Sara Chittenden

Sara is engaging in close reading of zines, also called minikomi, authored by lesbian groups in 1980s and 1990s Japan to explore how queer women's textual practices operated in contrast to mainstream media during this period and track shifting notions of queer identity. She is also investigating queer community formation, female-female sexuality in Japan, and the ephemerality of zines. Sara is focusing her MA research on the zine series Regumi Tsūshin, authored by the lesbian group Regumi Studio Tokyo, using primary sources from the Japan Association for Sex Education archive.

Sara has a BS in Women and Gender Studies from Grand Valley State University. During a semester abroad in Japan, she combined her interests in gender studies and Japanese by exploring gender performance in Kabuki theater. After graduating in 2014, she taught English in Yokohama for four years. Sara is also passionate about zines; she has been organizing the Grand Rapids Zine Fest since 2013, and she creates zines in her spare time.