Research Team

Rebekah Clements is a tenured Research Professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), and is hosted by the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. A cultural historian of Japan, she works on language, society, and the characteristics of Japanese early modernity, as understood in the broader context of East Asian and world history. Her publications include The Aftermath of the Imjin War in Early Modern East Asia (co-edited with J.B Lewis, Brill, forthcoming 2026); A Cultural History of Translation in the Creation of the Global World (editor, Bloomsbury Academic 2025); “Hegemony, Hunting and Human Trophies in the East Asian War of 1592–1598,” Past and Present (2024); and “Fighting for Forests: Protection and Exploitation of Kŏje Island Timber during the East Asian War of 1592–1598,” Environmental History (co-authored with Baihui Duan, 2022), which was awarded a Vandervort Prize from the Society for Military History.

Throughout her career, Rebekah has secured over 3.5 million euros in research funding. She previously directed the European Research Council Starting Grant project “Aftermath of the East Asia War of 1592-1598.”

On the Consuming Nature project, Rebekah is working on nature, commoners, and early modern Japanese cities, with a focus on plant and pet shops, animal tea houses, gardens, and nature spectacles,