Lecture: When You Hear America Sing (Register below to attend.)
In this community-oriented talk, Dr. Maiko Mine will blend insights from her research on U.S. history with reflections from her year as a Fulbright Scholar. 

She will share how the stories preserved during the Great Depression—particularly through the Federal Writers’ Project—continue to shape American cultural memory, and how encountering these narratives firsthand has informed her own understanding of the United States. 

Dr. Mine will also speak about her experiences engaging with local communities during her time here, from joining a Harlem choir to participating in the Thriller dance at Halloween parade, as well as her perspective as a Christian in Japan. 

The event will conclude with an open discussion, giving attendees the chance to ask questions and connect with her in an informal, welcoming environment.

Campbellsville University and the Fulbright Scholar Program
Campbellsville University is hosting Dr Maiko Mine through the Fulbright Program’s Outreach Lecture Fund (OLF). The Fulbright Program is the United States’ premier international educational exchange initiative, designed to promote mutual understanding by bringing scholars and professionals from around the world to the U.S. for research and teaching. The Outreach Lecture Fund supports opportunities for Fulbright scholars—who are typically based at larger universities—to visit additional communities and share their work beyond their main host institution. Campbellsville University is a participating Fulbright institution and a recipient of this OLF grant, which makes Dr. Mine’s visit to our community possible.

Dr. Maiko Mine's Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Maiko Mine is an Associate Professor at Chuogakuin University in Japan and a part-time lecturer in American Studies and Literature at International Christian University (ICU). She is visiting as a Fulbright Scholar (2025–26) affiliated with Columbia University.

Dr. Mine’s research bridges African American literature, history, and religious studies. Her work centers on the 2,194 interviews with formerly enslaved people collected in the 1930s under the Federal Writers’ Project, a corpus that initially drew her interest through Black gospel music and the conversion narratives she encountered in church communities. This interdisciplinary path led to her awardwinning soloauthored book in Japanese, which received the 2018 Japan Comparative Civilization Association Prize, as well as contributions to more than ten edited volumes.

Her scholarship includes international collaborations with researchers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Recent projects include a 2022 edited volume with the University of Massachusetts Press, participation in a symposium at the Library of Congress featuring the volume, and a special lecture at the University of Genoa. Her work has also been featured by NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, in a program aired in over 160 regions and countries.