Ferran de Vargas

I am a UKRI Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions fellow at the Department of Asian Studies, University of Edinburgh. My main research interest is the study of political and intellectual history, democratic processes and aesthetic movements in East Asia, with a special focus on transwar Japan. 

I completed a master's degree in Chinese and Japanese Studies at Open University of Catalonia (Special Award), and a PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies at Autonomous University of Barcelona (Special Prize) as an FI grant holder (Generalitat de Catalunya). Then I became a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral grant holder (Spanish Government) at Open University of Catalonia. Additionally, I have conducted research stays at Kobe University, Japan (JASSO grant holder, Japanese Government) and the JF Japanese Language Institute, Kansai (Japan Foundation Program for Specialists in Cultural and Academic Fields).

I authored the book Izquierda y revolución. Una historia política del Japón de posguerra (Edicions Bellaterra, 2020) and edited the volume Political Thought and Japan's New Left Movements (Bloomsbury, 2025). I have also published articles in academic journals such as positions: asia critique, Modern Asian Studies, Comparative Political Theory, Fascism: Journal of Comparative Fascist Studies, Japan Forum, Las Torres de Lucca: International Journal of Political Philosophy, The Sixties, Arts, L'Atalante: Revista de Estudios Cinematográficos and Film-Philosophy.