Eliyah Omar

FLAS Fellow

About

Eliyah Omar is a recipient of the Academic Year 2021-2022 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship. The award provides undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students with financial support to develop fluency in less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) and expertise in the regions in which these languages are spoken. Click here to learn more.

Eliyah is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Anthropology’s Sociocultural Anthropology PhD program. His primary research focus is on modern dynamics of transnational popular culture exchange, with Japan being his main area of interest.

Japan’s popular culture has had considerable global influence. Eliyah plans to research recent developments in Japan’s pop-cultural landscape with regard to shifts in patterns of production and consumption, new means of communication and dissemination, and international factors. Conducting international research requires a high level of language proficiency and regional knowledge, and thanks to the FLAS Fellowship from the Global Studies Center, Eliyah is provided the necessary funding to continue developing his Japanese language capabilities and academic skill set. In the future Eliyah hopes to contribute to intercultural understanding, appreciation, and respect through a career in anthropological research and professorship.