twegb
Department of International Economics, Government and Business

With a background in Chinese and Japanese studies, I am an East Asia scholar with a sociological focus on food, its safety, agriculture and consumption. In my research, I integrate Food Studies with insights from Political Sociology and Communication Studies, focusing on institutional trust, risk perception and risk communication related to food in Japan, China and the wider East Asian region.
I have published peer-reviewed articles and chapters in this area, specifically dealing with the politics, identities and geographies of food in East Asia. In terms of outreach, I have also provided media commentary, analysis, and translations on political, economic and societal issues related to Japan and China for Flemish public broadcasters and media outlets since 2007.
- Institutional trust and risk communication
- Food governance, public health and agricultural policy in East Asia
- Food politics and gastrodiplomacy, national cuisines and culinary identities in East Asia
- Societal aspects of food biotechnology and genetically engineered food products
2019 ‘Recalibrating risk through media. Two cases of intentional food poisoning in Japan’, Food & Foodways (Forthcoming September 2019).
2017 Feeding Japan: The Cultural and Political Issues of Dependency and Risk. London: Macmillan (co-edited with Andreas Niehaus).
2017 ‘Introduction’, in Niehaus, A., Walravens, T. (eds): Feeding Japan: The Cultural and Political Issues of Dependency and Risk. London: Macmillan.
2017 ‘Chinese Food Threatening the Japanese Table: Changing Perceptions of Imported Chinese Food in Japan’, in Niehaus, A., Walravens, T. (eds): Feeding Japan: The Cultural and Political Issues of Dependency and Risk. London: Macmillan.
2016 ‘Food Safety and Regulatory Change Since the Mad Cow in Japan. Science, Self-Responsibility and Trust’, Contemporary Japan 29, 1.
2016 “Even if it is Just a Little Help for the Victims from the Distant Belgium”: Japanese Nationals in Belgium and the 3/11 Triple Disaster’, in Tagsold, Christian; Niehaus Andreas (ed.): Diaspora and Disaster: Japanese outside Japan and the Triple Catastrophe of March 2011. Düsseldorf: DUP 2015. Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Japanforschung?, Vol. 1. Pp.37-60 (co-authored with Andreas Niehaus).
2015 ‘Homework. Post-Fukushima Constructions of Furusato: The Case of Japanese Nationals Living in Belgium’, in Klaus Stierstorfer, Florian Kläger (eds), Diasporic Constructions of Home and Belonging, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. Pp. 123-146 (co-authored with Andreas Niehaus).
2014 ‘Diversifying narratives: Perceptions of a weak Japan facing a rising China’, in Dessein, B., Ed., Interpreting China as a Regional and Global Power: Nationalism and Historical Consciousness in World Politics, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 120-141.
2013 ‘Japan Facing a Rising China: Implications on the Dynamics of Identity Formation. Food safety as a framework.’, Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia, No. 26, Warsaw: Askon Publishers. Pp. 115-133.
I: Proceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management . red. /Sonja Taneja. Briarcliff Manor, NY : Academy of Management 2022, 1 s., s. 3978 (Academy of Management Proceedings)
I: Japan Forum, Vol. 34, Nr. 1, 2022, s. 79-102
I: Ethnos, Vol. 86, Nr. 1, 2.2021, s. 191-193
I: Dublin Gastronomy Symposium 2020: Food and Disruption. Atlanta, GA : Association for Information Systems. AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) 2020, 3 s., s. 249-251
I: Food and Foodways, Vol. 27, Nr. 1-2, 2019, s. 74-97
I: Feeding Japan: The Cultural and Political Issues of Dependency and Risk. Cham : Springer 2017, s. 253-286
Cham : Springer 2017, 540 s.
I: Contemporary Japan, Vol. 29, Nr. 1, 2.1.2017, s. 67-88
I: Feeding Japan: The Cultural and Political Issues of Dependency and Risk. Cham : Springer 2017, s. 1-16
London : The Conversation Trust 8.2.2021
København : NIAS - Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 2020
London : Queen Mary University of London 6.8.2020
Irsk forsker ryster på hovedet: Svenskerne er vildledt af fejlopfattelser om coronaen
2020: No outside activities to report
2021: Olympic Broadcasting Services – Flemish State Broadcaster (VRT) at Tokyo Olympics 2020 - Consulting Belgium/Japan
2022: Freelance consulting - Social science research and consulting on state and market in East Asia – freelance projects of different extent - Copenhagen