Alexander Schweinsberg is a doctoral candidate in history. He did his BA at the University of Toronto in 2008 and then lived in Wakayama for three years on the JET Programme. In 2012 he returned to Toronto, where he was born and raised, for his MA, which looked at the intellectual history of the youth association (seinendan) movement in prewar Japan. He came to Yale in 2014. His dissertation examines the social and environmental history of migration from Wakayama Prefecture to the Pacific Northwest in the Meiji period, with particular focus on communities associated with the salmon canning industry in British Columbia and seal/sea otter hunting across the North Pacific.
Beyond his current research, his scholarly interests include the history of money, ecological economics, and regenerative agriculture. His personal interests revolve around coming to literal grips with fellow humans through Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, wrastlin', or a nice rowdy Japanese harvest festival.