Philip Martin Adamek

Biography

Philip Martin Adamek completed graduate studies at Kent State University (M.A.s in English and Philosophy) and the State University of New York at Buffalo, developing a deep and lasting engagement with literature, philosophy, and the ways in which they intersect. His published research spans the works of writers and thinkers including Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Robert Frost, Jacques Derrida, Georges Didi-Huberman, and Jean-Luc Nancy, as well as theories of bilingual education. He has also translated numerous contemporary French-language philosophical texts.

Adamek’s dissertation investigates how philosophers have grappled with the notions of forgiveness and reconciliation against diverse religious, historical, and cultural inheritances in the wake of the Second World War. Over the years, he has taught American literature, English, and French in Kagoshima, Japan, and conducted courses on Japanese film studies at the University of Akron. In France, he has held teaching and research positions at University Grenoble Alpes, University of Paris VII, and University of Clermont-Auvergne. He has also contributed to the professional community as organiser of the French Forum within the Japan Association for Language Teaching.

More recently, Adamek has turned his attention to pedagogy, advocating for teaching principles of self-regulated learning to liberal arts students in Japan. Currently, he is immersing himself in the language and approach of international baccalaureate teaching, seeking to connect his interdisciplinary scholarship with the needs of students. His work is committed to thoughtful inquiry, cultural understanding, and an ongoing dialogue between literature, philosophy, and education.