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About

Jennifer Robertson is a pioneering anthropologist whose scholarly career has centered on the cultural, social, and gendered dimensions of humanoid robotics in Japan. Best known for her landmark work "Gendering Humanoid Robots: Robo-Sexism in Japan" (2010, 207 citations), Robertson introduced the concept of "robo-sexism" to illuminate how gender ideologies are literally built into robotic bodies, arguing that robots serve as cultural mirrors reflecting and reinforcing societal norms around sex, gender, and sexuality. Her influential body of work, including the widely read "Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Humanoid Robots and the Posthuman Family" (2007, 110 citations) and her book *Robo Sapiens Japanicus* (2017, 80 citations), positions Japan as a critical laboratory for understanding human-robot coexistence in post-industrial society. Robertson has also tackled urgent ethical terrain in "Human Rights vs. Robot Rights: Forecasts from Japan" (2014, 69 citations), probing the legal and philosophical boundaries of personhood in an increasingly robot-integrated world. With her more recent work challenging concepts like the "uncanny valley" and exploring robot reincarnation, Robertson consistently pushes interdisciplinary boundaries, making her an indispensable voice in science and technology studies, gender studies, and Japanese cultural anthropology.