Rebecca Forgash

Back to Faculty & Staff Directory Back to Department Page
Placeholder Faculty Staff Image
How to edit profiles >
Placeholder Faculty Staff Image

Rebecca Forgash

Professor of Anthropology

Sociology and Anthropology

Bio

Dr. Rebecca Forgash is a cultural and linguistic anthropologist whose research focuses on social and cultural change in rural Okinawa, Japan due to the presence of U.S. military bases, tourism, and agricultural innovation. Her early work focused on international dating and marriage between U.S. military personnel and local people, culminating in her scholarly book, Intimacy across the Fencelines: Sex, Marriage and the U.S. Military in Okinawa (Cornell University Press, 2020). More recently, she has investigated local people's experimentation with organic farming and how it affects villagers' relationships and politics. Secondarily, she supports The Ch’orti’ Project, a community-based development project involving collaboration with Ch’orti’ Maya communities in Guatemala and Honduras. She involves students in her research and is always on the lookout for motivated undergraduates who are interested in obtaining experience relating to qualitative research methods, anthropology, and Japan. She teaches a variety of cultural and linguistic anthropology courses, directs the MSU Denver Ethnography Lab, and the Anthropology Program's study abroad course in Japan. Additionally, she serves as an Associate Director for the MSU Denver Honors Program.

Educational Biography
Ph.D., 2004, University of Arizona, Anthropology
B.A., 1992, Duke University, Anthropology and Comparative Area Studies
Certificate, 2001, Inter-University for Japanese Language Studies, Yokohama, Japan
Certificate, 2000, Japanese FALCON Program, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Degree

PhD in Anthropology

University of Arizona

Other in Intensive Japanese language

Inter-University for Japanese Language Studies

Other in Intensive Japanese language

Japanese FALCON Program, Cornell University

MA in Anthropology

University of Arizona

BA in Anthropology and Comparative Area Studies

Trinity College, Duke University

Other in French language and culture

Vanderbilt University

Published Works

  • Bernhardt, E. P., Forgash, R., Hernandez-Julian, R., Hughes, M. (2025). Can We Really Admit Students with a 2.0 GPA into the Honors Program? Findings, Conclusions, and Programmatic Implications from a Year-Long Study (tentative). [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council (JNCHC)https://link.springer.com/journal/11162.
  • Forgash, R. (2025). A Question of Responsibility: Practice and Politics of Reducing Use of Agricultural Chemicals in Northern Okinawa . Bulletin of Social Anthropology (Jimbun Gakuho), 3(521-2). .
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2024). Executive Summary: Research on Spring 2024 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2024). Executive Summary: Research on Fall 2023 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2023). Executive Summary: Research on Spring 2023 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2023). Executive Summary: Research on Fall 2022 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2022). Executive Summary: Research on Spring 2022 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2022). Executive Summary: Research on Fall 2021 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R. (2021). Author Response, H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable on Intimacy Across the Fencelines: Sex, Marriage, and the U.S. Military in Okinawa (Cornell University Press, 2020), by Rebecca Forgash . H-Diplo/ISSF (International Security Studies Forum), https://issforum.org/roundtables/PDF/Roundtable-XXIII-12.pdf
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2021). Executive Summary: Research on Spring 2021 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R., Bernhardt, E. P. (2021). Executive Summary: Research on Fall 2020 MSU Denver Teaching Assistant Program . ,
  • Forgash, R. (2020). Intimacy Across the Fencelines: Sex, Marriage and the U.S. Military in Okinawa. (). Cornell University Press. https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501750403/intimacy-across-the-fencelines/#bookTabs=0
  • Forgash, R. (2019). Touring Tohoku, Serving the Nation: Volunteer Tourism in Post-Disaster Japan. The Applied Anthropologist / High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology, 38(1-2), 70-75. https://hpsfaa.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/AppliedAnthropologist-2018/Vol_38_Number_1-2_2018.pdf.
  • Forgash, R., . (2018). 結婚の壁を乗り越える--沖縄における文化的市民権とアメリカ帝国の再生産 (Negotiating Marriage: Cultural Citizenship and the Reproduction of American Empire in Okinawa). The Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities / Tokyo Metropolitan University, (514-2), 139-162. .
  • Forgash, R., Ingram, T. (2013). Marrying Out in Okinawa: Analyzing International Marriage Narratives. Multicultural Cities and the Formation of New Interactive Zones / Tokyo Metropolitan University, 6-108. .
  • Forgash, R., . (2011). Touring Tohoku, Serving the Nation: Volunteer Tourism in Post-Disaster Japan. The Applied Anthropologist / High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology, 31(1), 30-36. .
  • Forgash, R. (2011). Review of 'Heritage that Hurts: Tourists in the Memoryscapes of September 11' by Joy Sather-Wagstaff (Left Coast Press, 2011). Anthropology Review Database,
  • Forgash, R., . (2010). Negotiating Marriage: Cultural Citizenship and the Reproduction of American Empire in Okinawa. Ethnology: An International Journal of Cultural and Social Anthropology, 48(3), 215-237. .
  • Forgash, R. (2010). Review of Soldiers of Conscience, directed by Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan. Anthropology Review Database,
  • Forgash, R. (2004). Military Transnational Marriage in Okinawa: Intimacy Across Boundaries of Nation, Race, and Class. ProQuest - UMI Dissertation Publishing.
  • Forgash, R. (1995). Marine Violence and the Politics of Meaning during the U.S. Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934. ProQuest - UMI Dissertation Publishing,

Teaching Interests

Education should be a transformative experience. In the classroom, anthropology’s focus on studying human ideas and behavior across diverse social and historical contexts challenges students to confront what they think is “normal.” Ultimately, the goal is for students to recognize their own view of the world as just one of many well-organized, equally sophisticated approaches to life. Teaching and learning are most successful in classrooms characterized by mutual respect and curiosity, in which persons with different backgrounds and life experiences feel they can safely share their ideas, opinions, and questions with one another. As an instructor, I employ a variety of pedagogical techniques and assessment methods, including carefully planned and well-organized lectures, individual research projects and presentations, group projects, and plenty of discussion. Additionally, I integrate opportunities for students to gain first-hand experience with anthropological field research methods.