Maura Anne McGrath

Maura McGrath is a PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include emotional, intimate, and service-industry labor, and the production of urban nightlife economies. Her current research focuses on women’s dual roles as business owners and customer-facing laborers in Tokyo’s nightlife economy, specifically look at an oft-narrativized subset of Japanese bars known as sunakku, or “snack bars.” She seeks to understand how women navigate the gendered scripts of Japan’s nighttime economy to claim control over their labor. By engaging with different generations of women bar owners, she provides insight into the transformation of gendered entrepreneurial subjects in service industries.

Education

MA, University of Chicago, 2022

BA, Harvard College, 2015