Ramona Handel-Bajema holds a Ph.D. in Modern Japanese History from Columbia University. She is a lecturer at Columbia University and New York University.

Her book, Art Across Borders: Japanese Artists in the United States before World War II, published by MerwinAsia in 2021, explored how five artists – Kuniyoshi Yasuo, Ishigaki Eitarō, and Shimizu Toshi, Obata Chiura, and Miyatake Tōyō – navigated the modern American art world as Japanese nationals. Her writing includes essays about Japanese artists in Mexico, contemporary social and political issues in Japan following the 2011 triple disaster, and disaster capitalism.

In addition to academia, Ramona has worked in non-profit organizations such as Americares, the social enterprise VisionSpring, and Japan Society. She is currently a senior advisor for VisionSpring’s Resource Mobilization team that supports programs that generate access to affordable eyeglasses for artists, craftspeople, farmers, and factory workers in the Global South.

In 2011, she moved to northeastern Japan, where she worked until 2015 as Americares Country Director, managing their disaster relief program following the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. Ramona has more than fifteen years of experience working at non-profit organizations and social enterprises, while continuing to teach and write.