At age eighteen, after completing his studies at a Jesuit high school in Brussels, Herman joined the Jesuit order himself. He spent two years in the novitiate program at the abbey in Drongen, a small village near Ghent, and studied Latin and ancient Greek for two years in Wépion, near Namur.
After earning a master’s degree in philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Herman traveled with the Jesuits to Japan, where he earned a master’s degree in the anthropology of religion from the University of Tokyo in 1962.
It was in Japan that he began learning his fourth modern language. (His first three were Flemish, French, and German; his fourth was Japanese, and English would be his fiHerman Ooms was born and raised in Belgium.
At age eighteen, after completing his studies at a Jesuit high school in Brussels, Herman joined the Jesuit order himself. He spent two years in the novitiate program at the abbey in Drongen, a small village near Ghent, and studied Latin and ancient Greek for two years in Wépion, near Namur.
After earning a master’s degree in philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Herman traveled with the Jesuits to Japan, where he earned a master’s degree in the anthropology of religion from the University of Tokyo in 1962.
It was in Japan that he began learning his fourth modern language. (His first three were Flemish, French, and German; his fourth was Japanese, and English would be his fifth.)
Herman left the Jesuits in 1969, and three years later he received his PhD in history from the University of Chicago. While teaching at the University of Illinois Chicago, known as Chicago Circle, he met Emily Groszos, who would become his wife in 1974.
In 1987 Herman joined the History Department at UCLA and moved to Los Angeles with Emily and their growing family.
His research and teaching focused on pre-modern and early modern (Tokugawa) Japanese History and Cultural Theory. In his research and teaching, he combined anthropological approaches, intellectual history and critical theory.
His publications include "Tokugawa Ideology: Early Constructs, 1570-1680" (Princeton University Press, 1985), "Tokugawa Village Practice: Class, Status, Power, Law" (California University Press, 1996), "Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty, 650-800" (University of Hawai’i Press, 2009)
He retired in 2012 and passed away in 2023 at the age of eighty-six. ...more
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