Samantha Perez is an Associate Professor of History at Southeastern Louisiana University. Her research interests include diplomatic engagement and cultural communication in the early modern period, focusing on identity construction and performance in Italian encounters with England, Spain, and Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. Recent publications include "Venetian Diplomacy under Mary I" in Writing Mary I: History, Historiography, and Fiction (2021), "Popular Participation in Renaissance Siena's Romanitas Program" (Explorations in Renaissance Culture, 2023), and "Japanese Migration to Louisiana and the Localization of War, 1900-1945" (Louisiana History, 2025).

Matthew Paul Smith is an instructor in the English Department at Tulane University specializing in nineteenth century American literature, particularly Louisiana literature, literary regionalism, and the work of Lafcadio Hearn. His publications include a chapter on George Washington Cable in New Orleans: A Literary History (2019) and an article on the intersection between narrative, aesthetics, and plantation tourism in Southern Quarterly. He serves on the board of directors of the Japan Society of New Orleans and the editorial board of Southern Quarterly.

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