The Origin of Ethnography in Japan

The Origin of Ethnography in Japan PDF Author: Minoru Kawada
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
"The many changes that have taken place in Japan as a result of the period of rapid economic growth - including the imbalance in development of primary and secondary industry; the tremendous expansion of heavy industry accompanied by the gradual decay of agriculture; the failure to establish a healthy productivity cycle; the destruction of the natural environment and traditional patterns of life and especially the emergence and rapid growth of social apathy due to the lack of a firmly-established base on which to build the burgeoning supra-modern 'popular society' - have renewed interest in the work of Yanagita Kunio (1872-1962), generally known as the founder of ethnography in Japan." "Yanagita consistently expressed his concern about the effects of Japan's hasty modernization on the lives and values of its ordinary citizens. Critical of the Meiji establishment's policies for their short-term perspective on Japan's economic success in the international arena, Yanagita maintained an independent position and, through his work, attempted to overcome the problems caused by the direct importation of European ideas into Japan by isolating, recording and analysing the unique features of Japanese life, using them to present an alternative modernization theory which incorporated a fundamental restructuring of Japan's domestic economy and its social system. To Yanagita, the significance of ethnography lay in the way it could reconstruct the indigenous values of the past. His contention was that an understanding of indigenous cultural values and a revitalization of the traditional communal spirit were essential to the establishment of a moral foundation for Japanese society in the years of great change between the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras and, by extension, to Japan today." "The Origin of Ethnography in Japan presents a timely re-evaluation of the writings of Yanagita Kunio. Chapter One examines his early writings on agro-politics, Chapter Two discusses the background to Yanagita's interest in ethnographic studies with reference to his work on Japan's folk religion and Chapter Three demonstrates how Yanagita's theory of agro-politics was combined with his interest in cultural studies, leading him to explore a broader theory of social development. Chapter Four summarizes Yanagita's views on some of the major political issues of his time, while Chapter Five concentrates on the methodology known as 'Yanagita Ethnography' and compares Yanagita's method and research aims with those of the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Lastly, Chapter Six deals with Yanagita's idea of communality, which he believed to be central to the understanding of human relationships and social structure in traditional Japan, and his view that communality could be utilized to bring people together at the family, village and national levels in contemporary Japan."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Origin of Ethnography in Japan

The Origin of Ethnography in Japan PDF Author: Minoru Kawada
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Get Book Here

Book Description
"The many changes that have taken place in Japan as a result of the period of rapid economic growth - including the imbalance in development of primary and secondary industry; the tremendous expansion of heavy industry accompanied by the gradual decay of agriculture; the failure to establish a healthy productivity cycle; the destruction of the natural environment and traditional patterns of life and especially the emergence and rapid growth of social apathy due to the lack of a firmly-established base on which to build the burgeoning supra-modern 'popular society' - have renewed interest in the work of Yanagita Kunio (1872-1962), generally known as the founder of ethnography in Japan." "Yanagita consistently expressed his concern about the effects of Japan's hasty modernization on the lives and values of its ordinary citizens. Critical of the Meiji establishment's policies for their short-term perspective on Japan's economic success in the international arena, Yanagita maintained an independent position and, through his work, attempted to overcome the problems caused by the direct importation of European ideas into Japan by isolating, recording and analysing the unique features of Japanese life, using them to present an alternative modernization theory which incorporated a fundamental restructuring of Japan's domestic economy and its social system. To Yanagita, the significance of ethnography lay in the way it could reconstruct the indigenous values of the past. His contention was that an understanding of indigenous cultural values and a revitalization of the traditional communal spirit were essential to the establishment of a moral foundation for Japanese society in the years of great change between the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras and, by extension, to Japan today." "The Origin of Ethnography in Japan presents a timely re-evaluation of the writings of Yanagita Kunio. Chapter One examines his early writings on agro-politics, Chapter Two discusses the background to Yanagita's interest in ethnographic studies with reference to his work on Japan's folk religion and Chapter Three demonstrates how Yanagita's theory of agro-politics was combined with his interest in cultural studies, leading him to explore a broader theory of social development. Chapter Four summarizes Yanagita's views on some of the major political issues of his time, while Chapter Five concentrates on the methodology known as 'Yanagita Ethnography' and compares Yanagita's method and research aims with those of the anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Lastly, Chapter Six deals with Yanagita's idea of communality, which he believed to be central to the understanding of human relationships and social structure in traditional Japan, and his view that communality could be utilized to bring people together at the family, village and national levels in contemporary Japan."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Origin Of Ethnography In Japan

Origin Of Ethnography In Japan PDF Author: Minoru Kawada
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131772691X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Yanagita Kunio (1872-1962) is widely known as the founder of folklore studies in Japan, and his achievement in presenting a systematic framework for the discipline is highly valued amongst academic writings. However, many of his ideas still need to be examined, and in recent years there has been a renewal of interest in his works, especially among scholars of intellectual history. This re-evaluation of his achievements is generally attributable to the current view that Yanagita retained an independent position as an intellectual struggling to solve the various problems that dominated Japan in the years of great change from Meiji and Taisho to Showa. First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Tha Origin of Ethnography in Japan

Tha Origin of Ethnography in Japan PDF Author: Minoru Kawada
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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A Discipline on Foot

A Discipline on Foot PDF Author: Alan Christy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 1442216492
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Exploring the fundamental question of how a new discipline comes into being, this groundbreaking book tells the story of the emergence of native ethnology in Imperial Japan, a “one nation” social science devoted to the study of the Japanese people. Roughly corresponding to folklore studies or ethnography in the West, this social science was developed outside the academy over the first half of the twentieth century by a diverse group of intellectuals, local dignitaries, and hobbyists. Alan Christy traces the paths of the distinctive individuals who founded minzokugaku, how theory and practice developed, and how many previously unknown figures contributed to the growth of the discipline. Despite its humble beginnings, native ethnology today is a fixture in Japanese intellectual life, offering arguments and evidence about the popular, as opposed to elite, foundations of Japanese culture. Speaking directly to fundamental questions in anthropology, this authoritative and engaging book will become a standard not only for the field of native ethnology but also as a major work in broader modern Japanese cultural and intellectual history.

A Discipline on Foot

A Discipline on Foot PDF Author: Alan S. Christy
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN: 9781442216471
Category : Ethnology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Exploring the fundamental question of how a new discipline comes into being, this groundbreaking book tells the story of the emergence of native ethnology in Imperial Japan, a "one nation" social science devoted to the study of the Japanese people. Roughly corresponding to folklore studies or ethnography in the West, this social science was developed outside the academy over the first half of the twentieth century by a diverse group of intellectuals, local dignitaries, and hobbyists. Alan Christy traces the paths of the distinctive individuals who founded minzokugaku, how theory and practice developed, and how many previously unknown figures contributed to the growth of the discipline. Despite its humble beginnings, native ethnology today is a fixture in Japanese intellectual life, offering arguments and evidence about the popular, as opposed to elite, foundations of Japanese culture. Speaking directly to fundamental questions in anthropology, this authoritative and engaging book will become a standard not only for the field of native ethnology but also as a major work in broader modern Japanese cultural and intellectual history.

Politics and Pitfalls of Japan Ethnography

Politics and Pitfalls of Japan Ethnography PDF Author: Jennifer Robertson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317967585
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 121

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Book Description
Four anthropologists, Elise Edwards, Ann Elise Lewallen, Bridget Love and Tomomi Yamaguchi, draw on their fieldwork experiences in Japan to demonstrate collectively the inadequacy of both the Code of Ethics developed by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the dictates of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) when dealing with messy human realities. The four candidly and critically explore the existential dilemmas they were forced to confront with respect to this inadequacy, for the AAA’s code and IRBs consider neither the vulnerability and powerlessness of ethnographers nor the wholly unethical (and even criminal) deportment of some informants. As Jennifer Robertson points out in her Introduction, whereas the AAA’s Code tends to perpetuate the stereotype of more advantaged fieldworkers studying less advantaged peoples, IRBs appear to protect their home institutions (from possible litigation) rather than living and breathing people whose lives are often ethically compromised irrespective of the presence of an ethnographer. In her commentary, Sabine Frühstück, who incurred ample experience with ethical dilemmas in the course of her pathbreaking ethnographic research on Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, situates the four articles in a broader theoretical context, and emphasizes the link between political engagement and ethnographic accuracy. This book was previously published as a special issue of Critical Asian Studies.

Globalizing Japan

Globalizing Japan PDF Author: Harumi Befu
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 9780415285667
Category : Asia
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Globalizing Japan explores the social and cultural dimensions of Japan's global presence. Japan's expansion and presence as an economic giant is witnessed on an everyday basis. Both consciously and unconsciously, we regularly come into contact with Japan's industrial and cultural globalization, from cameras and automobiles to judo, cuisine or animation. Japan's presence in the popular imagination is heavily influenced both by the country's historical past and its global present. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese Studies, Anthropology and Cultural Studies.

A Companion to Japanese History

A Companion to Japanese History PDF Author: William M. Tsutsui
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405193395
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 633

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Book Description
A Companion to Japanese History provides an authoritative overview of current debates and approaches within the study of Japan’s history. Composed of 30 chapters written by an international group of scholars Combines traditional perspectives with the most recent scholarly concerns Supplements a chronological survey with targeted thematic analyses Presents stimulating interventions into individual controversies

When Tengu Talk

When Tengu Talk PDF Author: Wilburn N. Hansen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824865596
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Hirata Atsutane (1776–1843) has been the subject of numerous studies that focus on his importance to nationalist politics and Japanese intellectual and social history. Although well known as an ideologue of Japanese National Learning (Kokugaku), Atsutane’s significance as a religious thinker has been largely overlooked. His prolific writings on supernatural subjects have never been thoroughly analyzed in English until now. In When Tengu Talk, Wilburn Hansen focuses on Senkyo ibun (1822), a voluminous work centering on Atsutane’s interviews with a fourteen-year-old Edo street urchin named Kozo Torakichi who claimed to be an apprentice tengu, a supernatural creature of Japanese folklore. Hansen uncovers in detail how Atsutane employed a deliberate method of ethnographic inquiry that worked to manipulate and stimulate Torakichi’s surreal descriptions of everyday existence in a supernatural realm, what Atsutane termed the Other World. Hansen’s investigation and analysis of the process begins with the hypothesis that Atsutane’s project was an early attempt at ethnographic research, a new methodological approach in nineteenth-century Japan. Hansen posits that this "scientific" analysis was tainted by Atsutane’s desire to establish a discourse on Japan not limited by what he considered to be the unsatisfactory results of established Japanese philological methods. A rough sketch of the milieu of 1820s Edo Japan and Atsutane’s position within it provides the backdrop against which the drama of Senkyo ibun unfolds. There follow chapters explaining the relationship between the implied author and the outside narrator, the Other World that Atsutane helped Torakichi describe, and Atsutane’s nativist discourse concerning Torakichi’s fantastic claims of a newly discovered Shinto holy man called the sanjin. Sanjin were partly defined by supernatural abilities similar (but ultimately more effective and thus superior) to those of the Buddhist bodhisattva and the Daoist immortal. They were seen as holders of secret and powerful technologies previously thought to have come from or been perfected in the West, such as geography, astronomy, and military technology. Atsutane sought to deemphasize the impact of Western technology by claiming these powers had come from Japan’s Other World. In doing so, he creates a new Shinto hero and, by association, asserts the superiority of native Japanese tradition. In the final portion of his book, Hansen addresses Atsutane’s contribution to the construction of modern Japanese identity. By the late Tokugawa, many intellectuals had grown uncomfortable with continued cultural dependence on Neo-Confucianism, and the Buddhist establishment was under fire from positivist historiographers who had begun to question the many contradictions found in Buddhist texts. With these traditional discourses in disarray and Western rationalism and materialism gaining public acceptance, Hansen depicts Atsutane’s creation of a new spiritual identity for the Japanese people as one creative response to the pressures of modernity. When Tengu Talk adds to the small body of work in English on National Learning. It moreover fills a void in the area of historical religious studies, which is dominated by studies of Buddhist monks and priests, by offering a glimpse of a Shinto religious figure. Finally, it counters the image of Atsutane as a forerunner of the ultra-nationalism that ultimately was deployed in the service of empire. Lucid and accessible, it will find an appreciative audience among scholars of Shinto and Japanese and world religion. In addition to religion specialists, it will be of considerable interest to anthropologists and historians of Japan.

The Journey of “A Good Type”

The Journey of “A Good Type” PDF Author: David Odo
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674251326
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
When Japan opened its doors to the West in the 1860s, delicately hand-tinted photographic prints of Japanese people and landscapes were among its earliest and most popular exports. Renowned European photographers Raimund von Stillfried and Felice Beato established studios in Japan in the 1860s; the work was soon taken up by their Japanese protégés and successors Uchida Kuichi, Kusakabe Kimbei, and others. Hundreds of these photographs, collected by travelers from the Boston area, were eventually donated to Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, where they were archived for their ethnographic content and as scientific evidence of an "exotic" culture. In this elegant volume, visual anthropologist David Odo examines the Peabody’s collection of Japanese photographs and the ways in which such objects were produced, acquired, and circulated in the nineteenth century. His innovative study reveals the images' shifting and contingent uses—from tourist souvenir to fine art print to anthropological “type” record—were framed by the desires and cultural preconceptions of makers and consumers alike. Understood as both images and objects, the prints embody complex issues of history, culture, representation, and exchange.