A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan

Robertson, Jennifer (Editor)

Blackwell Companions to Anthropology

1. Edition February 2008
544 Pages, Softcover
Professional Book

ISBN: 978-1-4051-8289-8

John Wiley & Sons

Short Description

This book is an unprecedented collection of original essays by some of the field's most distinguished scholars of Japan that, taken together, offers a comprehensive overview of the field.

Further versions

A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan is an unprecedented collection of original essays by some of the field's most distinguished scholars of Japan which, taken together, offer a comprehensive overview of the field. Aiming to retire stale and misleading stereotypes, the authors present new perspectives on Japanese culture and society - past and present - in accessible language.

A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan covers a broad range of issues, controversies, and everyday practices, including the unacknowledged colonial roots of anthropology in the Japanese academy; legacies of nationalist research; eugenics and nation-building; majority and minority cultures; class and status; genders and sexualities; urban spectacle and rural 'undevelopment'; domestic, corporate, and educational ideologies and practices; the mass media, leisure, and 'infotainment' industries; women's and men's sports; fashion and food cultures; ideas of nature, life, and death; new and folk religions; and science and biotechnology.

Collectively, these chapters not only demonstrate Japan's significance for anthropological research but also help make Japanese society accessible to readers unfamiliar with the country. A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan is a reference volume for scholars, but is also designed to serve as a primary text for courses in anthropology and sociology, history, and Japan and East Asian Studies.

Synopses of Contents.

Notes on Contributors.

Part I: Introduction.

Part II: Cultures, Histories, and Identities.

Part III: Geographies and Boundaries, Spaces and Sentiments.

Part IV: Socialization, Assimilation, and Identification.

Part V: Body, Blood, Self, and Nation.

Part VI: Religion and Science, Beliefs and Bioethics.

Index

Jennifer Robertson is Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan. Robertson has published many articles and book chapters on a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from the seventeenth century to the present. Her most recent research projects include Japanese colonial culture-making, eugenic modernity, war art, and comparative bioethics. She is the author of Native and Newcomer: Making and Unmaking a Japanese City (1991), Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan (1998), and editor of Same-Sex Cultures and Sexualities: An Anthropological Reader (Blackwell, 2004). She is finishing a new book, Blood and Beauty: Eugenic Modernity and Empire in Japan.

J. Robertson, University of Michigan