Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 8 June 2017, Nagoya, Japan Peter Knecht was the editor of Asian Folklore Studies from 1980 until 2007. The journal changed its name to Asian Ethnology in 2008. In this extended interview, Peter discusses his experiences working as the editor of Asian Folklore Studies. He talks about when h…

Interviewer: Ben Dorman In this episode, John Powers (Deakin University) discusses an interdisciplinary project involving historians, anthropologists, scientists, and folklorists concerning rivers that originate in Tibet, which play a key role in global hydrological cycles yet are in crises as a result of multiple threats.…

Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 11 March 2011 In this episode, anthropologist Susanne Klien discusses her recent book Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society (SUNY Press, 2020). She touches on her motivations for doing the research, the reasons for migrants relocating to rural ar…

Interviewer: Mark Bookman Recorded: Wednesday Feb 17th 2021 This episode features a discussion with Steven Fedorowicz, cultural anthropologist, visual anthropologist, and associate professor at Kansai Gaidai University. Steven will be giving a talk on “Representations of Deaf People in Japan: Inspiration, Outrage and Real Life,” as part of the “Dis…

Interviewer: Mark Bookman Date recorded: 26 October 2020 This episode of Asian Ethnology Podcast features Frank Mondelli, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Frank recently returned from research in Japan and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on the social, technical, and political history of assistive technologies for deaf…

Interviewer: Ben Dorman Date recorded: 3 November 2020 In this episode, Mark Bookman discusses a new series of lectures entitled "Disability and Japan in the Digital Age," which is run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University. He talks about the significance of the series at this time. Mark will also be presenting interviews with th…

In this episode Yoshiko Okuyama talks about her most recent monograph, Reframing Disability in Manga (University of Hawai’i Press, 2020). Okuyama explains that her work examines representations of disabled people in manga serialized throughout the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on portrayals of deaf, blind, paraplegic, and autistic individuals, as well …

In this episode anthropologist Andreas Riessland discusses his research on Japanese biker gangs (bōsōzoku) and a project involving Shugendō Buddhist and Shinto groups that ended in failure due to various struggles between the groups. He also discusses how he came to terms with the failure, and offers advice to researchers who confront “failure” in …

Interviewer: Thomas David DuBois In this episode, we speak with China historians David Faure and He Xi of the Chinese University of Hong Kong about historical anthropology. Faure discusses the university's Historical Anthropology of Chinese Society AOE, and assesses what it accomplished in its eight-year run. He Xi explains how fieldwork shaped her…

In this episode, Gopalan Ravindran, Professor and Head of Department of Journalism and Communication at the University of Madras, talks about media literacy in India in general, his initial interest in journalism and communication, and then discusses two specific initiatives related to media literacy and journalism among marginalized communities in…

In this episode, we speak with Jin Feng, Professor of literature at Grinnell College, Iowa, and author of a new book on Chinese foodways. Jin discusses how the experience of leading a study trip to China and Russia helped shape her personal interest in food into a research program, how she expanded her circle of foodie friends into a professional n…

This episode features Mark Bookman, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting researcher at the university of Tokyo. Mark is completing his doctoral dissertation on the history of disability policy and related social movements in Japan. Mark discusses his personal challenges researching while using a wheelchair, changing…

This episode features historian Thomas David DuBois, who is currently Professor of Humanities at Beijing Normal University. Thomas discusses his original reasons for studying China, the application of historical anthropology in his work, his interest and work in Chinese food, the effect of the death of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had on his thi…

Asian Ethnology Podcast

Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 22 March 2018, Washington D.C. This episode's guest is Guha Shankar, Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. He is a member of the Asian Ethnology Editorial Board. Episode Summary Intro :32 Association with Frank Korom, co-editor of Asian …

Intro :35 Religion in contemporary Japan since the publication of Religion in Contemporary Japan (1991) 4:15 Lack of evidence concerning “new spirituality movements”; the importance of considering decline in popularity of religion 5:45 Revisiting Agonsh? since the death of the founder; work with religious studies scholar Erica Baffelli 11:39 Transf…

This episode's guests are Ian Reader, professor emeritus of The University of Manchester, and Erica Baffelli, senior lecturer in Japanese Studies who is also at The University of Manchester. Ian Reader's work on Aum Shinriky? is widely known in Japan and overseas. Erica Baffelli is also well-known for her work on media and post-Aum religions (Aleph…

This episode's guest is Erica Baffelli, senior lecturer in Japanese Studies at The University of Manchester. Erica’s research interests include religion in contemporary Japan, new religions, religion and media, and religion, women and violence. She discusses her work interviewing members of Japanese new religions and the issues researchers face whi…

In this second episode in the Editors’ Interviews, Ben Dorman discusses his research interest in Japanese new religions and media, and his experiences working as the associate editor for Asian Folklore Studies and Asian Ethnology.

Interviewer: Frank Korom, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 24 March 2018, Washington DC Intro :59 Early interest in anthropology, folklore, and folklife; work at the Smithsonian Institution 2:23 Study at The University of Texas 3:42 Learning and speaking languages; return to the Smithsonian 11:18 Travel to Southeast Asia; programs at the Smithson…

This episode's guest is Patrick McCartney, who is working on a post-doctoral project at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, titled “Yoga Scapes: The Economics of Imagination and Utopian Aspirations of Transglobal Yoga in Japan.” Episode Summary Background on Patrick, his work and what it involves :37 Exploring Glo…

Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 10 December 2017, Kyoto, Japan This episode's guest is Joy Hendry, emeritus professor of anthropology at Oxford Brookes University. Joy discusses her experiences and research related to early childhood education in Japan in the early 1980s. Episode Summary Intro 0:54 Reasons for doing rese…

Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 9 July 2017, Nagoya, Japan This episode's guest is Clark Chilson, associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Pittsburgh. Clark discusses his experiences studying anthropology in Japan, his research interests that include secrecy and a form of Buddhist psychol…