Beyond Ainu Studies

Beyond Ainu Studies

Changing Academic and Public Perspectives

Edited by: Mark James Hudson, ann-elise lewallen and Mark K. Watson

University of Hawaii Press | 2013

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824839185

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About this book

In 2008, 140 years after it had annexed Ainu lands, the Japanese government shocked observers by finally recognizing Ainu as an Indigenous people. In this moment of unparalleled political change, it was Uzawa Kanako, a young Ainu activist, who signalled the necessity of moving beyond the historical legacy of “Ainu studies.” Mired in a colonial mindset of abject academic practices, Ainu Studies was an umbrella term for an approach that claimed scientific authority vis-à-vis Ainu, who became its research objects. As a result of this legacy, a latent sense of suspicion still hangs over the purposes and intentions of non-Ainu researchers.

This major new volume seeks to re-address the role of academic scholarship in Ainu social, cultural, and political affairs. Placing Ainu firmly into current debates over Indigeneity, Beyond Ainu Studies provides a broad yet critical overview of the history and current status of Ainu research. With chapters from scholars as well as Ainu activists and artists, it addresses a range of topics including history, ethnography, linguistics, tourism, legal mobilization, hunter-gatherer studies, the Ainu diaspora, gender, and clothwork. In its ambition to reframe the question of Ainu research in light of political reforms that are transforming Ainu society today, this book will be of interest to scholars and students in Indigenous studies as well as in anthropology and Asian studies.

Contributors: Misa Adele Honde, David L. Howell, Mark J. Hudson, Deriha Kōji, ann-elise lewallen, Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Hans Dieter Ölschleger, Kirsten Refsing, Georgina Stevens, Sunazawa Kayo, Tsuda Nobuko, Uzawa Kanako, Mark K. Watson, Yūki Kōji.

Author information

HudsonMark James:

Mark J. Hudson is professor at Nishikyushu University (University of West Kyushu), where he teaches anthropology and environmental humanities.lewallenann-elise:

Ann-Elise Lewallen is assistant professor in the East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara.WatsonMark K.:

Mark K. Watson is assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal.

Reviews

It is one of the world’s most comprehensive non-Japanese-language publications of its kind about Ainu studies based on the latest research results. . . . the book’s juxtaposition of perspectives in Japan and elsewhere is expected to provide a strong stimulus for consideration regarding efforts to resolve such issues, and the effectiveness of its methodological framework will be revealed in future Ainu studies.

Frontmatter Free access PDF PDF	i
contents Free access PDF PDF	vii
preface Free access PDF PDF	ix
1. Beyond Ainu Studies An Introduction Mark K. Watson, Ann-elise Lewallen and Mark J. Hudson Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	1
Theme ONE: Representation / Objectification
2 .Ainu Ethnography Historical Representations in the West Hans Dieter Ölschleger Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	25
3. Tourists, Anthropologists, and Visions of Indigenous Society in Japan Tessa Morris-Suzuki Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	45
Theme Two: New Critical Responses
4. Tokyo Ainu and the Urban Indigenous Experience Mark K. Watson Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	69
5 .Charanke Uzawa Kanako Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	86
6 .As a Child of Ainu Sunazawa Kayo Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	92
Theme three :Academic Disciplines and Understandings of Ainu
7 .Is Ainu History Japanese History? David L. Howell Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	101
8. Ainu and Hunter-Gatherer Studies Mark J. Hudson Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	117
9. Trade and the Paradigm Shift in Research on Ainu Hunting Practices Deriha Koji Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	136
Theme four: The Discourse of Culturalism
10. Our Ancestors’ Handprints The Evolution of Ainu Women’s Clothing Culture Tsuda Nobuko Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	153
11. The Gender of Cloth Ainu Women and Cultural Revitalization Ann-elise Lewallen Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	171
12 .From Collecting Words to Writing Grammars A Brief History of Ainu Linguistics Kirsten Refsing Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	185
13 .The Ainu, Law, and Legal Mobilization, 1984–2009 Georgina Stevens Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	200
References Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	223
Contributors Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	251
Index Access restricted Content is available PDF PDF	253

Beyond Ainu Studies

Changing Academic and Public Perspectives

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