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"A unique art form" – Anthropological Research on Anime

Published on February 7, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, art, Asia, cyberanthropology, internet, Northern America, technology

An old drawing style in Japan is being reintroduced as new in the United States, and USC anthropology research scientist Mizuko Ito presented the development of Anime at the UCLA Faculty Center, UCLA University writes on their homepage. Academics should view anime fan art as its own unique art form, she said: “It is important for academic institutions to acknowledge popular culture (such as anime).”

Ito is known for her research on mobile phones. Currently she is part of the research project Digital kids.

The article also mentions Rachel Cody, a research assistant who works with Ito and studies the interaction of anime enthusiasts on the Internet and in front of the computer in private rooms.

>> read the whole story

>> read “Anime and Learning Japanese Culture” by Mizuko Ito

SEE ALSO:

Pop goes Japanese culture

Ethnographic Study on “Digital Kids”

Technologies of the Childhood Imagination- new text by anthropologist Mizuko Ito

Why cellular life in Japan is so different – Interview with anthropologist Mizuko Ito

Mizuko Ito’s homepage

LINKS UPDATED 5.1.2023

The Anthropology of Biopolitics and the Laboratory for the Anthropology of the Contemporary

Published on February 7, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods, journal articles / papers, Northern America, Open Access Anthropology and Knowledge Sharing

Judd Antin at TechnoTaste recently informed us about two new anthropology centers. One of them Laboratory for the Anthropology of the Contemporary seems to take knowledge sharing more seriously than other research centers. You can click on and read every article on their list over publications.

The introductory paper Steps toward an anthropological laboratory by Paul Rabinow starts promising:

The challenge is to invent new forms of inquiry, writing, and ethics for an anthropology of the contemporary. The problem is: how to rethink and remake the conditions of contemporary knowledge production,
dissemination, and critique, in the interpretive sciences?

They continue explaining the background for their research methods at the new center, dedicated to the invention of new modes of collaborative work among and between social and natural scientists:

Given that the social sciences and humanities disciplines in the U.S. university system are essentially those of the nineteenth century, and there is little motivation from within the disciplines to abolish themselves, we are not optimistic that new work can be exclusively based in the university. The university (or restricted parts of it) remains a source of employment, of resources such as libraries, and of pedagogy. In that light, we imagine new hybrid organizations, adjacent to and in many parasitic on, the university.

(…)

It is quite remarkable that the contemporary self-understanding of anthropology includes few examples of collective work. (…) New forms of collaboration and coordination among and between anthropologists (and other knowledge workers) is unquestionably going to be required to adequately address the scope, complexity, and temporality of contemporary objects and problems.

>> read the whole text by Paul Rabinow (pdf, 19pages)

>> overview over all publications (much on biosecurity)

"Ethnographic perspectives needed in discussion on public health care system"

Published on January 15, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, medical anthropology / ethnobothany, Northern America, politics

In the current discussion on reforming the American public health care system, ethnographic perspectives are especially needed — and sadly lacking, Sarah Horton and Louise Lamphere write in Anthropology News January 2006. They call for an “Anthropology of Health Policy”:

Anthropologists’ relative neglect of health policy issues may lie, in part, in our tendency to view the realm of policy as outside our disciplinary scope. Yet in doing so, we have ceded the field of health policy to health economists, who have long held hegemonic sway over the terms in which we discuss and understand the current American health care system. Terms such as the “law of demand” and “cost-efficiencies” are commonly used to explain the logic of imposing cost-sharing through premiums and deductibles. Patients are instead portrayed as “consumers of health care,” naturalizing the idea of health care as a commodity whose use must be restricted.

As medical anthropologists were once instrumental in challenging the terms of the rationality debate three decades ago, it is time we dust off our boxing gloves. There are multiple levels of analysis at which anthropologists can make a contribution to debates over health policy—at the levels of individual behavior, institutional policy and public discourse.

(…)

Finally, as ethnographers, we should continue to document how such reforms play out in our tattered health care safety net. Perhaps nowhere else are the effects of such reforms more visible to the ethnographic eye.

>> continue (LINK UPDATED 3.4.2020)

SEE ALSO:

What is medical anthropology?

earlier news on medical anthropology

Flags and identity: Strong feelings, mystical rituals and equivocal messages

Published on December 15, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Europe, journal articles / papers, Northern America, Us and Them

(Links updated 24.9.2020) By studying flags it is possible to study how a society includes and excludes people. A few weeks ago, the research program “Cultural Complexity in the New Norway” arranged a two days’ conference on Flags and Identity with some leading flag experts from the UK, the USA and the Nordic countries. We even heard about flag burning. My summary has now been translated into English. It starts like this:

One of the fundamental insights of social science is “Nothing is just” (Dustin Wax): Football is not just a game; family isn’t just the people one is related to; and a flag is not just a square of cloth on a metal pole. Flags mark group identity; flag are symbols, loaded with emotion. The police in Northern Ireland, for example, refrain from taking prohibited flags down from lamp posts: They know that this would lead to rioting, explained anthropologist, Neil Jarman. Flags symbolize the happy union of family and nation, said folklorist Anne Eriksen. Those who question this idyll, as Thomas Hylland Eriksen once did, will be forced to rethink: As a teenager, together with some friends, he waved a Swedish flag during Norway’s 17th of May Independence Day parade. They were removed from the procession and sent home.

>> read the whole article

All papers can be downloaded as pdf-files.

(Links updated 24.9.2020) By studying flags it is possible to study how a society includes and excludes people. A few weeks ago, the research program "Cultural Complexity in the New Norway" arranged a two days' conference on Flags and Identity…

Blog: The Sami People of Northern America

Published on November 13, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, indigenous people / minorities, Northern America, Saami, websites

In the 19th century, lots of Norwegians emigrated to America. Among them, there were many Sami people. Today, there’s still a large community of Sami in Northern America. The Sami Siida of North America is the single active representative of the Sami culture in North America. The organization maintains an observer seat on the International Sami Council and promotes the revival of cultural awareness in North America. On their blog they inform us on Sami issues both in America and Northern Europe

In the 19th century, lots of Norwegians emigrated to America. Among them, there were many Sami people. Today, there's still a large community of Sami in Northern America. The Sami Siida of North America is the single active representative of…