The Institute of Comparative Culture
at
Sophia University Presents:
ANTHROPOLOGY OF JAPAN IN JAPAN (AJJ)
FALL WORKSHOP 2003
Sophia University, Ichigaya Campus
Tokyo Japan, November 1-2nd, 2003
**CALL FOR PAPERS**
1) LIVING IN THE CITY: PLANNING, PRODUCING, CONSUMING AND SURVIVING THE JAPANESE CITY
The main theme of this AJJ Workshop is the Japanese City, in all its cohesion and diversity, order and complexity, coherence and contradiction. Ethnographic work set in the city, or work outside of the city that allows us to situate the city in some way, is encouraged. We hope to examine the spatial organization of community, work, class, leisure and consumption; the technologies of order and control; and subcultural innovation that take distinctive form in the urban context. But we also hope to move beyond our usual ethnographic context in including papers explicitly on urban processes (city planning, physical structure, local governance, migration, etc) that might not be self-evidently the subject of “fieldwork.” Thus, in hopes of expanding the bounds of our usual ethnographic approach, we are seeking to engage in dialogue with architects and planners, geographers and demographers, economists and political scientists who are interested in crossing out of disciplinary boundaries in the study of the city.
As always, we welcome empirical research and work in progress. But it is just as important to note that the study of the city has been at the center of a rich theoretical literature (that has largely ignored Japan) while Japanese urban culture and society has been a rich source of ethnographic materials (which has largely been studies outside of the recent currents in the theoretical literature). One goals of this conference is to bring these theoretical literatures to bear on the ethnographic study of the Japanese city in some principled and exciting way.
We will have up to 4 panels on different aspects of City Life.
2) OPEN SESSION FOR YOUNGER SCHOLARS
Our OPEN SESSION is a chance for undergraduates or MA students to present or even propose work and have it discussed in a small workshop format. The theme for this session is open.
FORMAT: Each panel is made up of 3 to 5 thematically related papers, probably without a discussant, so as to allow ample time for presentation and Q&A. Our aim is to provide a workshop for developing contacts, research, writing and publishing.
SCHEDULE: We will begin Saturday afternoon with two sessions; have an informal party Saturday evening, to which all attending are invited; and then have two more sessions on Sunday, finishing in the early afternoon. (Our plan at this point is to have no concurrent City Life sessions, but the Open Sessions might run concurrently.)
TO PRESENT: Please send a title and abstract (of not more than 250 words) to David Slater (d…@s….ac.jp) if you are interested in presenting a paper.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACT: SEPTEMBER 1, 2003
LOCATION: The Ichigaya Campus of Sophia University site is centrally located in the middle of Tokyo. Please check our homepage for the panel MAPS AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION on AJJ (Anthropology of Japan in Japan):
PARTICIPATION: Attendance for our workshops includes anthropologists, sociologists and anyone else interested in Japanese social and cultural practice. There is always a good balance of scholars based in Japan and those based abroad doing research here, and plenty of chances to share research interests with others over coffee and lunch.
FEE: no charge for undergraduates and MA students; 1000 yen for graduate students; 2000 yen for everyone else.
LANGUAGE: English and Japanese
We look forward to seeing you there!
David Slater (d…@s….ac.jp)
Faculty of Comparative Culture
Sophia University