Cultural Anthropology

The 21st century promises to be a dynamic "Age of Culture" marked by the breakup, confrontation, integration, fusion, emergence, and disappearance of various cultures and value systems in the course of globalization. This is exemplified by the outbreak of interethnic disputes, religious strife, and problems involving minority populations. The Cultural Anthropology Group actively takes up topical issues relating to this climate of cultural dynamism. Students are expected to explore, together with the staff, methodology for enabling dialogue among the diverse cultures around the world by applying broad perspectives with a global scope and results of research firmly rooted in fieldwork. The Group is led by a staff of five professional cultural anthropologists who handle a variety of themes and regions, and it provides a full curriculum of education and research. It nurtures the development of flexible outlooks on culture as a key contemporary issue. We welcome those who aspire to careers in international institutions, journalism, local government, non-profit organizations, private enterprises, or the academic field of cultural anthropology as well as students from other countries who intend to become internationally active experts themselves.

 

Messages to prospective students

Messages from each instructor are organized as follows:
1. Expectations of students and guiding principles
2. Research keywords
3. Academic societies, social activities, etc.
4. Contact information (E-mail, URL, office, etc.)

 

Umeya Kiyoshi
1.
Only a small amount of information on African societies - the subject of my research and studies - is available in Japan, and what can be found is often heavily biased. It is true that conflicts, starvation, poverty, HIV, etc. pose serious social problems in Africa, but I would like to welcome students who have a healthy desire to learn about other aspects of their societies as contemporaneous peoples. I also want students to be able to understand that the history of colonization and independence, which has had a lasting influence on contemporary African societies, is not irrelevant to our daily lives, but is in fact connected to our very existence. In class, I will occasionally display videos and images in addition to ethnographic explanations, so that we can perceive the actual situations of African societies as realistically as possible and think about them together.
2.
East Africa, Uganda, religion and world outlook, witchcraft and sorcery, magic, departed souls, curses, kinship, ethnography
3.
Japan Association for African Studies, Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, Japanese Association for Religious Studies
4.
URL: http://www2.kobe-u.ac.jp/~umeya/site01/
E-mail: umeya[at]people.kobe-u.ac.jp
Office: E-405 (Tsurukabuto 1 Campus) (Please make an appointment via e-mail before visiting our office.)

 

Okada Hiroki
1.
This course takes cultural anthropological approaches to the issue of reorganizing culture and society from modern times onward in Korea, Japan, and other societies in East Asia (including Vietnam). Among the specific topics are: family and religious issues in contemporary East Asia, issues of minorities and multiculturalism, issues of cultural policies in local communities in Japan, and issues of colonialism and modernization (modernity) / globalization. More recently, we have been invited to join in the attempt to consider technology and the future from an anthropological perspective (space anthropology) and research meetings organized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Students with an interest in such themes and students from Asian countries are more than welcome to join this class. At the Kobe University Intercultural Research Center (IREC), we are conducting research and study projects with foreign residents of Japan and on the issues of international exchange and revitalization of local communities in the Osaka-Kobe district.
2.
Cultural anthropology, East Asia, minorities, multiculturalism, cultural policy, family, religion
3.
Promotion of Multicultural Civil Society and Regional Liaison, IREC (Chief), Association for the Study of Korean Culture and Society (Director), Kyoto Folklore Society (Director)
4.
URL: http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/staff/hokada/
E-mail: hokada[at]kobe-u.ac.jp
Office: E-315 (Tsurukabuto 1 Campus) (Please make an appointment via e-mail before visiting the office.)

 

Saito Tsuyoshi
1.
I have conducted research in Morocco, located on the westernmost tip of Northern Africa, and my main research interests are saint worship, which is sometimes referred to as the "folk religion of Islam," and the Amazigh movement, an indigenous movement that is spreading among the Berber minority group.
2.
Cultural anthropology, Middle East, Islam, Morocco, Berber, Amazigh movement, saint worship, Tarīqah
3.
Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, Japan Association for Middle East Studies
4.
E-mail: t-saito[at]people.kobe-u.ac.jp

 

Shibata Yoshiko
1.
I use cultural anthropological methodology to conduct specialized research on Caribbean communities in the Caribbean, Europe, and the United States, with my recent focus being placed on minorities and Asian communities (Indian, Chinese, etc.). (http://ccs.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/Sojinka/newsletter/0015/frontline_02.html). I have also long been involved in research on American and Latin American cultures, and I have begun a comparative study with Oceania in a research project that I organized at the Kobe University Intercultural Research Center (IREC) (http://ccs.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/IReC/IRec.htm). The list of my previous research themes includes border crossing and migration, relationships among different racial and ethnic groups, intermarriage and mixed parentage, ethnicity, nationalism, glocalization and transnational phenomena, body and music culture, religion and rituals, development, tourism and culture, and multicultural education. I hope to provide guidance to help students deepen their research in their chosen fields and publish their findings in the form of academic papers, etc.
2.
The Caribbean, diaspora, Creole, hybrid, post-colonial
3.
IREC (Research Section Chief), JICA Regional / National Support Committee
4.
E-mail: yoshibat[at]kobe-u.ac.jp

 

Yoshioka Masanori
1.
The main focus of this class is to study the theoretical evolution and recent research trends of cultural anthropology, and students who have an interest in cultural anthropology are invited to join. Since our field of research is Oceania, students interested in the Oceania region are also welcome. As an advisor, I make it a rule to encourage students to read their papers at academic conferences as soon as possible and to produce articles for publication in scientific journals in any possible form. E-mail me at the address below for consultations and inquiries about the admission test.
2.
Social anthropology, cultural anthropology, Oceania, post-colonial, urban culture
3.
Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology (Councilor and Director), Japanese Society for Oceanic Studies (President), Japan-Tuvalu Exchange Association (Advisor)
4.
E-mail: yoshioka[at]tiger.kobe-u.ac.jp
URL: http://web.cla.kobe-u.ac.jp/staff/yoshioka/