Projects Completed
Core Projects
Anthropological Inquiry of Sociality: Dynamics of Tolerance/Intolerance in Transcultural Contexts
Term: 2016. 4 - 2022. 3
Leader: Ryoko NISHII
Members: Kaori KAWAI, Hirohide KURIHARA, Masahiko TOGAWA, Ikuya TOKORO, Yukako YOSHIDA, Aya KAWAI
Summary
Globalization and modernization have generated hazards and risks across the globe that cannot be fully understood from a Western-centric viewpoint. Virtually all aspects of human lives are being endangered by various conflicts, environmental changes, population changes (e.g., the issue of marginal villages), economic crises, and natural disasters, which are uncontrollable by humans. As this situation escalates, people have started to believe that they have the power to control political, economic, social, as well as natural phenomena with reason-based modern technology in the interest of humans. Though this fallacy has been met with widespread opposition, effective solutions are yet to be found.
The mail objectives of this research project are investigate 'indigenous knowledge,' or the way of doing things unique to individual regions in Asia and Africa by using the theories and methods that have been established through our 'explorations into the linkage of micro-macro perspectives', the main theme of the Core Research Program of Anthropology, and by integrating the isolated knowledge of coping with hazards and risks into unified human knowledge. This knowledge can be verified in and adapted not only to Japan, but to anywhere in the world. The mission of the anthropologists committed to the Core Research Program is to pave the way to move indigenous knowledge from Asia and Africa beyond individual experiences and apply it in a wider range of contexts, by sharing the achievements of this research with people inside and outside of Japan, thereby contributing to resolving several issues in Asia and Africa.
The Anthropological Explorations into the Linkage of Micro-Macro Perspectives
Term: 2010.4-2015.3
Leader: Ryoko NISHII
Member: Jun'ichi ODA(2010.4～2013.3), Kaori KAWAI, Wakana SHIINO, Hideo FUKAZAWA, Jun TAKASHIMA, Hitoshi TAKACHIO(2010.4～2012.3), Koji TSUDA(2010.4～2012.3), Ikuya TOKORO, Aiko NISHIKIDA(2010.4～2012.3), Yuko MIO, Hirohide KURIHARA(2013.4～), Ichiro MAJIMA(2012.4～)
Summary
Most of field researches in cultural/social anthropology untill 1970's were carried out in relatively small and isolated communities. In recent years, however, anthropological themes on macro perspective vary from nation states and "the modern world system" to globalism/ transnationalism. On the other hand, another subjects on micro perspective such as habitus, affordances, tacit knowledge, intercorporality and so on which are focused upon an individual's body are more and more prevalent. Under these theoretical backgrounds, we think that anthropologists must attempt to construct a new anthropological perspective which will be able to sublate the profound dichotomy between individual and society, structure and agency. Therefore the main subject of our anthropological core project aims to graft and integrate the macro perspective theory and the micro perspective theory, or to explorate the linkage of micro-macro perspectives.