Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 8 June 2017, Nagoya, Japan Peter Knecht was the editor of Asian Folklore Studies from 1980 until 2007. The journal changed its name to Asian Ethnology in 2008. In this extended interview, Peter discusses his experiences working as the editor of Asian Folklore Studies. He talks about when he first encountered the journal working under founding editor, Matthias Eder, and what happened when he took over the journal in 1980.  ..read more

Interviewer: Ben Dorman In this episode, John Powers (Deakin University) discusses an interdisciplinary project involving historians, anthropologists, scientists, and folklorists concerning rivers that originate in Tibet, which play a key role in global hydrological cycles yet are in crises as a result of multiple threats.   ..read more

Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology Recorded 11 March 2011 In this episode, anthropologist Susanne Klien discusses her recent book Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society (SUNY Press, 2020). She touches on her motivations for doing the research, the reasons for migrants relocating to rural areas, and some of the challenges they face after relocation, amongst other issues. She also addresses some questions that were asked in a book talk given on 22 February 2021 that was part of the Asian Ethnology Series.  ..read more

Interviewer: Mark Bookman Recorded: Wednesday Feb 17th 2021 This episode features a discussion with Steven Fedorowicz, cultural anthropologist, visual anthropologist, and associate professor at Kansai Gaidai University. Steven will be giving a talk on “Representations of Deaf People in Japan: Inspiration, Outrage and Real Life,” as part of the “Disability and Japan in the Digital Age Series” via Zoom on May 14, 2021 (Details to follow). In discussing some of what he will be presenting, Steven talks about his ongoing project concerning media representations of deaf people and culture in Japan ..read more

Interviewer: Mark Bookman Date recorded: 26 October 2020 This episode of Asian Ethnology Podcast features Frank Mondelli, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Frank recently returned from research in Japan and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on the social, technical, and political history of assistive technologies for deafness and hearing impairment in 20th century Japan. Frank discusses his recent work on the history of hearing aids in 1950s Japan, how he became interested in assistive technology, and how thinking about assistive technology can help us think about ac ..read more

Interviewer: Ben Dorman Date recorded: 3 November 2020 In this episode, Mark Bookman discusses a new series of lectures entitled "Disability and Japan in the Digital Age," which is run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University. He talks about the significance of the series at this time. Mark will also be presenting interviews with the participants in Asian Ethnology Podcast episodes.  ..read more

In this episode Yoshiko Okuyama talks about her most recent monograph, Reframing Disability in Manga (University of Hawai’i Press, 2020). Okuyama explains that her work examines representations of disabled people in manga serialized throughout the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on portrayals of deaf, blind, paraplegic, and autistic individuals, as well as those with gender dysphoria. Bookman asks Okuyama about the history behind her project and the logic that guided her decision-making regarding specific manga titles and disability identities. The two also unpack the contributions of Reframing Disa ..read more

In this episode anthropologist Andreas Riessland discusses his research on Japanese biker gangs (bōsōzoku) and a project involving Shugendō Buddhist and Shinto groups that ended in failure due to various struggles between the groups. He also discusses how he came to terms with the failure, and offers advice to researchers who confront “failure” in fieldwork ..read more

Interviewer: Thomas David DuBois In this episode, we speak with China historians David Faure and He Xi of the Chinese University of Hong Kong about historical anthropology. Faure discusses the university's Historical Anthropology of Chinese Society AOE, and assesses what it accomplished in its eight-year run. He Xi explains how fieldwork shaped her perspective on China's boat communities and her recent book on lineages in Jiangxi. Publications discussed in this episode He Xi, Lineage and Community in China, 1100-1500: Genealogical Innovation in Jiangxi, London: Routledge, 2020. The Fisher Folk ..read more

In this episode, Gopalan Ravindran, Professor and Head of Department of Journalism and Communication at the University of Madras, talks about media literacy in India in general, his initial interest in journalism and communication, and then discusses two specific initiatives related to media literacy and journalism among marginalized communities in Southern India.   ..read more