Dear Colleagues,

As part of University of Colorado Boulder's Introduction to the Anthropology of Japan course, the public is invited to attend a curated series of remote lectures exploring diverse aspects of Japanese culture over the Spring 2022 semester. This batch is the last for this term! Please note the separate Zoom registration links.

Best,
Kate

*Fri, Apr 1*, 12:20 PM - 1:10 PM MT

*"(In)Dispensable: Citizenship and Marginality in Japan"*

/Roundtable: /

Dr. Yulia Frumer (History of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University)

Dr. Kathryn Goldfarb (Anthropology, CU Boulder)

Dr. Tristan Ivory (Sociology, Cornell University)

Dr. Kristin Roebuck (History, Cornell University)

Dr. Michael Sharpe (Political Science, CUNY)

Registration Link:
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIlceCqpjkuGdE0G9s_CRgzlCRJMYg8N8x7


Abstract:
"Citizenship" is often defined in terms of rights and responsibilities encoded by legal status. This narrow definition of citizenship overlooks the ways legal status alone does not ensure access to full membership in a given society. In what ways are citizenship and social inclusion constituted by their opposites--peoples deemed extraneous, undesirable, disposable, or dispensable? By examining who is excluded and what is denied in Japanese society, this roundtable explores what full social membership entails, beyond national borders and across time and space.


***


Fri, Apr 8, 12:20 PM - 01:10 PM MT

*"Prototyping Events: Creating Child-Oriented Methods of Disaster Preparedness"*

Dr. Chika Watanabe (she/her)
Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Manchester

Registration Link:
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIsd-mvrj4pH9Dq87k59aZHabPL-dIUqqvj

Abstract:

Across the Pacific Ocean, Japanese and Chilean actors have been cooperating on disaster preparedness since the 1960s. A popular method Chilean actors have taken up is the use of games for children to foster their disaster survival skills. In this paper, I suggest that understandings and practices of international cooperation need to take account of the hard and often tedious labour that certain 'brokers' do to ensure that projects connect different communities but remain open-ended. This flexibility has something to teach us about how to be prepared for future disasters.

***

Fri, Apr 22, 12:20 PM - 01:10 PM MT

*"Different Faces of Recovery: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident"
*

Dr. Hiroko Kumaki
Postdoctoral Fellow, Society of Fellows/Anthropology, Dartmouth College

Registration Link:
https://cuboulder.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0vduuhqzwvEtx4OQ4OkkfRXyATJP6U9Cqz


Abstract:
Divergent forms of recovery are emerging in the ongoing aftermath of Tokyo Electric Company's' Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident in 2011. This talk discusses the experience of the nuclear disaster and recovery, with a focus on those who stayed and those who evacuated and returned to the former evacuation zones. I discuss the histories, present, and futures at stake as residents sought to live well in a place marked by the nuclear fallout.