Author Description

Japan and National Anthropology is a study which challenges the conventional view of Japanese studies in general and Anglophone anthropological writings on Japan in particular. Sonia Ryang explores the process by which the post-war anthropology of Japan has come to be dominated by certain conceptual and methodological approaches and exposes the extent to which this process has occluded our view of Japan. In an attempt to move away from theoretical trends which identify Japanese cultural boundaries with Japan's nation-state boundaries, consequentially portraying the country as racially homogeneous and culturally unique, Ryang examines: how wartime enemy studies shaped the direction of post-war anthropology; the historical effects and significance of Chrysanthemum and the Sword; key texts from the anthropology enquiry that started within the US military occupation of Japan (1945-1952); Japanese kinship and its relationship to the study of Japan as a nation; and the origins and development of the studies of the Japanese self. This book will be welcomed by all students of Japanese anthropology and Japanese history. Its historical breadth and criticism of existing approaches provide a fresh and reasoned insight into the development and future of anthropology of Japan.