New Book Available
"Circumpolar Ethnicity and Identity"
Edited By: Takashi Irimoto and Takako Yamada
Senri Ethnological Studies No. 66, 2004
National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan
For further information, please contact:
Takashi Irimoto (bhb [at] let.hokudai.ac.jp)
Takako Yamada (L50446 [at] sakura.kudpc.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
To order the book, please contact:
Senri Foundation
Senri Expo Park, Suita
Osaka 565-0826
JAPAN
Phone: +81 6 6877 8893
Fax: +81 6 6878 3716
E-mail: minpaku-t [at] osaka.email.ne.jp
The book "Circumpolar Ethnicity and Identity," edited by Takashi Irimoto
and Takako Yamada is currently available. This book is 66th in the
series "Senri Ethnological Studies."
OVERVIEW
The cultures of northern peoples are changing dramatically due to the
rapid environmental, political, and economic upheavals that northern
regions are currently experiencing. Such changes are no longer the
province solely of individual ethnic groups or nations, but are also
being recognized as international issues. Successful efforts to
revitalize northern peoples' cultures, maintain their identities,
reestablish relationships between ethnic groups and nations, rethink the
relationship between man and nature, solve ethnic conflicts, and promote
coexistence and mutual understanding among peoples with different
cultural backgrounds are some of the challenges that will face humanity
in the 21st century.
To discuss these topics, a collaborative research project by the
National Museum of Ethnology under the title "A Study of Ethnicity and
Identity in Circumpolar Regions" was conducted from 2000 to 2002. These
studies, in conjunction with an international conference on "Ethnicity
and Identity in the North" at Hokkaido University in 2000, have been
conducted on the status of ethnicity and identities of the circumpolar
peoples in northern Eurasia, Japan, and North America based on case
studies from various points of view by the multi-national group of
scholars. The purpose of this volume is to present the results of these
studies, understand the current ethnic and cultural dynamics in northern
regions, and clarify our challenges in the 21st century by taking an
anthropological approach.
Although the general theme of this book is ethnicity and identity, and
the relationships between them, the focus of each paper differs
according to the viewpoints. These viewpoints cover a wide range
including cultural and religious revival; creation of new cultures and
traditions; ethnic symbiosis, hybridity, and mixture; cultural
inheritance, transmission, and education; food, subsistence, and
equalitarianism; shamanism, politics, nationality, and Aboriginal
rights; heroic millenarianism, and symbolism; language proficiency,
narratives, and literature, etc. These topics are interwoven with each
other and related to the dynamics of ethnicity and identity. Among the
multi-national scholarly works, the natives' views are also presented in
some papers by the natives themselves, which contribute to understanding
the emic perspectives on ethnicity and identity.
The book consists of five main parts:
(1) Ainu in Japan
(2) Alaskan Eskimos and Canadian Inuit
(3) North American Natives
(4) North Asian and Siberian Peoples
(5) Mongols and Saami
To order the book, please contact:
Senri Foundation
Senri Expo Park, Suita
Osaka 565-0826
JAPAN
Phone: +81 6 6877 8893
Fax: +81 6 6878 3716
E-mail: minpaku-t [at] osaka.email.ne.jp