James Clifford and George Marcus ushered in an epoch in cultural anthropology, when they published a co-edited volume Writing Culture in 1986. In a nut shell, Clifford and Marcus challenged the positioning of anthropology in academia as “science” based strictly on empirical data. Instead, they sought to redefine it as an interpretive endeavor, in which the author-anthropologists are not the detached and objective observer (characterization that was typical throughout the first two thirds of the 20th century), but rather, active agents crafting a cultural universe through their writing.
What they proposed was a seismic shift. After all, anthropology sought to establish itself as “science of mankind” throughout the 20th century, specializing in the analysis of “primitive” peoples, whom they thought revealed the essence of humanity more readily than “civilized” Europeans. Suddenly they are calling anthropology dirty names like “literature,” making a huge, big issue out of its imperialist origins and pretty much telling us to quit anthropology all together!
Which, by the way, was a panicked overreaction and not what Clifford and Marcus said at all.
Inevitably it offended and threatened a LOT of anthropologists, who were trained in and practiced anthropology-as-science throughout their professional careers. Some were intrigued, but thought of it part of then-fashionable “po-mo (postmodern)” movement that would blow off in a few years. The remaining few – mostly up and coming junior faculty -- were very excited about this intellectual turn, and took many of their graduate students, including myself, along in their journey into this new frontier.
Several years later I started my own work of “writing culture” as a Ph.D. student, which culminated in the publication of Home away Home: Japanese Corporate Wives in the United States in 2005. Despite all its problems and shortcomings, I’m proud of the book because my act of writing brought to attention the “culture” among a group of people whom no one else thought was worthy of serious analysis.
Then it led to an opportunity to write culture in a very different, non-academic venue. Daily Yomiuri, an English-language daily published in Tokyo, reviewed my book, and then, asked me if I was interested in writing articles on Japanese culture and society. After the first test article in April, 2006, they offered me a regular monthly column. I accepted, and my column began as “Behind the Paper Screen” in May. A couple of years later, the focus of my column was expanding beyond commentary on Japan, so my editor and I agreed that we should change the title to “Beyond the Paper Screen.” When Daily Yomiuri was renamed and refreshed as Japan News several years ago, they opted to keep my column. It’s been a great venue for me to reach out to a broader audience beyond the small academic circle in which I belong, and get my thoughts out to the world.
I’ve noticed, however, Yomiuri’s recent decision to monetize their archives put a dampener on the world-wide reach that my articles once enjoyed. So I have decided that it’s time to take matters into my own hands. Please look for my new monthly articles (which will share a few days after it is published on Japan News) as well as occasional posts of my older articles.
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