Dancing with the Dead , livre ebook
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2008
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289
pages
English
Ebook
2008
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Publié par
Date de parution
12 décembre 2008
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9780822390077
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
Challenging conventional understandings of time and memory, Christopher T. Nelson examines how contemporary Okinawans have contested, appropriated, and transformed the burdens and possibilities of the past. Nelson explores the work of a circle of Okinawan storytellers, ethnographers, musicians, and dancers deeply engaged with the legacies of a brutal Japanese colonial era, the almost unimaginable devastation of the Pacific War, and a long American military occupation that still casts its shadow over the islands. The ethnographic research that Nelson conducted in Okinawa in the late 1990s-and his broader effort to understand Okinawans' critical and creative struggles-was inspired by his first visit to the islands in 1985 as a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.Nelson analyzes the practices of specific performers, showing how memories are recalled, bodies remade, and actions rethought as Okinawans work through fragments of the past in order to reconstruct the fabric of everyday life. Artists such as the popular Okinawan actor and storyteller Fujiki Hayato weave together genres including Japanese stand-up comedy, Okinawan celebratory rituals, and ethnographic studies of war memory, encouraging their audiences to imagine other ways to live in the modern world. Nelson looks at the efforts of performers and activists to wrest the Okinawan past from romantic representations of idyllic rural life in the Japanese media and reactionary appropriations of traditional values by conservative politicians. In his consideration of eisa, the traditional dance for the dead, Nelson finds a practice that reaches beyond the expected boundaries of mourning and commemoration, as the living and the dead come together to create a moment in which a new world might be built from the ruins of the old.
Voir
Publié par
Date de parution
12 décembre 2008
Nombre de lectures
0
EAN13
9780822390077
Langue
English
Poids de l'ouvrage
1 Mo
Asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, and Society
editors: Rey Chow, H. D. Harootunian, and Masao Miyoshi
dancing with the dead
Duke University Press
Durham and London 2008
memory, performance, and everyday life in postwar okinawa
dancing with the dead
christopher nelson
∫2008 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$ Designed by Katy Clove Typeset in Quadraat by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data appear on the last printed page of this book.
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acknowledgments vii
introductionthe battlefield of memory 1
fujiki hayatothe storyteller 27
the heritage of his times teruya rinsuke and ethnographic storytelling 58
the classroom of the everydayfujiki hayato and his ‘‘shima to asobimanabu’’ seminar 89
in a samurai village126
dances of memory, dances of oblivion171
conclusionin the darkness of the lived moment 215
notes 221
bibliography 253
index 263
contents
acknowledgments
For more than ten years,I have carried this book with me everywhere. Now that it is finished, I am delighted to be able to thank the people who have helped me in so many ways. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to my mentors at the University of Chicago. Terry Turner introduced me to the intellectual rigor and ethnical responsibility of the discipline and opened my eyes to the possibilities of Marxist anthropology. John Kelly has been a tremendous source of intellectual inspiration and moral support during my years at Chicago, and I learned a great deal from him about what it means to be a teacher. Joe Masco joined my committee during my final months at Chicago, and I am grateful for his close readings and incisive comments. Finally, it has been my good fortune to work with Harry Harootunian. His example and his encouragement have made this project possible. I am also deeply indebted to my friends and colleagues who read this manuscript at di√erent stages. I would particularly like to thank Je√ Bennett, Kevin Ca√rey, Sean Gilsdorf, Sharon Hayashi, Heather Hindman, Bill Ma-rotti, Ochi Toshio, Rob Oppenheim, Paul Ryer, Amanda Seaman, Kimbra Smith, Umemori Naoyuki, and Hylton White. I can never fully repay their generosity nor adequately acknowledge their contributions. My thanks as well to Linda Angst, Jan Bardsley, Davinder Bhowmik, Mark Driscoll, Judith Farquhar, Gerald Figal, Larry Grossberg, Carie Little Hersh, Jim Hevia, Glenn Hook, David Howell, Igarashi Akio, Masamichi Inoue, John MacAloon, Ota Yoshinobu, James Roberson, Patricia Sawin, Rick Siddle, Robert J. Smith, GregSmits,RobertSukle,TomiyamaIchir¯o,MarkandKyokoSelden, Amanda Stinchecum, and Brad Weiss for their comments and encourage-ment over the years. My students and colleagues in the Department of Anthro-pology at the University of North Carolina have given me an intellectually stimulating and amazingly pleasant environment in which to teach and to write. I have been fortunate to work out my thoughts in discussions at the
viii
‘‘Cultures of Economies’’ and ‘‘Cultures of Memory’’ working groups at Carolina, and to present my ideas in seminars at Columbia, Duke, New York University, She≈eld, and the University of California, Los Angeles. During the fall of 2006, the fellows at Carolina’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities kept me on track and helped me to put the final pieces in place. Reynolds Smith and Sharon Torian at Duke University Press steered me through the turbulent waters and rocky shoals of academic publishing. I am especially grateful to my readers, Anne Allison and Michael Molasky, for their critical readings and thoughtful suggestions. Anne in particular found something in that first, awkward draft and I am very glad that she encouraged me to bring it out. Finally, I want to thank Matt Hull and Margaret Wiener for the long hours that we’ve spent together reading and discussing our work. They were able to see this book in me, and helped me bring it to the page. I must also thank the countless people in Okinawa who helped me over the years. Hiyane Teruo at the University of the Ryukyus was a constant source of support and I am grateful for his sponsorship. I am also indebted to Ishihara Masaie for his help in organizing my fieldwork in Okinawa City. Akamine Masanobu, Kumada Susumu, Tsuha Takashi, and all the members of the Okinawa Minzoku Gakkai welcomed me into their group and shared theirextensiveknowledgeofOkinawanculture.AoyamaYu¯jiandthemem-bersoftheUchina¯guchikaiinOkinawaCitywerealsoextremelykindand helpful. The sta√ of the Peace and Culture Promotion Section at the Okinawa City Hall were always willing to provide information and assistance, and to listen to my ideas. I am also grateful for the friendship and support of scholars such as Matt Allen, Tony Jenkins, Kawabata Miki, Nameki Ibuki, Sato¯Takehiro,JohnWhalen-Bridge,andCraigWillcox. I owe a special thanks to Maetakenishi Kazuma and his family for their generosity and kindness. My thanks as well to the Higa and Miyazato fami-¯ lies,thelateOyamaCho¯j¯o,thelateAhagonSho¯ko¯,ArasakiMoriteru,Arime Masao,MaeshiroGentoku,ChibanaSho¯ichi,KinaSh¯okichi,Miyanaga Eiichi, Takara Ben, Takara Kurayosi, Gakiya Yoshimitsu, Sadoyama Yutaka, the late Teruya Rinsuke, and Teruya Rinken. Tamaki Mitsuru made the re-sourcesoftheSh¯ochikuKagekidanandAshibina¯availabletome,andheand his family were always unstintingly generous. Fujiki Hayato was an endless source of ideas, humor, and advice. I would also like to thank Bise Katsu for sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of Okinawan performing arts.
acknowledgments
ix
The residents of Sonda welcomed my family and me into their community and allowed me to join theirseinenkai. I will be forever thankful for their kindness. My thanks to the Sonda Jichikai, the Sonda Seinenkai and its ‘‘Old Boys,’’especiallyIhaMasakazu,KubaMasayuki,HigaEiz¯o,OkumaMas-akazu,MaeaguraKen,MiyazatoYo¯ichi,andallthosewithwhomIdanced between 1997 and 1999. I am particularly grateful to the Kohama family for their friendship and consideration. My initial fieldwork from 1996 to 1998 was made possible by a fellowship fromtheFulbrightFoundation.AgrantfromtheGakujutsuFuronti¯aproject at Rikkyo University allowed me to return to the field during the summer of 1999. I received a dissertation writing fellowship at the University of Chicago from the Toyota Foundation, as well as additional support from the Center for East Asian Studies and Lichtstern Fund of the Department of Anthropol-ogy. My work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was sup-ported by a junior faculty development grant, research and travel grants from the Carolina Asia Center and the Freeman Fund, and a prepublication grant from the University Research Council. I also received a faculty study and research leave and spent a wonderful semester at the Institute for Arts and Humanities. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to my families in both America and Japan. They have supported me in so many ways since I first announced a vague scheme to resign my commission in the Marines and look into gradu-ate school. To my wonderful daughters, Fiona and Siobhan, whose love and laughter has been a daily inspiration. Most of all, to Atsuko, my partner in everything.
acknowledgments
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