| Project/Area Number |
22K01095
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 04030:Cultural anthropology and folklore-related
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| Research Institution | Gifu University |
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Principal Investigator |
JG Russell 岐阜大学, 地域科学部, 非常勤講師 (90262740)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2025-03-31
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| Project Status |
Granted (Fiscal Year 2023)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000)
Fiscal Year 2024: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
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| Keywords | black diaspora / race / mukokuseki / dual heritage / colorism / representation / diversity / intersectionality / intersectional racism / social media / blackness |
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| Outline of Research at the Start |
This project investigates: 1) the evolution of Afro-Japanese encounters through an examination of Japanese constructions of blackness and identification of the changes they have undergone as a result of demographic changes in Japan; 2) the impact of social media on representations of Japanese and people of African descendant.
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the research period, I: 1) prepared a project statement and preliminary online survey to collect basic background information on perspective participants that I posted to Facebook groups; 2) conducted in-person interviews with African-descended foreign residents in the Kanto, Kansai, and Chubu regions. I also reestablished contact with informants I interviewed more than thirty years ago during a previous study of topic, some of whom I hope to interview for this project; 3) monitored the internet and social media for articles that discuss the experiences of African descendant residents of Japan or that offer advice and information to blacks planning to visit Japan; 4) presented two invited online talks on the research topic: “Racial Profiling: E-lines, “Whiteness,” Anime, and the Contours of Colorism in Japan” (Univ. of Westminster, London, February 26) and “Racial Profiling, E-lines, ‘Mukokuseki,’ Anime, and the Changing Faces of Diversity in Japan” (Temple Univ., Japan, March 28); 5) published a chapter based on research produced by this study entitled “Redefining Japaneseness: Blackness, Whiteness, and the Discordant Discourse of Diversity in Japan” that was published in Sustainability, Diversity, and Equality: Key Challenges for Japan, K.Tanaka and H. Selin (eds.), Springer, 2023:309-323; 6) attended in-person the Anthropology of Japan in Japan annual conference in Tokyo (Meiji Gakuin University, December 2-3, Tokyo) and both the virtual Association for Asian Studies conference (March1) and in-person conference in Seattle, Washington (March 14-17).
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
As a result of interviews conducted during the research period, I have more than doubled the number of perspective interviewees and expanded the range of regions covered. As of April 2024, in addition to Tokyo, Chiba, and Osaka, the list of prospective interviewees for in-person interviews now includes residents from Aichi, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Hyogo prefectures. In addition to these interviews, the study has expanded its scope to include the use of generative AI in the representation of blacks, particularly its recent use in Japan to generate photorealistic images of black people, particularly women, and to what extent such imagery replicates and/or subverts preexisting Japanese images of black people.
As for overseas travel logistics, the weakened yen has made it difficult to participate in overseas conferences because the funding necessary to cover hotel and meal expenses exceeded the fixed amount covered by the grant. Consequently, in order to attend the AAS conference in Seattle, I paid expenses that exceeded the allotted grant amount out of pocket.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I hope to complete the bulk of the next wave of in-person interviews by the end of September or October, by which time I also hope to have expanded the in-person interviews to include those with residents living in regions of Japan not yet covered. Once these interviews are completed, my plan is to transcribe them in part or whole and use the information collected to produce a more expansive survey that will be administered online to social media users. In addition to following the Tokyo racial profiling case, I will also continue the collection and analysis of written materials, such as published memoirs written by black and mixed-heritage black Japanese, including Honda Takehiko's biography of Takahashi Emi, Senso no Otoshiko Rarabai (1995), Zeebra jiden: Hip Hop Love (2008), Suzuki Musashi's Musashi to Musashi (2021) and Takuan Amaru's 21st Century Japan Decoded: The Only Manual on Mental Health for Blacks in Japan (2022)
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