2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Changes in Representations of Blackness in Japan
| Project/Area Number |
22K01095
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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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| Keywords | black diaspora / race / mukokuseki / dual heritage / colorism / representation / diversity / intersectionality |
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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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| Causes of Carryover |
１） The weakened yen has made it difficult to attend in-person overseas conferences. In order to attend the Seattle AAS conference, while I received adequate funding for travel expenses to and from Gifu to Seattle, I did not receive the estimated travel, hotel, and meal expenses for Seattle that I requested. Since these expenses exceeded those provided by the grant, I had to pay them out of pocket. This resulted in funding that might have been used to cover these expenses being left unused. ２） Following standard fieldwork practice, interviews for this project are conducted in-person at locations convenient to the interviewee. Generally, they are conducted in coffee shops located near where the interviewee lives or works. These interviews typically last 90 minutes. Interviewees do not receive remuneration for their participation, but I do pay for coffee expenses they incur during their interview. However, as I am not allowed to use Kaken-hi to cover my own coffee expenses, this has resulted in funding intended for this purpose being left unused. 3) The incurring amount will be used for travel expenses and to purchase books, articles, and relevant research materials and supplies.
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