Japanese Folklore Studies and History: Pre-War and Post-War Inflections

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Date
2008
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Department of Folklore nad Ethnomusicology, Indiana University
Abstract
By exploring the relationship of Yanagita Kunio and folklore studies (minzokugaku) in reverse chronology, I argue that latent political and disciplinary concerns undergird minzokugaku’s reputation as a marginalized social science distinct from anthropology and history. The intellectual boundaries among these disciplines were founded on Yanagita’s rejection of anthropology’s Euro-centric comparative framework and history’s concern for elites. Yanagita’s double-rejection partially explains minzokugaku’s marginality within the academy and its appropriation by activists and intellectuals in the post-war era.
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Yanagita Kunio, Eurocentrism, Seki Keigo, Ethnology, Minzoku, Minzokugaku, Disciplinary History, East Asia
Citation
Bronson, Adam. 2008. "Japanese Folklore Studies and History: Pre-War and Post-War Inflections" Folklore Forum 38(1): 8-35
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