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Full-Text Articles in Anthropology
Hyphenated Japan: Cross-Examining The Self/Other Dichotomy In Ainu-Japanese Material Culture, Jonathan Chira Shapiro
Hyphenated Japan: Cross-Examining The Self/Other Dichotomy In Ainu-Japanese Material Culture, Jonathan Chira Shapiro
Honors Papers
This is a historical ethnography that examines how shifts Japanese national identity and values of homogeneity have affected Japan’s minority Ainu population. I argue that the symbolic position of Ainu culture has historically been rearranged to suit prevailing ideas about Japanese nationality and culture without input from Ainu. Using theoretical understandings of Self-Other dichotomies, I examine the particular way these practices manifested in Meiji Japan to create modern Japanese national identity, and how these functioned both against the West and people colonized by Japan. From there, I look at how cultural nationalism was objectified as present from time immemorial in …
We Are Not These Bodies: Identity And Transcendence Among American Devotees Of Krishna, Rachel Lynn Williams
We Are Not These Bodies: Identity And Transcendence Among American Devotees Of Krishna, Rachel Lynn Williams
Honors Papers
This paper discusses the ways in which American devotees of Krishna understand their identities. Some second-generation Asian Americans have criticized American Krishna devotees of cultural appropriation, but devotees defend themselves against this claim with a philosophy of bodily transcendence. Many devotees practice transcendence through a rejection of nationalism and sectarianism. The paper also considers vegetarianism and ISKCON's attitude toward animals.