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The Ubume Challenge: A Digital Environmental Humanities Project, Sam Risak

English (MA) Theses

In 2019, the “The Momo Challenge” frightened parents in the United States into believing “Momo” would appear online where she’d lure their children into harming themselves. While this challenge is one of many recent viral hoaxes, “Momo” is not simply a product of our digital age. Known as the ubume (“birthing-woman”), the figure who provides the face for “Momo” has lived for centuries in Japanese folklore where yokai (supernatural creatures) often caution listeners against entering unchartered parts of the land. And once Japan industrialized, so too did their “unchartered lands,” the ubume reborn to fit the cities and technologies that …