Short Abstract:

In this roundtable, editors of JASCA journals and those who have experiences in editing journals discuss the ways in which Japanese anthropology can reach an audience beyond Japan and assume a more pivotal role within world anthropologies.

Long Abstract:

The Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology has been successful, perhaps exemplary, in promoting anthropology within Japan in recent decades: due to its efforts in creating interest in the discipline, JASCA is currently the second biggest anthropological association in the world. However, JASCA has been less effective in reaching an audience beyond Japan. In large part, this is because of language: its flagship publication, Bunka Jinruigaku, has a reputation of carrying many ethnographically insightful articles, but because these are in Japanese (with only their abstracts in English), they have little reach beyond Japan and foreign readers of Japanese. JASCA also publishes an English-language journal, The Japanese Review of Cultural Anthropology (JRCA). Because this is generally available only to JASCA members, however, and also because it is not published as an e-journal, it has been of minimal impact upon world anthropologies. How can JASCA's publications become more visible and accessible in the world? More broadly, how can Japanese anthropology as embodied in JASCA's publications assume a more pivotal role within world anthropologies? This roundtable addresses these questions and attempts to come up with strategic proposals particularly for facilitating translation, reforming editorial processes, and using international networks more effectively. At the same time, it aims at contributing to how those engaged in journal publications in the global context can effectively respond to the challenges they commonly face.

Panelists: Motoji Matsuda (Kyoto University), Sachiko Kubota (Kobe University), Takami Kuwayama (Hokkaido University), Shinji Yamashita (Teikyo Heisei University), Katsuo Nawa (University of Tokyo), Gregory Acciaioli (The University of Western Australia), Claudio Lomnitz (Columbia University)