81013080

open access

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体感するアフリカ : 人類学者のフィールドノートから

Experience of Africa：Based on the Fieldnotes of an Anthropologist

Japanese (日本語)

国際文化学研究 : 神戸大学大学院国際文化学研究科紀要

57

55-84

神戸大学大学院国際文化学研究科

2022-02

2022-03-01

This article is a record of a lecture for the general public. This lecture aims to consider Africa as a concrete example, starting from the problem awareness that the actual situation facing the so-called international community is difficult to understand when based only on the information that is read, heard or watched in the news. Furthermore, while explaining how anthropologists attempt to understand the society and culture of interest in a way that compensates for some of the shortcomings of news, the purpose is to depict some of the characteristics of Japanese society today. Noted shortcomings of news include: (1) while human beings, society, and culture are multifaceted, news and information tend to be one-sided, (2) information is selected according to its importance, but the nature of the selection and its consequences are (3) Africa and other regions are placed on the backburner, understanding is inadequate due to prejudiced bias, (4) the details are especially sacrificed, and (5) there are considerable problems regarding values when making a selection. In an attempt to overcome these shortcomings, fieldwork methodologies have been established in the field of anthropology. Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski (1884 – 1942), an anthropologist from Poland who was active mainly in the United Kingdom, emphasized local livelihood surveys and the process of writing “ethnographies” based on fieldwork. At the heart of this is actually living and experiencing the area. In this lecture, I will introduce some cases of feeling a sense of discomfort and episodes that I have experienced through my research experiences, and at the same time, I will attempt to explain the anthropological recognition and a kind of awareness that possibly urges people to reflect on our understanding of things in daily life.

日本社会

紀要論文