Ōkubo Diary (Routledge Revivals): Portrait of a Japanese Valley - Softcover

Moeran, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0415590051 ISBN 13: 9780415590051

Publisher: Routledge, 2011

Synopsis

First published in 1985, this Routledge Revival is a lively and colourful account of life in the Japanese countryside, as seen through the eyes of an anthropologist who did fieldwork there for four years. Part journal, part ethnographic observation, part social and moral commentary, this very personal and sensitive book depicts not only the intricate relationships among the valley people, but also those between them and the anthropologist who has come from the outside world to study them. The book has a dual purpose: to portray the intimate, day-to-day lives of people living in a remote part of Japan, and to describe how one anthropologist tries 'and eventually fails' to become at one" with his informants. Throughout, the book questions the premises of participant observation, which has become a mainstay of modern anthropology"

About this title

From Library Journal:

Okubo Diary is Moeran's episodic account of life in a rural Japanese village. His previous book, Lost Innocence , was a scholarly study of Japanese folk craft potters. This work is a more personalized portrayal of his years of fieldwork. The Diary reveals the social relations of the village people and the difficulties an anthropologist faces in ``going native.'' Although the author seems to feel he did not succeed in ``becoming one'' with his informants, he did succeed in producing a fascinating inside look at their day-to-day lives. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Robin B. Devin, Univ. of Rhode Island Lib., Kingston
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0415590051
• ISBN 13: 9780415590051
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276