B01: Anthropological study on cultural and behavioral change through dispersal and contact of human populations

Research Organization

Team Leader

Atsushi Nobayashi, Professor
Cultural Anthropology, Research Center for Cultural Resources, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan

Co-investigators

Kazunobu Ikeya, Professor
Ecological Anthropology, Department of Cultural Research, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Yoko Ueba, Associate Professor
Ethno-Artistic Study, Research Center for Cultural Resources, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Toko Fujimoto, Associate Professor
Cultural Anthropology, Department of Cultural Research, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Yuriko Yamanaka, Associate Professor
Studies of Cultural Representations, Department of Cultural Research, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Hitoshi, Yamada, Associate Professor
Graduate School / Faculty Of Arts And Letters Tohoku University
Shuhei Uda, Associate Professor
Environmental Folklore, Department of Advanced Studies in Anthropology, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Hideyuki Onishi, Professor
Ecological Anthropology, Historical Ecology, Faculty of Contemporary Social Studies, Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, Japan
Miwa Kanetani, Visiting Researcher
Anthropology,Department of Social Research, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Haruka Kikuta, Assistant Professor
Cultural Anthropology, Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Hokkaido University, Japan
Ayami Nakatani, Professor
Cultural Anthropology, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Okayama University, Japan
Yuzo Marukawa, Associate Professor
Digital Anthropology, Department of Advanced Studies in Anthropology, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Setsuko Yoshida, Professor
Cultural Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Shikoku Gakuin University, Japan
Mikako Toda, Research Fellow
Center for Academic Research Development, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Yujie Peng, Project Researcher
Center for Cultural Resource Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan
Nobuhiro Kishigami, Professor
Research Center for Cultural Resources, National Museum of Ethnology

Research

Research Objectives

This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of change in material culture which has occurred through the interaction between human populations and how this change in material culture affect human behavior and society. We will focus on changes in human activities such as subsistence, manufacturing or production, symbolization, and social interaction to construct an ethnographical model of change in material culture and human society. Our research is based on the analysis of how various regional or ethnic groups that share common material cultures have intermingled in Asia, and how, in the process of production, utilisation, circulation, and transmission, material aspects consciously or unconsciously change. , This is achieved through anthropological field research, examination of materials in museum collections and investigation of historical documents.

Research Methods

We will collect basic data of ethnographic materials according to categories such as morphology, production methods, raw materials, context of use, value, symbolism, representation, transmission, and replacement. Based on this data, the analysis will be conducted along the following axes: 1) autonomous or accidental change within a population, 2) change which occurs through interaction with other populations. The dynamic process of how properties of things change through contact and why, and the mechanism of the effect of change on individual actions or group values will be explored, thus elucidating the interrelation between material things and human society. By focusing on the principal concerns of archaeology such as subsistence, manufacturing or production, symbolization, and social relations, out team will try to make the bridging argument between archaeology and ethnography.