Sound, Space and Sociality in Modern Japan [Paperback]

This book argues that sound  as it is created, transmitted, and perceived  plays a key role in the constitution of space and community in contemporary Japan. The book examines how sonic practices reflect politics, aesthetics, and ethics, with transformative effects on human relations. From right-wing sound trucks to left-wing protests, from early 20th century jazz cafes to contemporary avant-garde art forms, from the sounds of U.S. military presence to exuberant performances organized in opposition, the book, rich in ethnographic detail, contributes to sensory anthropology and the anthropology of contemporary Japan.

1. Introduction Joseph D. Hankins and Carolyn S. Stevens  2. Sound and the Tactics of Publicity in the Buraku Liberation Movement Joseph D. Hankins  3. Facing the Nation: Sound, Fury, and Public Oratory among Japanese Right-Wing Groups Nathaniel Smith  4. Military Aircraft Noise and the Politics of Spatial Affect in Okinawa Rupert Cox  5. Distraction, Noise, and Ambient Sounds in Tokyo Lorraine Plourde  6. Sounding Imaginative Empathy: Chindon-yas Affective Economies on the Streets of Osaka Mari? Abe 7. The Swinging Phonograph in a Hot Teahouse: Sound Technology and the Emergence of the Jazz Community in Prewar Japan Shuhei Hosokawa

Joseph D. Hankinsreceived his PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago in 2009 and is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. His research investigates the politics and aesthetics of stigmatized labor in Japan.

Carolyn S. Stevensholds degrees in anthropology from Harvard and Columbia, and is Professor in Japanese Studies and Director of the Japanese Studies Centre at Monash University, Australia. She is the author of On the Margins of Jalcb