The Asian Ethnology Podcast features conversations with scholars, researchers, editors, and practitioners working across anthropology, folklore, religion, media, and Asian studies. Alongside academic ideas and research, the podcast also explores the experiences, encounters, and unexpected moments that shape fieldwork, scholarship, and cultural life.

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In this episode of the Asian Ethnology Podcast, Ben Dorman speaks with Benjamin Huffman about the FIRE Program (First Year Innovation &amp; Research Experience) and its efforts to encourage students to think critically and ethically about development, social change, and human flourishing from the very beginning of their university education.Huffman discusses how the program combines interdisciplinary learning, research experience, and ethical reflection to move beyond narrow economic understandings of development. Drawing on examples from international development, philosophy, and community engagement, he explores questions such as: What makes development genuinely “worthwhile”? Who benefits from modernization and economic growth? And how can students cultivate ethical responsibility in a globally interconnected world?The conversation also examines the role of empathy, critical thinking, and cross-cultural understanding in higher education, as well as the challenges of preparing students to engage thoughtfully with complex global issues. Recorded in conjunction with Huffman’s lecture at Nanzan University, this episode offers an insightful introduction to developmental ethics through the lens of innovative undergraduate education.<a href="https://master.dkib26v6mdyg7.amplifyapp.com/" rel="nofollow">Link to the Development Ethics Toolkit</a>

A Conversation with Benjamin Huffman

Ben Dorman speaks with Benjamin Huffman about the FIRE Program (First Year Innovation &amp; Research Experience) and the role of ethics, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary learning in undergraduate education. Drawing on examples from philosophy, international development, and community engagement, Huffman explores what makes development genuinely “worthwhile,” the limitations of purely economic approaches to progress, and how students can cultivate ethical responsibility in a globally interconnected world. Recorded in conjunction with Huffman’s lecture at Nanzan University.



Developmental Ethics and the Question of “Worthwhile” Development

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An unexpected discovery raises a larger question: how do scholarly books end up in AI training datasets? This episode looks at shadow libraries, academic publishing, and the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and scholarly knowledge.This episode reflects on publicly reported discussions about AI training datasets and scholarly publishing.

When AI Trains on Our Books

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In this episode, Asian Ethnology co-editor and managing editor Ben Dorman discusses the journal&#39;s ongoing move to the Scholastica publishing platform and the broader commitment to open access and sustainability that drives it. Asian Ethnology has been publishing research on the peoples and cultures of Asia since 1942, first as Folklore Studies, then as Asian Folklore Studies, and now in its current form. The journal is fully funded by Nanzan University and remains free to read and free to publish in — a genuine Diamond Open Access model. Ben reflects on the motivations behind the transition, including modernizing editorial workflows, improving discoverability, and offering readers content in both HTML and PDF formats. He also discusses the decision to discontinue self-produced print editions, focusing resources instead on digital accessibility, environmental responsibility, and long-term sustainability. The episode highlights the people behind the journal&#39;s work and emphasizes Asian Ethnology&#39;s continuing mission to deepen understanding of Asia&#39;s cultures, promote scholarly exchange, and connect researchers around the world. Background music courtesy of shamisen master Koji Yamaguchi. Used with permission.

Moving Asian Ethnology to Scholastica

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<h4>Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology</h4>Recorded 8 June 2017, Nagoya, JapanPeter Knecht was the editor of Asian Folklore Studies from 1980 until 2007. The journal changed its name to Asian Ethnology in 2008.In this extended interview, Peter discusses his experiences working as the editor of Asian Folklore Studies. He talks about when he first encountered the journal working under founding editor, Matthias Eder, and what happened when he took over the journal in 1980.

<h4>Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology</h4> Recorded 8 June 2017, Nagoya, Japan Peter Knecht was the editor of Asian Folklore Studies from 1980 until 2007. The journal changed its name to Asian Ethnology in 2008. In this extended interview, Peter discusses his experiences working as the editor of Asian Folklore Studies. He talks about when he first encountered the journal working under founding editor, Matthias Eder, and what happened when he took over the journal in 1980.

Interview with Peter Knecht, former editor of Asian Folklore Studies – Part 2: Experiences as the journal editor

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Interviewer: Ben Dorman In this episode, John Powers (Deakin University) discusses an interdisciplinary project involving historians, anthropologists, scientists, and folklorists concerning rivers that originate in Tibet, which play a key role in global hydrological cycles yet are in crises as a result of multiple threats.

Interview with John Powers

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<h4>Interviewer: Ben Dorman, co-editor Asian Ethnology</h4> Recorded 11 March 2011 In this episode, anthropologist Susanne Klien discusses her recent book Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society (SUNY Press, 2020). She touches on her motivations for doing the research, the reasons for migrants relocating to rural areas, and some of the challenges they face after relocation, amongst other issues. She also addresses some questions that were asked in a book talk given on 22 February 2021 that was part of the <a href="https://www.screencast.com/t/x6xlQfl8sdh" rel="nofollow">Asian Ethnology Series</a>.

Interview with Susanne Klien

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Interviewer: Mark Bookman Recorded: Wednesday Feb 17th 2021 This episode features a discussion with Steven Fedorowicz, cultural anthropologist, visual anthropologist, and associate professor at Kansai Gaidai University. Steven will be giving a talk on &#34;Representations of Deaf People in Japan: Inspiration, Outrage and Real Life,&#34; as part of the &#34;Disability and Japan in the Digital Age Series&#34; via Zoom on May 14, 2021 (Details to follow). In discussing some of what he will be presenting, Steven talks about his ongoing project concerning media representations of deaf people and culture in Japan, and his introduction to his studies on and experiences with deaf communities. He also touches on his personal experiences that his understandings and approaches to deaf communities and disability studies. Music used with kind permission of the performer, shamisen master Koji Yamaguchi. Copyright 2021, Asian Ethnology Podcast

Interview with Steven Fedorowicz

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Interviewer: Mark Bookman Date recorded: 26 October 2020 This episode of Asian Ethnology Podcast features Frank Mondelli, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Frank recently returned from research in Japan and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on the social, technical, and political history of assistive technologies for deafness and hearing impairment in 20th century Japan. Frank discusses his recent work on the history of hearing aids in 1950s Japan, how he became interested in assistive technology, and how thinking about assistive technology can help us think about accessibility and inclusivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. This episode is part of the &#34;Disability and Japan in the Digital Age&#34; project run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University. Publications discussed in this episode Mills, Mara and Jonathan Sterne. <a href="https://sterneworks.org/MillsSterneDismediation.pdf" rel="nofollow">&#34;Dismediation – Three Proposals, Six Tactics&#34;</a> in Disability Media Studies, ed. Elizabeth Ellcessor and Bill Kirkpatrick

Interview with Frank Mondelli

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Interviewer: Ben DormanDate recorded: 3 November 2020In this episode, Mark Bookman discusses a new series of lectures entitled &#34;Disability and Japan in the Digital Age,&#34; which is run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University. He talks about the significance of the series at this time. Mark will also be presenting interviews with the participants in Asian Ethnology Podcast episodes.

Interviewer: Ben Dorman Date recorded: 3 November 2020 In this episode, Mark Bookman discusses a new series of lectures entitled &#34;Disability and Japan in the Digital Age,&#34; which is run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University. He talks about the significance of the series at this time. Mark will also be presenting interviews with the participants in Asian Ethnology Podcast episodes.

Interview with Mark Bookman – Introduction to the new series "Disability and Japan in the Digital Age

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In this episode Yoshiko Okuyama talks about her most recent monograph, Reframing Disability in Manga (University of Hawai&#39;i Press, 2020). Okuyama explains that her work examines representations of disabled people in manga serialized throughout the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on portrayals of deaf, blind, paraplegic, and autistic individuals, as well as those with gender dysphoria. Bookman asks Okuyama about the history behind her project and the logic that guided her decision-making regarding specific manga titles and disability identities. The two also unpack the contributions of Reframing Disability for scholars of gender, disability, and manga.

Interview with Yoshiko Okuyama

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In this episode anthropologist Andreas Riessland discusses his research on Japanese biker gangs (bōsōzoku) and a project involving Shugendō Buddhist and Shinto groups that ended in failure due to various struggles between the groups. He also discusses how he came to terms with the failure, and offers advice to researchers who confront &#34;failure&#34; in fieldwork.

Interview with Andreas Riessland

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Interviewer: Thomas David DuBois In this episode, we speak with China historians David Faure and He Xi of the Chinese University of Hong Kong about historical anthropology. Faure discusses the university&#39;s Historical Anthropology of Chinese Society AOE, and assesses what it accomplished in its eight-year run. He Xi explains how fieldwork shaped her perspective on China&#39;s boat communities and her recent book on lineages in Jiangxi. Publications discussed in this episode He Xi, Lineage and Community in China, 1100-1500: Genealogical Innovation in Jiangxi, London: Routledge, 2020. The Fisher Folk of Late Imperial and Modern China: An Historical Anthropology of Boat-and-Shed Living, Xi He &amp; David Faure eds., London: Routledge, 2016. Music used with kind permission of guqin performer Yan Yiqiao.

Interview with David Faure and He Xi

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<div>In this episode, Gopalan Ravindran, Professor and Head of Department of Journalism and Communication at the University of Madras, talks about media literacy in India in general, his initial interest in journalism and communication, and then discusses two specific initiatives related to media literacy and journalism among marginalized communities in Southern India.</div> <div> </div>

Interview with Gopalan Ravindran

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In this episode, we speak with Jin Feng, Professor of literature at Grinnell College, Iowa, and author of a new book on Chinese foodways. Jin discusses how the experience of leading a study trip to China and Russia helped shape her personal interest in food into a research program, how she expanded her circle of foodie friends into a professional network of chefs and restaurant entrepreneurs, and how themes of gender and nostalgia recur across centuries of writing about food. Publications discussed in this episode: Feng, Jin. Tasting Paradise on Earth: Jiangnan Foodways (University of Washington Press, 2019). Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth. The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class (Princeton University Press, 2017) Music used with kind permission of guqin performer Yan Yiqiao. Copyright 2020 by Asian Ethnology Podcast

Interview with Jin Feng

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This episode features Mark Bookman, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting researcher at the university of Tokyo. Mark is completing his doctoral dissertation on the history of disability policy and related social movements in Japan. Mark discusses his personal challenges researching while using a wheelchair, changing research topics from Buddhism to disability in Japan, and accessibility issues related to COVID-19, including &#34;transnational accessibility.&#34;Discussed in this episode:Bookman, Mark, and Michael Gillan Peckitt. &#34;<a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2020/03/30/issues/coronavirus-disability/#.XofcNIgzbb0" rel="nofollow">Facing the COVID-19 crisis in Japan with a disability</a>.&#34; Japan Times, 30 March 2020.Bookman, Mark. &#34;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bookman_paralympics_as_possibility" rel="nofollow">Paralympics as Possibility</a>.&#34; TEDxFulbrightTokyo, March 2019.

This episode features Mark Bookman, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting researcher at the university of Tokyo. Mark is completing his doctoral dissertation on the history of disability policy and related social movements in Japan. Mark discusses his personal challenges researching while using a wheelchair, changing research topics from Buddhism to disability in Japan, and accessibility issues related to COVID-19, including &#34;transnational accessibility.&#34; Discussed in this episode: Bookman, Mark, and Michael Gillan Peckitt. &#34;<a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2020/03/30/issues/coronavirus-disability/#.XofcNIgzbb0" rel="nofollow">Facing the COVID-19 crisis in Japan with a disability</a>.&#34; Japan Times, 30 March 2020. Bookman, Mark. &#34;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bookman_paralympics_as_possibility" rel="nofollow">Paralympics as Possibility</a>.&#34; TEDxFulbrightTokyo, March 2019.

Interview with Mark Bookman – Disability policy and social movements in Japan

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This episode features historian Thomas David DuBois, who is currently Professor of Humanities at Beijing Normal University. Thomas discusses his original reasons for studying China, the application of historical anthropology in his work, his interest and work in Chinese food, the effect of the death of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain had on his thinking about human relations and food, and finally thoughts on living under the current circumstances of coronavirus and quarantine in Beijing.  Publications discussed in this episode: DuBois, Thomas David. Empire and the Meaning of Religion in Northeast Asia: Manchuria 1900–1945 (Cambridge, 2017). DuBois, Thomas David, and Jan Kiely, eds. Fieldwork in Modern Chinese History: A Research Guide (Routledge, 2019). Feng, Jin. Tasting Paradise on Earth: Jiangnan Foodways (University of Washington Press, 2019).

Interview with Thomas David DuBois

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In this episode of Asian Ethnology Podcast, McComas Taylor, Associate Professor and Reader in Sanskrit at the Australian National University, discusses how his research lies at the intersection of contemporary critical theory and Sanskrit narrative texts. What makes these texts powerful? What makes them authoritative? What makes them worth copying out by hand century after century? In exploring these questions, he discusses how he applied an ethnographical approach to working on The Bhagavatapurana, interviewing audiences and performers and applying performance theory (published as Seven Days of Nectar: Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana, Oxford University Press, 2016). He also talks about teaching Sanskrit as a living tradition, and teaching the language online. Publication discussed in this episode Taylor, McComas. Seven Days of Nectar: Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana. Oxford University Press, 2016.   Music used with kind permission of the performer, shamisen master Koji Yamaguchi. Copyright 2020 by Asian Ethnology Podcast

Interview with McComas Taylor

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This Asian Ethnology Podcast episode features Roald Maliangkay of the Korea Institute at the ANU College of Asia &amp; the Pacific. In this episode, Roald talks about  his interest in anti-Japanese folksongs in Korea during the colonial period as well as K-Pop and the contemporary scene. He discusses about his monograph, <a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/product/broken-voices-postcolonial-entanglements-and-the-preservation-of-koreas-central-folksong-traditions/" rel="nofollow"> Broken Voices: Postcolonial Entanglements and the Preservation of Korea&#39;s Central Folksong Traditions</a> (University of Hawai&#39;i Press, 2017), and how Japanese colonial rule affected cultural policy, the system of preservation, and the way in which music is conceived and performed. He also talks about how he  applies the concept of &#34;cultural cringe&#34; in the context of Korean society.

Interview with Roald Maliangkay

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This episode&#39;s guest is Tom Bauerle, the author of Kanashibari: True Encounters with the Paranormal in Japan. Although this is not an academic work, the author discusses the folkloric elements of ghost stories, in addition to presenting some of the content of his book.

Interview with Tom Bauerle

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<table> <tbody> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Originally recorded as a video interview (Dec 5, 2019). In this conversation, Robert Campbell discusses the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL), its vision for archiving and preserving Japan&#39;s literary heritage, and the institute&#39;s involvement in media and public outreach. <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Interview with Robert Campbell: Director of NIJL

The Asian Ethnology Podcast features conversations with scholars, researchers, editors, and practitioners working across anthropology, folklore, religion, media, and Asian studies. Alongside academic ideas and research, the podcast also explores the experiences, encounters, and unexpected moments that shape fieldwork, scholarship, and cultural life.