Papers by ann-elise lewallen
Recognized as Japan's indigenous peoples in 2008, the Ainu people of Hokkaido have sought to recu... more Recognized as Japan's indigenous peoples in 2008, the Ainu people of Hokkaido have sought to recuperate land and self-determination by physically reenacting Ainu traditional knowledge through ecotourism in Hokkaido. Colonization and assimilation have severed most contemporary Ainu from relations with nonhuman sentient beings (A. kamuy) rooted in land and waterways. Ecotourism provides a context for reenacting an ancestral ontology through engaging in wild food gathering, relearning subsistence practices for cultural transmission, and reinscribing Ainu cultural logics onto the land through stewardship and language. At the same time, the Japanese government's campaign to have Siretok nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage site can be interpreted as an attempt to legitimate Japanese claims to Shiretoko and reinscribe the authority of Japan, as both the proper steward to ensure responsible conservation of Shiretoko but also the rightful owner and proper occupant of the promontory and its surrounding waterways. The article reveals how Ainu attempts to establish relationships and assert ancestral claims with the kamuy in the landscape are stymied by the ongoing reality of settler colonialism and erasure of Ainu presence in the landscape. Further, it explores how a capitalist-driven economy of ecotourism unleashes new dynamics in relations between local Ainu fishers and farmers in Shiretoko and outsider Ainu who seek to develop ecotourist initiatives.
2010 “Beyond Feminism: Indigenous Ainu Women and Narratives of Empowerment in Japan.” Edited by C... more 2010 “Beyond Feminism: Indigenous Ainu Women and Narratives of Empowerment in Japan.” Edited by Cheryl Suzack, Shari M. Huhndorf, Jeanne Perreault, and Jean Barman. In Indigenous Women and Feminism: Culture, Activism, Politics. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, pp. 152-180.
2009 In Politics and Pitfalls of Japan Ethnography: Reflexivity, Responsibility, and Anthropolog... more 2009 In Politics and Pitfalls of Japan Ethnography: Reflexivity, Responsibility, and Anthropological Ethics. Jennifer Robertson, ed. London: Routledge, pp. 3-24.
2008 The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 48-6-08, November 30, 2008.
2012 In Japanese Language and Literature 46: 1, pp 47-52.
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Papers by ann-elise lewallen