Article: “Japan’s forgotten indigenous people” http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200519-japans-forgotten-indigenous-people In the Japanese school curriculum (set by the central government in Tokyo) there is very little time and space spent on the Ainu, an indigenous group that has almost been completely assimilated and there are maybe less than 100 Ainu language speakers left. What Read more…
The extract below is a translated Japanese creation myth in an ancient text named Kojiki. The original text is written in an type of writing that the vast majority of modern Japanese people cannot read. Additionally, the text below differs in some ways from the ancient and modern Japanese versions. Read more…
Article: Why ‘Maus’ remains ‘the greatest graphic novel ever written,’ 30 years later https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/08/11/why-maus-remains-the-greatest-graphic-novel-ever-written-30-years-later/ Academic history texts are only one way to gain knowledge of history. Consider the style of Maus and the background of the author. What methodologies do the graphic novel and reader rely on to produce knowledge? Read more…
Text: Jason Burke and Zeinab Mohammed Salih. “Young Sudanese archaeologists dig up history as ‘west knows best’ era ends” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/27/young-sudanese-archaeologists-dig-up-history-as-west-knows-best-era-ends The Guardian article discusses how many local voice hav been “excluded.” The article details how a significant amount of archaeological research has been done by visiting western researchers Read more…
Text: https://internationalnohinstitute.com/category/training/ Replicability can be extremely in the arts, particularly if a participant is involved in a traditional art. In this replicability allows the knowledge of traditional Japanese Noh theater to be passed on over time. Replicability plays a much different role in this kind of specific example than it Read more…
Text: Seige of Osaka Castle, commissioned by Kuroda Nagamasa in the 17th century. The daimyo Kuroda Nagamasa had painters brought to the seige and their work is based on their first-hand experience. The group of artists had a much closer view of the incident than later historians. This close view, Read more…
Text: Hayama, Hiroshi. Man in a Traditional Minobashi Raincoat, Niigata Prefecture. 1956. What ways can a contemporary artist use the above photo to acquire knowledge that are unavailable to a historian? Is this artistic freedom beneficial or not when it comes to creating or gaining knowledge?
Arnold Genthe was a German photographer who took the photo below during a trip to Japan in the late Meiji era. A photographer such as Genthe has the freedom to manipulate a subject, camera settings, composition, framing, etc. to convey whatever ideas he / she wants. A historian, however, has Read more…
Text: “Japan’s Anti Nuclear Street Art” Espionart. https://espionart.com/2015/01/20/featured-artist-281-anti-nuke/ The graffiti artist 281 Anti Nuke starting posting artwork critical of the government and of TEPCO (the company responsible for the nuclear power plants) not long after the earthquake and subsequent disaster. One of the freedoms that an artist has is time. Read more…
Text: Bruce Bower. Science News.”Vikings lived in North America by at least the year 1021.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/vikings-north-america-date-newfoundland Extract: “Vikings inhabited North America exactly 1,000 years ago, a new study finds. Counting tree rings reveals that wooden objects previously found at an archaeological site on Newfoundland’s northern peninsula were made from trees Read more…