The Magic of Fashion: Ritual, Commodity, Glamour (Anthropology & Business)

Drawing on 20 years of ethnographic fieldwork and anthropological theory, anthropologist Brian Moeran argues that fashion magazines are able to cast a spell over their readers by using practices and rituals found in age-old magical and religious rites.

Business & Money

Moeran, Brian

Industries

Routledge

Japanese Whaling

This book gives a social anthropological account of whaling culture in Japan. When originally published this was the first comprehensive account in English of the history of Japanese whaling, showing how it has given rise to a particular culture. The volume discusses what happens when that culture is threatened. At the same time as explaining the work organization of those involved in whaling, the role of whaling companies in local and national economies, and the role of the whale in the establishment and maintenance of local community identity (ritual, food, gift-giving), the authors address the wider political and so-called "environmental" issues surrounding whaling in general, and Japanese whaling in particular.   

Japanese Whaling?: End of an Era

Kalland, Arne

Reference

Language and Popular Culture in Japan

When this book was originally published it was the first work of its kind to examine the way in which language is used to express the ‘myth’ of advertising slogans and other popular cultural forms. By making use of general theories from the disciplines of anthropology, linguistics, media studies and semiotics, the book attempts to demystify Japanese culture as it has been hitherto presented in the West, and shows how such cultural forms as ‘noodle westerns’ and high-school baseball uphold the well-known ideologies of ‘selflessness’, ‘diligence’, ‘compliance’ and ‘co-operation’ typically associated with the Japanese. Ultimately, the book poses the question: are those whom we call the Japanese ‘real’ people in their own right, or merely a nation acting out a part written for them by Western civilisation?

First published in 1985, this Routledge Revival is a lively and colourful account of life in the Japanese countryside, as seen through the eyes of an anthropologist who did fieldwork there for four years. Part journal, part ethnographic observation, part social and moral commentary, this very personal and sensitive book depicts not only the intricate relationships among the valley people, but also those between them and the anthropologist who has come from the outside world to study them. The book has a dual purpose: to portray the intimate, day-to-day lives of people living in a remote part of Japan, and to describe how one anthropologist tries – and eventually fails – to "become at one" with his informants. Throughout, the book questions the premises of participant observation, which has become a mainstay of modern anthropology.

Okubo Diary (Routledge Revivals): Portrait of a Japanese Valley

Politics & Social Sciences

Anthropology

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Social Sciences

Lost Innocence: Folk Craft Potters of Onta, Japan

University of California Press

This text is part of a course that offers the beginner a course in the necessary skills for communication at a basic level in spoken Japanese. It also provides an introduction to the written language and insights into contemporary Japanese society. Cultural comment and language practice go hand-in-hand with units focusing on distinct themes such as family, work, education, travel and leisure. Whilst the course is suitable for the motivated learner going to Japan on business or on holiday, the approach adopted is also intended to appeal to those with a more general interest in the country and its language.

Japanese Language and People

Parry, Trevor Hughes

BBC Active

Women, Media and Consumption in Japan (ConsumAsian Series)

First book of its kind to examine images of women in Japanese consumerism. Explores a variety of media targeted at women - in particular magazines, but also television, popular literature and consumer trends. Covers visual and print media.

A Japanese Advertising Agency: An Anthropology of Media and Markets (ConsumAsian Series)

This is the only book of its kind - written by an anthropologist who spent twelve months doing fieldwork in a major Tokyo agency and who has spent the past 30 years studying and living in Japan. By examining the production of advertising, this book turns other semiotics, media and cultural studies theories on their heads. By analysing the social structure of a modern media organization from the inside, it makes anthropology relevant and intellectually stimulating. By treating the Japanese as a more-or-less normal and rational people, it explodes the usual myths of exotic Japan and steps boldly into a global arena that embraces 'east' and 'west' in a new theory of values.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moeran, Brian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Moeran, Brian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moeran, Brian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Magic of Fashion: Ritual, Commodity, Glamour (Anthropology & Business)

Japanese Whaling?: End of an Era

Language and Popular Culture in Japan

Okubo Diary (Routledge Revivals): Portrait of a Japanese Valley

Okubo Diary (Routledge Revivals): Portrait of a Japanese Valley

Language and Popular Culture in Japan

Lost Innocence: Folk Craft Potters of Onta, Japan

Japanese Language and People

Women, Media and Consumption in Japan (ConsumAsian Series)

A Japanese Advertising Agency: An Anthropology of Media and Markets (ConsumAsian Series)