Description
Book SynopsisSince the 1980s, arguments for a multicultural Japan have gained considerable currency against an entrenched myth of national homogeneity. This book enters this conversation with an ethnography of Japan's Buraku people.
Trade Review"Finely composed and researched." -- Stephen Mansfield Japan Times "Gutsy... [Hankins] took tremendous pains to put himself at the heart of the Buraku community and expose himself to the widest possible range of experiences... Well-observed." Social Science Japan Journal "Hankins has written a fascinating ethnography that examines the complexities and contradictions inherent in the labor of multiculturalism." American Anthropologist "Working Skin is a highly original treatise... offers powerful insights... The book sets a new gold standard." Pacific Affairs Book Review "[Working Skin] makes a significant contribution to a new generation of scholarship on buraku issues." Journal of Japanese Studies
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface: Hailing from Texas Acknowledgments Introduction: The Labor of Multiculturalism Part One Recognizing Buraku Difference 1 * Of Skins and Workers: Producing the Buraku 2 * "Ushimatsu Left for Texas": Passing the Buraku Part Two Choice and Obligation in Contemporary Buraku Politics 3 * Locating the Buraku: A Political Ecology of Pollution 4 * A Sleeping Public: Buraku Politics and the Cultivation of Human Rights Part Three International Standards and the Possibilities of Solidarity 5 * Demanding a Standard: Buraku Politics on a Global Stage 6 * Wounded Futures: Prospects of Transnational Solidarity Conclusion: The Disciplines of Multiculturalism Epilogue: Texas to Japan, and Back Notes References Index
