IIDA TakuIIDA Taku
Department of Modern Society and Civilization・Professor

Research Specialization

• Ecological anthropology, fisher studies; Madagascar, Japan

Individual Research Projects

• Franco-Japanese Academic Relations in the Interwar Period with Special Focus on Anthropology, Ethnology, and Folklore Studies

Personal website https://www.r.minpaku.ac.jp/heritage/en/index.html

Academic Qualifications:

• B.A. Hokkaido Univ. 1992
• M.A. Kyoto Univ. 1994
• Ph.D. Kyoto Univ. 2000

Research Topics:

1. Ethnography of coastal fishermen in Japan and southwestern Madagascar
2. Ecological Anthropology
3. Relation between anthropological expedition and development of massmedia in Japan 4. Heritagization of culture in the African Continent and Indian Ocean

Recent Research Interests:

Fishing activities, originated at the dawn of human beings, are in some places highly industrialized today and comprise an important sector in the modern economy. This has caused a great variety of fishing methods from place to place throughout the world, but every fishing method still share an essential characteristic: dependence on natural environment and on other economic sectors.

For this reason, many fishing societies are always suffering from potential resource depletion and economic uncertainty. However, these two problems seem to be more severe today, when communication among societies on earth is accelerating. Introduction of many commodities, such as outboard engines and nylon nets, has stimulated technological innovation, making the fishing production higher than ever. Population growth, caused by medical and nutritional improvement, also has the same effect, accelerating resource depletion. Moreover, improvement of sea-product circulation has inevitably increased the economic risk influenced by the global market climate.

Solution of these problems has to be based both on global movement and on local history and environment. However, information on the latter has often been omitted or simply has lacked in many cases, making the situation worse. My research aims to accumulate information on environmental and socio-economic changes in local cases, as well as fishermen’s cognition of and reaction to them. Intensive case studies, I believe, will provide some general lessons for fishermen’s well-being and development of fishery.

Geographical areas of Interest:

Madagascar, Africa, Indian Ocean, Japan

Ethnic groups:

Vezo (Madagascar), Mwani (Mozambique), Swahili (Tanzania and Kenya), Japanese

Discipline:

Ecological anthropology

Publications:

2019

DiPLAS: Academic Image Platform for Twentieth-Century Photographs. In Naoko Sonoda (ed.) Conservation of Cultural Heritage in a Changing World (Senri Ethnological Studies 102), Suita: National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 165-174.

2019

Traveling and Indwelling Knowledge: Learning and Technological Exchange among Vezo Fishermen in Madagascar. In Keiichi Omura, Shiho Satsuka, Grant Jun Otsuki, and Atsuro Morita (eds.) The World Multiple: The Quotidian Politics of Knowing and Generating Entangled Worlds, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 190-204.

2018

Use of Explosives in the Southwestern Archipelago Immediately after World War II. In Giovanni Bulian and Yasushi Nakano (eds.) Small-Scale Fishery in Japan: Environmental and Socio-Cultural Perspectives, Venezia: Ddizioni Ca’ Fostari, pp. 15-30. (http://doi.org/10.14277/6969-226-0/ CFJS-8-1)

2018

Fishing and Hunting. In National Museum of Ethnology (ed.) National Museum of Ethnology Exhibition Guide, Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 190-193.

2015

Conferences: Cultural Heritage in the Regions of China: Anthropological Perspectives (2015.1.24-25) / Cultural Heritage and Museums in Conflict-Affected Areas (2015.2.7). MINPAKU Anthropology Newsletter 40: 13-14.

2013

Symposium ‘Can Cultural Heritage Forge Communities? Efforts in Africa.’ Minpaku Anthropology Newsletter 37: 13.

2013

Exhibition ‘Zafimaniry Style: Life and Handicrafts in the Mist Forest of Madagascar.’ Minpaku Anthropology Newsletter 36: 9-10.

2013

Roughness and Delicacy: A Legacy from the Making of Swidden Fields. In National Museum of Ethnology (ed.) Handicrafting the Intangible: Zafimaniry Heritage in Madagascar. National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 68-75.

2013

The House as a Cultural Symbol. In National Museum of Ethnology (ed.) Handicrafting the Intangible: Zafimaniry Heritage in Madagascar. National Museum of Ethnology, pp. 48-55.

2011

Umesao’s Theory of Information Industry. Minpaku Anthropology Newsletter 32: 6-7.

2010

Les maisons Bara. Eve-Jay Hopkins (ed.) A Madagascar: Photographies de Jacques Faublée, 1938-1941, Musée d’ethnographie de Genève, pp. 18-19.

2010

(joint authorship with Bram Tucker, Mr. Tsiazonera, Frances Humber, Sophie Benbow) Foraging for Development: A Comparison of Food Insecurity, Production, and Risk among Farmers, Forest Foragers, and Marine Foragers in Southwestern Madagascar. Human Organization 69 (4): 375-386.（http://www.jstor.org/stable/44148693）

2009

Canoes and Resource Management in Madagascar. Minpaku Anthropology Newsletter 28: 14-16.

2005

The Past and Present of Coral Reef Fishing Economy in Madagascar: Implications for the Self-Determination of Resource Use. SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin 22: 63–64.

2005

The Past and Present of Coral Reef Fishing Economy in Madagascar: Implications for the Self-Determination of Resource Use. In N. Kishigami and J. Savelle (eds.) Indigenous Use and Management of Maritime Resources (Senri Ethnological Studies 67), pp. 237–258. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.

2004

Message Board from Minpaku Staff. Co-Operation Newsletter for the Minpaku Seminar on Museology, 2004: 13–14.

2003

Packaging Other Cultures: Japanese TV Production and Ethnography. Minpaku Anthropology Newsletter 17: 3–5.

1998

Competition and Communal Regulations in the Kombu Kelp (Laminaria angustata) Harvest. Human Ecology 26 (3): 405–423.

1996

Decision-Making on Harvesting Kombu Kelp (Laminaria angustata) in Hidaka District, Hokkaido, Japan. Anthropological Science 104 (1): 65–82.

Presentations:

2019

What Matters for Natural Kelp Collectors and Kelp Aquafarmers? Physical and Social Factors Taken in Account. International Seminar by the UK-Japan Network on the Political Ecology of Coastal Societies “The Politics and Pitfalls of Maritime Governance” i> (June 19, 2019, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK)

2019

Communal Wellbeing among Competitive Fishermen. International Seminar by the UK-Japan Network on the Political Ecology of Coastal Societies “The Politics and Pitfalls of Maritime Governance” (June 18, 2019, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK)

2018

Authentic Change: A Heuristic Concept. 4th Biannual Conference of Association of Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS) (September 4, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China)

2018

How fishermen develop their own knowledge, and how different is it from ours? Cases from Madagascar. The 37th Special Seminar for “Crossing the Border (경계를 넘나): The Humanities Korea (HK) Overseas Research Project” (April 5, Institute of African Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea)

2017

Dissemination Projects at National Museum of Ethnology, Japan: Toward the Hotothèque of the World. Annual Conference of International Committee of Museums and Collections of Ethnography (ICME), International Council of Museums (ICOM) (October 17, 2017, National Museum of American Indians, Washington, DC, USA)

2017

DiPLAS: An Academic Platform of Images from the 20th Century. International Symposium (Research Trends Round-Table I) “Preservation of Cultural Heritage in a Changing World” (October 8, 2017, National Museum of Ethnology, Suita, Japan)

2017

What Can a Museum Do for Intangible Cultural Heritage? A Perspective Based on the Woodcrafting Knowledge of the Zafimaniry, Madagascar. Workshop “The Museum as a Guardian of Cultural Heritage.” (August 25, 2017, Manhyia Palace Museum, Kumasi, Ghana)

2016

Traveling and In-Dwelling Knowledge: Learning and Technological Exchange among Vezo Fishers in Madagascar. Conference “The World Multiple: Everyday Politics of Knowing and Generating” (December 11, 2016, National Museum of Ethnology, Suita, Japan)

2016

Swinging between German Romanticism and French Enlightenment: Zafimaniry Cultural Heritage in Madagascar. Inter-Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (May 5, 2016, Hotel Dubrovnik Palace, Dubrovnik, Croatia)

2016

Malagasy peasant fishermen's participation in coral reef management: Local life encounters global movement. A lecture for Yagi Nobuyuki Laboratory (April 22, 2016, University of Tokyo, Tokyo)

2016

Regenerative Medicine of Culture: A Perspective Based on the Woodcrafting Knowledge of the Zafimaniry, Madagascar. International Symposium “Authentic Change in the Transmission of Intangible Cultural Heritage” (March 12, 2016, Natinal Museum of Ethnology, Suita, Japan)

2015

Ongoing Project of National Museum of Ethnology, Japan. International Experts Meeting of the Project “Mapping Research on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in the Asia-Pacific Region” (January 27, 2015, Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

2015

Appropriation of Traveling Knowledge: A Case of Vezo Coastal Dwellers in Madagascar. International Workshop “Politics of Environmental Knowledge: Encounters between Indigeneity and Modernity” (March 6, 2015, Osaka University Nakanoshima Center, Osaka, Japan)

2015

Communicative Aspect of Bodily Knowledge: Malagasy Fishers’ Innovation in Gears and Techniques. German-Japanese Colloquium “Knowledge Transfer across Borders: Integrative Approaches” (January 16, 2015, Old Observatory, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany)

2014

Establishing Hotlines: A Japanese Museum’s Experience of Exhibiting Madagascar Cultural Heritage. 113th Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association (December 5, 2014, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, DC, United States)

2014

Fishing Technical Innovation among the Vezo: Toward a New Descriptive Method of Fishing Practice. Madagascar Workshop 2014 (9th) (7 April 2014, University of Toronto, Canada)

2014

Wars and disasters as matters of "anthropology of heritage." Inter-Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (May 17, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan)

2013

Balancing the Material and the Intangible: House Construction and Craft Making among the Zafimaniry of Madagascar. 14th Conference of International Association of Commons Studies (June 4, 2013, Onshirin kanri kumiai, Fujiyoshida, Japan)

2013

From Decoration to the Ethnic Symbol: Zafimaniry Geometric Relief in Madagascar. International Symposium “Can Cultural Heritage Forge Communities? Efforts in Africa” (May 28, 2013, National Museum of Ethnology, Suita, Japan)

2002

“The Past and Present of the Peasant-Fishermen’s Resource Use in Malagasy Coral Reefs: Implications for the Management.” Monbukagakusho International Symposium 2002: New Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Indigenous Use and Management of Migratory Marine Resources, 4 December, Senri, Japan.

1998

“Small-Scale Fishery in the Age of Global Market.” Eighth International Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies, 29 October, Osaka, Japan.

1993

“Regulations for Kombu Kelp Collecting in Hokkaido, Japan.” Fourth Annual Common Property Conference of the International Association for the Study of Common Property, 16 June, Manilla, Philippines.