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YOSHIDA Kenji

Staff Members

YOSHIDA Kenji

Professor
Director-General, The National Museum of Ethnology

Research Specialization Anthropology of expressive culture; Africa, Europe, Japan
Individual Research Projects Study of creation, transmission, and representation of culture: A museum-anthropological approach

Personal website

Academic Qualifications

  • B.A. Kyoto Univ. 1980
  • M.A. Osaka Univ. 1983
  • Ph.D. Osaka Univ. 1989

Research Interests

  • Expressive Cultures in Africa
  • Representation of Culture in Museums

Research Keywords

Africa (Zambia), Europe (United Kingdom), Chewa, Cultural Anthropology, Museum Anthropology

Selected Publications

2008 “Imaged Asia, Imaged Europe” Yoshida, K and B. Durrans (eds.) SELF and OTHER: Portraits from Asia
and Europe
. The Asahi Shimbun.
2008 “Introduction. Portraits from Asia and Europe: How have people depicted each other?” Yoshida, K and
B. Durrans (eds.) SELF and OTHER: Portraits from Asia and Europe. The Asahi Shimbun.
1997 “‘Images of Other Cultures’ in Museums” Yoshida, K and John Mack (eds.) Images of Other
Cultures
. NHK Service Center.
1997 “A Note on the Joint Projects by the National Museum of Ethnology and the British Museum” Yoshida, K
and John Mack (eds.) Images of Other Cultures. NHK Service Center.
1992 Yoshida, K “Forest of Masks: Masked Society, Spirit Possession and sorcery among the Chewa. (in
Japanese)

Publications (English publications only)

2014 The Organizing Committee of “The Power of Images” (ed.) The Power of Images: The National Museum
of Ethnology Collection
2008 (With J. Mack) Preserving the Cultural Heritage of Africa : Crisis or Renaissance? Oxford:
James Currey.
2008 Ethnographic Exhibitions Today. In K. Yoshida and J. Mack (eds.) Preserving the Cultural Heritage
of Africa: Crisis or Renaissance?
Oxford: James Currey.
2006 Kalumbu and Chisudzo: Boys’ and Girls’ Masquerades among the Chewa. In S. Ottenberg and D.A. Binkley
(eds.) AFRICAN CHILDREN–S MASQUERADE – Playful Performers, pp.221–236. Transaction
Publishers.
2005 A Fresh Start for Graduate Education at Minpaku. MINPAKU Anthropology Newsletter 21: 10.
2005 Ethnographic Museums and Public Sphere. Museum Cooperation 2004: Newsletter of the Intensive
Course on Museology
1: 18–22.
2005 (With Y. Kawaguchi) Symposium Africa 2001: Representing African Art and Cultures (Senri
Ethnological Reports 54), National Museum of Ethnology.
2002 Die Maske als Instrument: Warum Menschen sich ein zweites Gesicht schaffen. In C. Geissmar-Brandi,
et al. (ed.) Gesichter der Haut, pp.181–188. Stroemfeld Verlag.
2001 (With T. Umesao and A. Lockyer) Japanese Civilization in the Modern World XVII: Collection and
Representation
(Senri Ethnological Studies 54), National Museum of Ethnology.
2001 “Tohaku” and “Minpaku” within the History of Modern Japanese Civilization: Museum Collection in
Modern Japan. In T. Umesao, A. Lockyer, and K. Yoshida (eds.) Japanese Civilization in the Modern
World XVII: Collection and Representation
(Senri Ethnological Studies 54), pp.77–105.
National Museum of Ethnology.
2001 Ethnographic and Cultural Exhibitions Today. In S. Inaga (ed.) Crossing Cultural Borders
(International Symposium 14), pp.39–48. International Research Center for Japanese Studies.
2001 Re-Exhibiting Africa: From the Exhibition “Images of Other Cultures”. In E. Kurimoto (ed.)
Rewriting Africa: Toward a Renaisssance or Collapse (JCAS Symposium Series 14), pp.193–207.
The Japan Center for Area Studies.
1997 (With J. Mack) Images of Other Cultures, NHK Service Center.
1993 Masks and Secrecy among the Chewa. African Arts 24 (2): 34–45, 92, Los Angeles: University of
California.
1992 Masks and Transformation among the Chewa of Zambia (Senri Ethnological Studies 31), National
Museum of Ethnology.

Ongoing Projects