Nature : Mono Podcast

26/03/2021

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Sujung Kim about her book Shinra Myōjin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian "Mediterranean."

This episode features an interview with Dr. Sujung Kim , author of Shinra Myōjin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean” (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2020). In our talk, we discuss how the oceanic deity Shinra Myōjin ties together medieval Japan, China, and the Korean kingdo...

12/03/2021

Join us for a conversation with Daryl Maude, Ph.D. Candidate at UC Berkeley, as we discuss Okinawan writer Takara Ben's oceanic poetics and what they mean for various registers of comparison between Okinawa and Japan, and the Pacific world.

This episode features an interview with Daryl Maude , Ph.D. Candidate in the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Daryl is the translator of Shinjo Ikuo’s “Male Sexuality in the Colony: On Toyokawa Zen’ichi’s Searchlight ,” which is includ...

26/02/2021

Released today: Episode Four, a conversation with Aike P. Rots, in which we discuss the Whales of Power project and the sea within the study of Japanese religion.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Aike Rots , principal researcher of the Whales of Power project and author of Shinto, Nature and Ideology in Contemporary Japan: Making Sacred Forests (Bloomsbury Press, 2017). In our talk, we discuss the transnational scope of the Whales of Power p

12/02/2021

Released today: Episode Three, a conversation with C. Anne Claus about her new book Drawing the Sea Near: Satoumi and Coral Reef Conservation in Okinawa.

This episode features an interview with Dr. C. Anne Claus , author of Drawing the Sea Near: Satoumi and Coral Reef Conservation in Okinawa (University of Minnesota Press, 2020). In our talk, we discuss the role of the sea in Environmental Anthropology and how Dr. Claus’ fieldwork in Shiraho o

05/02/2021

We will be back next week with a new episode, but in the meantime, check out these two films now streaming online, both by Japanese directors and both infused with watery images.

Oda Kaori's experimental documentary Cenote (セノーテ, 2019), a beautiful and haunting work about sacred sinkholes on the Yucatan Peninsula: https://mubi.com/films/cenote

And Kawase Naomi's self-described "masterpiece" Still the Water (2つ目の窓, 2014), filmed on location in the subtropical Japanese island of Amami: https://film.japansociety.org/film/still-the-water/

In Northern Yucatán, sinkholes constituted the sole water source for some Mayans. Cenotes were used for ritual sacrifices, and the Mayans believed that these holy springs connected this world to the afterlife. The past and present of those living around the cenotes coalesce in this mysterious place...

29/01/2021

Episode Two is now up on the website. Please enjoy a conversation with Jakobina K. Arch, author of Bringing Whales Ashore. You can now also subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

This episode features an interview with Dr. Jakobina K. Arch , author of Bringing Whales Ashore: Oceans and the Environment of Early Modern Japan (University of Washington Press, 2018). In our talk, we discuss Dr. Arch’s interest in telling the early modern oceanic history Tokugawa era Japan. W

22/01/2021

Episode 1 is now live at naturemono.com.
Listen to the first (mini) episode of Season One: Oceanic Japan, co-sponsored by UCI Humanities Center.

15/01/2021