“Performing Okinawa”

“Performing Okinawa”

Okinawa is known in Japan as a region rich in performing arts. This symposium will present a range Okinawan cultural expression, from traditional, pop and rock music to architecture, and examine the meaning that these genres hold in modern-day Okinawa and Japan.

Saturday, March 7, 2009
Administration Building (Honbuto) 206
13:20-18:00
PresentersOpening Remarks: Matthew A. Gillan (International Christian University)Kumada Susumu (Okinawa Kenritsu Geijutsu Daigaku)
“Okinawan popular music and the construction of ethnic identity:
from shin-min’yo to Okinawa pop”
(in Japanese)James Roberson (Tokyo Jogakkan Daigaku)
“Okinawan Right to Rock: Colonial Modernity, Cultural Appropriation and
Cultural Authenticity in Postwar Okinawa”

Kinjou Masanori (Waseda Daigaku Ryuukyuu-Okinawa Kenkyuujo)
“The symbolic use of space in Okinawan architecture”
(in Japanese)

Kaneshiro Atsumi (Okinawa Kenritsu Geijutsu Daigaku)
“The role of the sanshin in the context of change of Ryukyuan court dance”
(in Japanese)

Mochida Akemi (Musician)
“Okinawan performing arts in Tokyo, Kawasaki and Tsurumi from World War II
to the present”
(in Japanese)Simultaneous interpretation will be provided.click here for more information