Objectives
The aim of this project is to construct an archive of photographs housed at the National Museum of Ethnology which were taken in Thailand for the First Synthetic Research of the Culture of Rice-cultivating Peoples in Southeast Asian Countries (1957-58). While building collaborative relationships with the source community and local researchers in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, we will conduct a follow-up field study to collect and add new information to the basic information for the photographs taken during the original study. Research results and papers from the original study will also be linked to the archive, along with information about the artifacts in Minpaku's collection. The Kanagawa University Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture houses administrative documents from the Japanese Society of Ethnology (later Shibusawa Foundation for Ethnological Studies), which organized and dispatched the research team for the study, so we plan to link these to the archive as related materials. By creating a new academic hub based on these photographs which comprehensively links interviews from the follow-up field study, research papers, artifacts and administrative documents, we will explore potential ways in which researchers, local communities and society in general can collaborate and share with each other.
Description
The aim of this project is to construct an archive of photographs housed at the National Museum of Ethnology which were taken in Thailand for the First Synthetic Research of the Culture of Rice-cultivating Peoples in Southeast Asian Countries (1957-58). This was a commemorative project launched by the Society of Ethnology, which marked the 20th anniversary of its founding in 1954.
The area of focus for the first study was the countries around the Mekong River basin in mainland Southeast Asia, namely Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Several thousand photographs were taken in these locations, but in this project, we will start by building an archive limited to the approximately 800 pictures taken in Thailand.
The special features of this project can be broadly sorted into the following three points. Firstly, while building collaborative relationships with the source community and local researchers in Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, we will conduct a follow-up field study to collect and add new information to the basic information for the photographs taken during the original study. Working with the source community and local researchers to inspect the original photographs and add new information opens up the possibility of creating an archive which can be continuously updated on an ad hoc basis.
Secondly, this is an attempt to build an archive that integrates not only photographs, but also information from diverse other types of media. These diverse media include research results and papers from the original study and information about the artifacts in Minpaku's collection, as well as administrative documents housed at the Kanagawa University Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture from the Japanese Society of Ethnology (later Shibusawa Foundation for Ethnological Studies), which organized and dispatched the research team for the study.
Related to the above, the third feature of the project is that, by creating a new academic hub based on these photographs which comprehensively links interviews from the follow-up field study, research papers, artifacts and administrative documents, we will be able to explore potential ways in which researchers, local communities and society in general can collaborate and share with each other. Photographs are a medium which can facilitate sharing and collaboration in the sense that they transcend language, ethnicity, region and even the discontinuity of time – viewing them together can evoke memories.
Regarding the later direction of research which utilizes this academic hub, we are considering the following two points. Firstly, in addition to using the photographs and related research results and papers to consider the rice-cultivating culture of the past, through our contemporary follow-up field study, we will also consider some of the transformation that human culture has experienced in the latter half of the 20th century. Secondly, we will look at the overseas studies of cultures that were systematically developed by the Japanese Society of Ethnology in the 1950s and consider how and why these studies were conducted, as well as their significance in terms of academic history. In order to consider these two points, we will collaborate with local researchers and the source community to build an archive which includes a variety of media, and furthermore, by aiming to utilize the archive in university education programs on intercultural understanding, we will seek to provide a platform which can be shared widely by researchers, local communities and the general public.
Expected results
Based on the approximately 800 photographs which were taken in Thailand for the First Synthetic Research of the Culture of Rice-cultivating Peoples in Southeast Asian Countries (1957-58), we will build an archive which links together the following as far as possible: 1) Basic information about the photographs; 2) Information added through a follow-up field study; 3) Information from research results and papers relating to the original study; 4) Information about artifacts in Minpaku's collection; 5) Information about administrative documents from the Japanese Society of Ethnology (later Shibusawa Foundation for Ethnological Studies), which are housed at the Kanagawa University Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture.
We will translate the basic information into English, and aim to build a system which allows local researchers and others to add related information online on an ad hoc basis. We will also consider the possibility of adding the time and location the photographs were taken to a map corresponding to the itinerary of the original study.
By creating a comprehensive archive based principally on photographs, but also including a variety of other media, and by providing a multilingual platform with a map to facilitate easy access for a large number of people, we can explore the possibilities for a wide range of collaborative activities, including using it as an online educational resource for intercultural understanding in the digital age.
Outcomes from 2022
This fiscal year we conducted studies and research on the following four points:
1) We transferred all of the basic information about the photographs in Japanese in the existing database into Excel and organized it. We then standardized the terminology and translated it into English.
2) A prototype database was built for testing using the Forum DB template with some modifications to improve usability and searchability. We also built a webpage for disseminating results.
3) We organized the data for information from research results and papers relating to the original study, information about artifacts in Minpaku's collection, and information about administrative documents from the Japanese Society of Ethnology (later Shibusawa Foundation for Ethnological Studies), which are housed at the Kanagawa University Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture.
4) In preparation for the full-scale field study scheduled for FY2023, we conducted preliminary studies in Bangkok, Chiang Rai and Chiang Saen in February, and in Chiang Mai in March 2023.