Graduate Student, Anthropology
D.Phil Candidate
Saint Cross College
Thesis Title: Sacred Pillars: Responsibility and Individuality in a Japanese Community
Prof. Roger Goodman
Prof. David Gellner
About
My doctoral thesis will be an historical ethnography of a small Japanese community in Nagano prefecture, with a focus on the role of community associations.
I recently completed an 18-month period of fieldwork, during which time I was affiliated with the Department of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Tokyo. I spent eleven months living full time with my wife Skye at our fieldsite, with the remaining seven months split equally with Nagano and the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki.
As of this writing, I have spent four and half years in Japan since my first visit in 2003.
My current research project focusses on varieties and spheres of civil society that transcend Western liberal norms. Relevant interests include: the ethics of community involvement and civic engagement, the modern persistence of sodality-based social organization, and the lorification and glorification of politics and culture as tradition.
Wider interests include the disciplinary history of anthropology with reference to Japan, literary translation, social history, Shintoism, camaraderie, ontological security, geography and memory.
I also curate a podcast of anthropology related lectures and programs at www.huffduffer.com/RobertsonCrusoe
Contact Information
c/o St. Cross College
St. Giles, Oxford,
OX1 3LZ, United Kingdom
+447897414179
stephen.dixon.robertson @ Skype
RobertsonCrusoe @ Twitter
