Imagining a Remote Homeland: Japanese Quasi-academic Ethnography of Upland Southeast Asia (2015) (original) (raw)

The paper examines Japanese quasi-academic ethnographies that link Japan's cultural origins to upland Southeast Asia, particularly the Kachin, Wa, and Naga peoples. It highlights a historical pattern where modernized societies romanticize 'primitive' cultures as representations of their ancestral roots, reflecting more about Japanese societal views and nostalgia rather than accurately portraying the cultures being studied. The influence of academic theses claiming ecological and cultural connections between these regions is explored, alongside the critique of capitalist modernity expressed in these ethnographies.