Faculty Member, Anthropology
Associate Professor
About
My research centers on the popularity of a range of Jamaican cultural forms in Japan, mainly roots reggae, dancehall reggae, and Rastafari. I approach this research from several theoretical perspectives. I use performance studies, for instance, to ethnographically explore the issues of social power that inform Japanese engagement with these cultural forms. Japanese practitioners of profoundly Afrocentric Rastafari have afforded me the opportunity to analyze how ideas of race and particularly blackness have been constructed and re-imagined around the globe. In a more recent line of research, I have shifted geographical perspectives from Japan to explore the Japanese community in Jamaica, one primarily centered on an interest in learning Jamaican culture at its source.
Contact Information
| Address: | Marvin D. Sterling |
| Telephones: |
812-855-1041 812-855-3858 |
