In this episode of the Asian Ethnology Podcast, Ben Dorman speaks with Benjamin Huffman about the FIRE Program (First Year Innovation & Research Experience) and its efforts to encourage students to think critically and ethically about development, social change, and human flourishing from the very beginning of their university education.

Huffman discusses how the program combines interdisciplinary learning, research experience, and ethical reflection to move beyond narrow economic understandings of development. Drawing on examples from international development, philosophy, and community engagement, he explores questions such as: What makes development genuinely “worthwhile”? Who benefits from modernization and economic growth? And how can students cultivate ethical responsibility in a globally interconnected world?

The conversation also examines the role of empathy, critical thinking, and cross-cultural understanding in higher education, as well as the challenges of preparing students to engage thoughtfully with complex global issues. Recorded in conjunction with Huffman’s lecture at Nanzan University, this episode offers an insightful introduction to developmental ethics through the lens of innovative undergraduate education.

Link to the Development Ethics Toolkit

An unexpected discovery raises a larger question: how do scholarly books end up in AI training datasets? This episode looks at shadow libraries, academic publishing, and the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and scholarly knowledge.

This episode reflects on publicly reported discussions about AI training datasets and scholarly publishing.

In this episode, Asian Ethnology co-editor and managing editor Ben Dorman discusses the journal's ongoing move to the Scholastica publishing platform and the broader commitment to open access and sustainability that drives it.

Asian Ethnology has been publishing research on the peoples and cultures of Asia since 1942, first as Folklore Studies, then as Asian Folklore Studies, and now in its current form. The journal is fully funded by Nanzan University and remains free to read and free to publish in — a genuine Diamond Open Access model.

Ben reflects on the motivations behind the transition, including modernizing editorial workflows, improving discoverability, and offering readers content in both HTML and PDF formats. He also discusses the decision to discontinue self-produced print editions, focusing resources instead on digital accessibility, environmental responsibility, and long-term sustainability.

The episode highlights the people behind the journal's work and emphasizes Asian Ethnology's continuing mission to deepen understanding of Asia's cultures, promote scholarly exchange, and connect researchers around the world.

Background music courtesy of shamisen master Koji Yamaguchi. Used with permission.

Recorded 8 June 2017, Nagoya, Japan

Peter Knecht was the editor of Asian Folklore Studies from 1980 until 2007. The journal changed its name to Asian Ethnology in 2008.

In this extended interview, Peter discusses his experiences working as the editor of Asian Folklore Studies. He talks about when he first encountered the journal working under founding editor, Matthias Eder, and what happened when he took over the journal in 1980. 

Interviewer: Ben Dorman

In this episode, John Powers (Deakin University) discusses an interdisciplinary project involving historians, anthropologists, scientists, and folklorists concerning rivers that originate in Tibet, which play a key role in global hydrological cycles yet are in crises as a result of multiple threats.  

Recorded 11 March 2011

In this episode, anthropologist Susanne Klien discusses her recent book Urban Migrants in Rural Japan: Between Agency and Anomie in a Post-growth Society (SUNY Press, 2020). She touches on her motivations for doing the research, the reasons for migrants relocating to rural areas, and some of the challenges they face after relocation, amongst other issues. She also addresses some questions that were asked in a book talk given on 22 February 2021 that was part of the Asian Ethnology Series. 

Interviewer: Mark Bookman

Recorded: Wednesday Feb 17th 2021

This episode features a discussion with Steven Fedorowicz, cultural anthropologist, visual anthropologist, and associate professor at Kansai Gaidai University. Steven will be giving a talk on "Representations of Deaf People in Japan: Inspiration, Outrage and Real Life," as part of the "Disability and Japan in the Digital Age Series" via Zoom on May 14, 2021 (Details to follow). In discussing some of what he will be presenting, Steven talks about his ongoing project concerning media representations of deaf people and culture in Japan, and his introduction to his studies on and experiences with deaf communities. He also touches on his personal experiences that his understandings and approaches to deaf communities and disability studies.

Music used with kind permission of the performer, shamisen master Koji Yamaguchi.

Copyright 2021, Asian Ethnology Podcast

Interviewer: Mark Bookman

Date recorded: 26 October 2020

This episode of Asian Ethnology Podcast features Frank Mondelli, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Frank recently returned from research in Japan and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation on the social, technical, and political history of assistive technologies for deafness and hearing impairment in 20th century Japan. Frank discusses his recent work on the history of hearing aids in 1950s Japan, how he became interested in assistive technology, and how thinking about assistive technology can help us think about accessibility and inclusivity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This episode is part of the "Disability and Japan in the Digital Age" project run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University.

Publications discussed in this episode

Mills, Mara and Jonathan Sterne. "Dismediation – Three Proposals, Six Tactics" in Disability Media Studies, ed. Elizabeth Ellcessor and Bill Kirkpatrick

Interviewer: Ben Dorman

Date recorded: 3 November 2020

In this episode, Mark Bookman discusses a new series of lectures entitled "Disability and Japan in the Digital Age," which is run through the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University. He talks about the significance of the series at this time. Mark will also be presenting interviews with the participants in Asian Ethnology Podcast episodes. 

In this episode Yoshiko Okuyama talks about her most recent monograph, Reframing Disability in Manga (University of Hawai'i Press, 2020). Okuyama explains that her work examines representations of disabled people in manga serialized throughout the 1990s and 2000s, focusing on portrayals of deaf, blind, paraplegic, and autistic individuals, as well as those with gender dysphoria. Bookman asks Okuyama about the history behind her project and the logic that guided her decision-making regarding specific manga titles and disability identities. The two also unpack the contributions of Reframing Disability for scholars of gender, disability, and manga.