Assistant Professor, Asian Studies: The Department of Asian Studies in the College of Arts, Languages,…
Job Talk: Interpreting Okinawa: Place-Making and the Nature of the Past
The Asian Studies Program invites you to a talk by Dr. Andrea Murray, “Interpreting Okinawa: Place-Making and the Nature of the Past,” on Monday, February 27, from 2:30-3:30 pm, in Bilger Hall 335.
Abstract:
“Nature” in Okinawa is a thing of the past. This talk considers how a sense of unique ecological heritage is cultivated and expressed through facilitated interactions between human and non-human animal species, both for the education of tourists and for the benefit of residents. In a move to direct the island’s economy away from U.S. military base dependency, local entrepreneurs are reclaiming their past through engagement with the natural environment. “Nature” is also a matter of interpretation.
About the Speaker:
Andrea E. Murray is an Associate in Research at the Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Harvard University. Her book, Footprints in Paradise: Ecotourism, Local Knowledge, and Nature Therapies in Okinawa (Berghahn Books 2017), is an ethnography of island political ecology and sustainable tourism development.