Society for East Asian Anthropology

Workshopping Japan fieldwork while in Tokyo. [crossposting] Our group is for fieldwork-base researchers in anthropology, sociology, popular culture, geography, political science, media studies and related fields. Anyone from Japan or abroad is welcome. We are now in our 26th year!

This group is mostly for younger researchers currently in the field, doing data collection for their dissertation. We meet about once a month in a closed format, limiting participation to regular members.

We have a number of different functions:
1. To share methodological knowledge and techniques around our fieldwork, eg., writing better fieldnotes, improving interview techniques, developing networking and data management strategies, etc.
2. To present work in progress to a small group of researchers working on Japan on different topics and disciplines.
3. To aid in professionalization, eg, targeting journals, sharing grant information, putting together panels for conferences, and finding part-time and regular employment (job letters, job talks, etc)
4. To find support for the trials and tribulations of intensive fieldwork.

We usually meet once a month at Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus, Tokyo around members' schedules, and go out for a meal afterward. We will meet starting in late April for a first meeting to get to know everyone. Come check us out to see if this will work for you.

We are also very lucky to have some wonderful scholars based in Japan who will help us.

Pat Galbraith, Maiko Kodaka and Megha Wadhwa.
If you are interested in joining this year,

Contact me on gmail.com directly (dhslater) by April 25th.
Put "Fieldwork Workshop" in the subject line
Include a short bio and description about your research.

Sincerely, David Slater

SEAA@25 LOOKING BACK IN ORDER TO LOOK FORWARD
Call for panel, roundtable, individual paper submissions
Annual Conference of AAA – 11/18-22/2026 St. Louis, MO
==see attached details==

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL
https://annualmeeting.americananthro.org/submit/

Program Committee:
Christine Yano (chair), Isaac Gagne, Ed Pulford, Tomomi Yamaguchi

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Society for East Asian Anthropology, the board has invited past presidents to contribute reflections on notable accomplishments, trials, and experiences during their presidencies. Building on past president Laura Miller’s (2003-2005) reflection on the history of SEAA as an organization, we intend for this series to be not only reflective but also speculative. Looking back to look forward, this series is an opportunity to both celebrate what we have been and envision what we might be in the future.

Below is our second essay in the series, a reflection by Gordon Mathews, past SEAA president (2015-2017) and Professor Emerita at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Throughout this year reflections will be added. At the end a cumulative document will also be available on this web page to see all entries together.

Read our second reflection here!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mJ1z11FANrgjLTgn1RIenTJWXLz-ITjq/view?usp=sharing

You will read about Mathews' experience organizing the first overseas SEAA conference, trials in SEAA's organizational history, and reflections on the scope of east asian anthropology.

As Mathews writes "Since East Asia is of such pivotal importance to the world’s future, the anthropology of East Asia should have a very bright future indeed. I’m confident that this will be reflected in SEAA’s continuing importance to anthropology in the United States and in the world."

- post by Alex Wolff and Yanping Ni, SEAA contributing editors

[email protected]

CFP: Remains/Ruins (of East Asia); write for SEAA section on Anthropology News and celebrate our 25th anniversary!

The Society for East Asian Anthropology’s (SEAA) column in Anthropology News is excited to invite abstract submissions for the theme, “Remains/Ruins.” As a section of Anthropology News (the American Anthropological Association’s member magazine), we select pieces to be published on its online forum, corresponding to AN’s public-friendly commitment and critical concerns of East Asia studies.
The theme “Remains/Ruins” invites us to interrogate the material and immaterial fragments of the past and their powerful agency in the present. What do physical ruins—of industry, war, development, or empire—tell us about contemporary social life, memory, and futurity? How do less tangible remains—cultural practices, affective residues, spectral histories, or bureaucratic archives—persist, transform, or haunt subjectivities? Remnants serve as vital sites of contested meaning-making, constantly reframing our anthropological understandings of time, materiality, loss, and resilience.
Musing on “Remains/Ruins” is particularly cogent for East Asia, a region marked by compressed modernity, ruination and rebirth, and layered histories of conflict, colonialism, and spectacular growth. The material landscapes and social bodies of East Asia are palimpsests of these forces, from the industrial ruins of Japan’s post-bubble economy and the abandoned “ghost cities” of China’s boom, to the partitioned remains of the Korean peninsula and the submerged villages behind Taiwanese dams.

As SEAA marks its 25th anniversary, this theme invites a historically deep engagement with the section’s own intellectual trajectory and the region’s transformations. We seek pieces that situate East Asia’s specific encounters with remains and ruins—whether of empires, revolutions, or environmental pasts—within broader dialogues, highlighting how the region’s negotiations with residue and reconstruction offer critical insights for anthropology writ large.

Submissions, targeted toward a general audience, can take the form of a short essay (up to 1,600 words and 3 images) or a photo essay (up to 750 words and 8 images). We invite contributions from scholars who are involved with a broad range of ethnographic methods, from archival to digital, in-person, and remote fieldwork. We highly encourage you to visit the Anthropology News website to get a sense of its accessible, jargon-free, and storytelling-based pieces. If you are interested in working with us, please send your 150-250 word abstract to co-editors Alex Wolff ([email protected]) and Yanping Ni ([email protected]) by March 6th, 2026. For a photo essay, please also include 2-3 sample images. Decisions will be made one week after the due date.
The selected piece will go through one or two rounds of edits with section editors, and will be published in Anthropology News later in 2026. Anthropology News boasts a readership of about 25,000 unique views per month, providing a significant platform for your work to reach a wide audience. We publish articles from members that address contemporary issues with original ethnographic research. Scholars of all stages currently possessing or anticipating SEAA membership are encouraged to participate. To learn more about what we publish, please check out previous articles here.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of SEAA the board has invited past presidents to contribute reflections on notable accomplishments, trials, and experiences during their presidencies. Building on past president Laura Miller’s (2003-2005) reflection on the history of SEAA as an organization (https://seaa.americananthro.org/about-seaa/history-of-seaa/), we intend for this series to be not only reflective, but also speculative. Looking back to look forward, this series is an opportunity to both celebrate what we have been and envision what we might be in the future. To kick-off the series, below is a reflection by Glenda Roberts, past SEAA president (2017-2019) and Professor Emerita in the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Waseda University. All through this year reflections will be added. At the end a cumulative document will also be available here to see all entries together.

Read Glenda Roberts' refleciton here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1txTdPcRX7CqFaVj5pZj6tlKyTFL93BDN/view?usp=sharing

[email protected]

Post-doc, 2026-27 REISCHAUER INSTITUTE POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN JAPANESE STUDIES

Applicant Deadline: December 19, 2025 (Friday), 5:00pm EST

The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (RIJS) at Harvard University will offer several Postdoctoral Fellowships in Japanese Studies to recent Ph.D. graduates of exceptional promise, to provide the opportunity for postdoctoral fellows to turn their dissertations into publishable manuscripts and to continue their research in Japanese studies.
[ONLINE APPLICATION] https://academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15340

Annual Meeting of the AAA in New Orleans: Invitation by SEAA President Christine Yano.

On behalf of the Board of Society for East Asian Anthropology, I would like to invite you all to the SEAA Business Meeting and Reception to be held at the AAA annual meeting in New Orleans on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at the Marriott, Galerie 3, from 7-10pm. It’s been a fraught year with momentous changes and critical challenges, but what has not changed is our commitment to hold together and reaffirm what our bonds mean and can do. As anthropologists with ties to East Asia and its diasporas, we well understand the place of interpersonal ties – social, political, emotional. Please do join us as we renew those ties, review the year past, and preview the year ahead, particularly the 25th anniversary of SEAA upcoming in 2026. We look forward to seeing you!

--Christine R. Yano, SEAA President

Kathryn Goldfarb, 'Child Welfare in Japan', online seminar Wed 29 October (online & in-person): link circled, below.

SEAA legacy fund (on the occasion of our 25th anniversary): Our campaign to create a SEAA25 legacy fund is going great! Thank you to those who have already given. By request, we have added some tweaks.
- donors may choose to remain anonymous
- you may give in an honor of another person

Full details at https://seaa.americananthro.org/about-seaa/25-years-to-celebrate-with-s-e-a-a/

Revised donation page at https://fundraise.givesmart.com/form/VmPoDQ?vid=1k8zvm

Many, many thanks in helping us shape the future of East Asian anthropology! [posted on behalf of SEAA President Christine Yano]

SEAA's 25th Anniversary Drive Donations will be used to support the celebration of SEAA's 25 anniversary and/or activities and spendings for membership expansion and SEAA community building such as subsidizing junior members' participation in AAA's annual meetings or sponsoring worksh