Motoko Katakura

Motoko Katakura
片倉もとこ
Born Motoko Niiya 新谷素子
(1937-10-17)October 17, 1937.
Nara, Nara
Died February 23, 2013(2013-02-23) (aged 75)
Nationality Japan
Other names 片倉素子
Occupation Cultural anthropology (Middle Eastern Studies)
Known for the first woman director of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (May 2005)
Notable work "Bedouin village: a study of a Saudi Arabian people in transition" (1977)[1]


Motoko Katakura (片倉もとこ (素子)) (née Niiya, 17 October 1937 - 23 February 2013)[2] was a Japanese anthropologist specialized in Islamic and multi-culture of desert.

Early life

Born in Nara Prefecture in Japan, she moved to Kanagawa Prefecture and finished high school in 1956. She was admitted to Tsuda College, English Language major, and studied abroad during her senior year to graduate in 1962.[3][notes 1] She took Master of Letters, in 1968 at the Chuo University Graduate School,[3] and researched at Columbia University between 1971 and '72 as a Visiting Research Fellow.[3]

Islamic world and multicultural studies

Katakura's main field of study was focused on the Islamic world including bedouin, and multicultural studies. In late 1960s she visited bedouin camps in Saudi Arabia for her first field research in Islamic culture, while the Katakuras lived there. Abdur-Rahim Al Aḥmadī was the best supporter for Katakura's field work in Saudi Arabia since the early stage of her research in late 1960s. He witnessed that Katakura went into the nomad society of Wadi Fatima (western Saudi Arabia) and lived among those people for a period, and she visited them several times over the years.[4][5] Katakura proceeded on-site research while winning the trust and affection of those people, observing the cultural heritage of their society. Working as a lecturer at her alma mater Tsuda College between 1973 and '74,[3] she obtained PhD. of Geology at Graduate School of University of Tokyo, faculty of Science in 1974.[3] Promoted as an associate professor, she continued working at Tsuda College,[3] and her hard work and tenacity on research and field work was rewarded when she published the survey results in her first book under the title of "Bedouin Village" in 1977.[notes 2] She appreciated the contribution and support Abdur-Rahim Al Ahmadi had offered her, and asked him writing the preface to the Arabic version of that title.[notes 3]

Among academic circles

With thorough academic papers followed the first book, she proofed that scientific values and her challenges in cultural anthropology was confirmed. Katakura started to extend the basis of her research during and after her tenure as a lecturer at University of Tokyo between 1975 and 1977,[3] that Katakura gave lectures at International Christian University for the term of 1975/76 and 1977/78.[3] Her teaching carrier extended at Tsuda College in 1978 to 1981. At the National Ethnographic Museum in Osaka she researched the Islamic world and multicultural studies including bedouin and desert culture in 1981 to 1993 at National Museum of Ethnology as a professor,[3] where she became a professor emeritus in later years.

For multiculture studies, she actively researched abroad on many offers such as a Visiting Professor at University of British Columbia (1985 - 1986), a Visiting Research Fellow at Research Center for Arabian Literature (1987 - 1988).[3][12] Coming back to Japan, she was a professor at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (1989 - 1993).[3][13] Kunio Katakura was appointed the Ambassador to Iraq and spent years over there during the early part of Gulf War. In Japan, in May 1990, the Japanese Association of Arid Land Studies was founded with Katakura as the first vice director.[notes 4] It was in 1993 when Katakura professed at Chuo University at the Faculty of Policy Studies which started the same year,[15] before she was nominated and became the director of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in May 2005. The director of that Center had been succeeded from Takeshi Umehara to Hayao Kawai and Tetsuo Yamaori, all who were past professors at the Center, and Katakura filled her post as the first woman director without former tenure with them. Following her retirement in 2008, she became a professor emeritus at the Center.

Episodes

She was married to Kunio Katakura[16] and lived overseas as a wife of a diplomat.[4] In the United States of America, they made acquaintance with Hisashi Owada who was also a diplomat, and she recalled many times that she and her husband met his daughter Masako, the future Crown Princess of Japan during those years. During the early part of the Gulf War, she was on her research in Japan, while her husband was appointed in Iraq.

Katakura applied hiragana transcription when she got married and changed her family name to Katakura. A fortune teller advised Katakura that there were no problem to apply kanji to both her first and maiden name, or Motoko Aratani. However, the combination of both her first name and married name in kanji did not show good omen. Based on that advice, she transcribed her first name in kana rather than in kanji. On the first day at the National Museum of Ethnology as a professor, it was not quite comfortable for her to find her name inscribed in kanji only on the nameplate to her office, as she confessed in her essay.[17]

Katakura Motoko died on 23 February 2013 at the age of 75.[2][18]

Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture

To honor Katakura Motoko's passion for her research, Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture was inaugurated on 7 November 2013,[19] with her husband Katakura Kunio as the Councilor chairperson.[20] It was a part of their aim to honor the desert culture which was yet to be popular in Japan, and they presented the first "Yutorogi Prize" to Mr and Mrs. Tadashi Nagahama of Nihon Baiobirejji Kyokai (日本バイオビレッジ協会) for their continued effort and dedication to desertification control activities in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, for over twenty years. The Nagahamas had met Katakura in 1990, and she had encouraged them over the years and left a will to include them as a recipient.[notes 5]

Awards and prizes

Committee membership

Affiliated academic societies

Projects

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ Studying in the United States in 1961, Katakura had a chance to talk with an activist for the independence of Algeria which she recalled when she encountered with Islam culture.[4]
  2. ↑ "Bedouin village" attracted much reviews. [6] [7] [8] [9]
  3. ↑ Originally published on arabic newspaper "al-Ḥayāh" (Al hayat) as an interview.[10][11]
  4. ↑ Since 2014, the Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture has been presenting an annual prize “Katakura Motoko Prize” at the Japanese Association of Arid Land Studies, in honor of Motoko Katakura with a silver medal. The first prize was presented to two scholars of desert research and studies from Tottori University.[14]
  5. ↑ The Foundation notes their purpose to inherit and abide to Katakura's original intention by contributing to "the understanding of desert culture" as well as "treasure the desert culture carefully" and "appreciate the beauty of the desert itself." To organize documents and references of late Motoko Katakura and make them accessible to researchers was the project it puts emphasis as well as plan and donate to other institutions. Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture supports research and inter-disciplinary studies on desert culture, granted aids to publish books and media on desert culture, both at home and in the international market. It is another project the foundation will take care of, and artistic activities themed around desert culture will be granted support. Workshops and exhibitions are sponsored by the Foundation, aiming at to introduce page to wider audience. They support seminars, symposium and research presentations for the circle of the desert culture studies, as well as those lecture projects to dispatch lecturers to classrooms.[21]
  6. ↑ KATAKURA Motoko, Professor Emeritus at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies; Professor Emeritus, National Museum of Ethnology; Professor Emeritus, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Katakura, Motoko (1977). Bedouin village: a study of a Saudi Arabian people in transition. The modern Middle East series (in Japanese). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. OCLC 784944344.
  2. 1 2 "Katakura Motokosan ga shikyo: moto kokusai nihon bunkasenta- shocho" [Dr.Motoko Katakura passed away : former director of the International Japanese Culture Institute] (in Japanese). the Nikkei. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 "KATAKURA Motoko - Researcher - researchmap". Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 Suita, Yasuko (November 2014). "Sabakue..." [To desert...] (PDF). News Letter (in Japanese). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture (1): 3.
  5. ↑ In early 1980s her husband was appointed as the Japanese ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Katakura revisited her field of research in the desert of Wadi Fatima (western Saudi Arabia).
  6. ↑ Vidal, F. S (1 April 1978). "Book Review: Bedouin Village: A Study of a Saudi Arabian People in Transition". Middle East Journal. 32 (2): 219–220. ISSN 0026-3141. OCLC 5547390495.
  7. ↑ "Book Review: Bedouin Village: A Study of a Saudi Arabian People in Transition". Middle East Journal. Middle East Institute. 32 (2 (Spring)): 219–220. 1978. JSTOR 4325748. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Masry, Abdullah H (1 May 1978). "JOURNAL ARTICLE Review: Bedouin Village: A Study Of A Saudi Arabian People In Transition By Motoko Katakura". Middle East Studies Association Bulletin. Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA). 12 (2): 36–37. JSTOR 23057984. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  9. ↑ Bidwell, Robin (1978). "JOURNAL ARTICLE Review: Bedouin Village: A Study Of A Saudi Arabian People In Transition By Motoko Katakura". The Geographical Journal. geographicalj. 144 (2): 315. ISSN 0016-7398. JSTOR 634162. OCLC 5548821610. doi:10.2307/634162. Retrieved 2 February 2017. With Foreword by J. C. Hurewitz.
  10. ↑ "تدشين مؤسسة يابانية تهتم بثقافة المجتمع السعودي" [The launch of a Japanese organization dedicated to the culture of Saudi society] (in Arabic). Bayrūt: al-Ḥayāh. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  11. ↑ Abdur-Rahim Al Ahmadi (November 2014). Kunio Katakura (translator). "Saujiarabia shakai no bunka ni kanshin wo sosogu nihon no zaidan hossoku" [The launch of a Japanese organization dedicated to the culture of Saudi society]. News Letter. Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture (1): 7.
  12. ↑ Katakura, Motoko (15 February 1988). "Ibunka kankyo ni okeru musurimu ― Kanada ni okeru arabu musurimu shakai no keisei" [Muslims in a Non-Islamic Environment ―With Focus on Arab Musulims in Canada]. Research report. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, Japan (12): 681–726. ISSN 0385-180X.
  13. ↑ Katakura, Motoko (19 March 1990). "Ibunka kankyo no arabu musurimu ― Bankuba no ejiputojin musurimu no jireikenkyu" [Muslims in a Non-Islamic Environment ―A Case Study of Egyptian Community in Vancouver, Canada]. Research report. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, Japan (14): 821–889. ISSN 0385-180X.
  14. 1 2 "Sono hoka no hokoku" [Other reports] (PDF). News Letter (in Japanese). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture: 8. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  15. 1 2 "KATAKURA Motoko". 1 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Kunio Katakura later took on Professor of International Relations at Daito Bunka University.
  17. ↑ Katakura, Motoko (1987). Sabaku e nobiyakani. Chikuma shobo. ISBN 9784480853905. OCLC 672666966.
  18. ↑ "Fuho, tsuito" [Obituaries - Memorial]. The Japan Society for Comparative Study of Civilizations. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  19. ↑ The official foundation day is 7 November 2013, with inauguration reception on 23 February 2014 with the honorable guest Abdur-Rahim Al Aḥmadī who had been the best supporter for Katakura's field work in Saudi Arabia. On 1 August 2014 the Foundation onened its website, and published its first newsletter on 5 November 2014.
  20. ↑ The founding members of Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture included the representative director Hiroshi Nawata, the Councilors Hiroshi Umemura, Masako Otsuka and Kunio Katakura (chairperson), board members as Shun Ishiyama, Mitsuko Watanabe, Naoko Kawata, Misao Gunji, Ryuichi Hara and Kanako Kodama. Toshiko Masumoto was the auditor.
  21. ↑ "Zaidan ni tsuite" [About our foundation] (in Japanese). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Received for: Katakura, Motoko (1979). Arabia nōto : Arabu no genzō wo motomete. NHK Books (in Japanese). Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai. OCLC 834537173.
  23. ↑ "KATAKURA Motoko, Researcher information by J-GLOBAL". Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  24. ↑ "第8期役員 (2005年11月19日~第26回大会の前日まで）" [Board members, term 8 (between 19 November 2005 and a day before the 26th assenbly] (in Japanese). The Japan Society for Comparative Study of Civilizations. 25 January 2006. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  25. ↑ "Nihon sabaku gakkai 2013-nendo dai-24-kai gakujutsu taikai, hyogiinkai, soukai kiji (somu hokoku)" [Reports:fy2013 - the 24th Symposium, Board of directors' meeting, General assembly (Office of General Affairs]. OASIS : News and Communications (in Japanese). The Japanese Association for Arid Land Studies. 23 (1 (No.82 June 2013)). June 2013.
  26. ↑ Science Council of Japan, Japan Science Support Foundation, Japan Science and Technology Agency (eds.). "Society Directory of Japan" (in Japanese). Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  27. ↑ The 4th and 5th Vice President. The joint fund of Yoshiro Mutaguchi and Motoko Katakura supports the maintenance and management of the website for Collegium Mediterranistarum. "Guidance" (in Japanese). Collegium Mediterranistarum. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  28. ↑ Katakura (July 2012). "Hitobito no chichukai sekai" [People and the Mediterranean world]. Gakushikai kaihō (in Japanese). 2012 (4 (895)): 19–23. OCLC 5183430368.
  29. ↑ Revised in 2000 by the Japan Institute of International Affairs.
  30. ↑ Revised to paperback as: Katakura (2002). Arabia noto. Chikuma gakugei bunko (in Japanese). Chikuma shobo. ISBN 9784480087263. OCLC 54735000.
  31. ↑ The original title: Cole, Donald Powell (1975). Nomads of the nomads, the Āl Murrah Bedouin of the Empty Quarter. Worlds of man (Aldine Publishing Company). Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company. ISBN 9780202011172. OCLC 1365896.
  32. ↑ Revised to paperback. Katakura (1998). "Ido bunkako" : Isuramuno sekaiwo tazunete. Dojidai raiburari. Iwanami shoten. ISBN 9784002603506. OCLC 674441357.
  33. ↑ Translation original: Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris (2003). Teach yourself Islam. Teach yourself world faiths. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9780340859681. OCLC 721886205.
  34. ↑ Revised to paperback. Yutorogi: isuramu no yutakana jikan. Dojidai raiburari. Iwanami shoten.
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