← New Books Network
New Books Network
Shilla Lee , "Crafting Rural Japan: Traditional Potters and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization" (Routledge, 2024)
01:04:36
Loading summary
Transcript112 lines
- [00:03]
Depop Advertiser
Kids, they grow up so fast. One day they're taking their first steps, and the next they don't fit into the tiny sneakers they took them in. You blink your eyes and their princess dress is two sizes too small. And their dinosaur backpack isn't cool anymore. But don't cry because they're growing up. Smile because you can profit off of it. For real. There are a bunch of parents on Depop looking for the stuff your kid just grew out of. Download depop to start selling.
- [00:33]
Rumchata Advertiser
Toast the holidays in a new way and raise a glass of Rumchata, a delicious creamy blend of horchata with rum. Enjoy it over ice or in your coffee. Rumchata. Your holiday cocktails just got sweeter. Tap or click the banner for more. Drink responsibly. Caribbean rum with real dairy cream, natural and artificial flavors. Alcohol 13.75% by volume 27.5 proof. Copyright 2025. Agave Loco Brands, Pojoaquee, Wisconsin. All rights reserved.
- [01:01]
Marshalls Advertiser
When it comes to gifting, everyone on your list deserves something special. Luckily, Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals and amazing gifts so you don't have to. That means your mom gets that cashmere sweater, your best friend that Italian leather bag, your co workers unwrap their favorite beauty brands, and your nephews the coolest new toys.
- [01:21]
Rumchata Advertiser
Go ahead.
- [01:22]
Marshalls Advertiser
At prices this good, you can grab something for yourself too. Marshalls, we get the deals. You, you gift the good stuff. Shop now@marshalls.com or find a store near you.
- [01:32]
New Books Network Announcer
Welcome to the New Books Network.
- [01:36]
Yadong Li
Hello everybody. Welcome to the Anthropology Channel of the New Books Network. I'm your host, Yadong Li, a PhD student in anthropology at Tulane University. So in today's episode, we are turning to contemporary rural Japan to think about craft creativity and the politics of revitalization policies. The book we are discussing today asks what happens when a declining rural region is reimagined as a creative village and when traditional pottery becomes a central emblem of that new identity. Today's new book traces how local government experts and craftspeople in Temba Sasayama work together, sometimes in harmony, sometimes in tension and fraction, to craft new futures. And today, I'm very happy to have Dr. Shella Lee with us today. So, Dr. Lee, welcome to the New Books Network.
- [02:26]
Dr. Shella Lee
Thank you for hosting me. I am very honored to talk to you today and I'm looking forward to sharing my research with everybody.
- [02:36]
Yadong Li
Thank you. It's our pleasure to have you today. So the new book today is Crafting Rural Traditional Porters and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization, published by Rutledge in 2024. Its author, Dr. Shella Lee, is a postdoc researcher at the Institute of Modern Japan at Henrik Heine University, Dosseldorf in Germany. Trained as A social anthropologist, Dr. Lee's research 10 centers on contemporary Japan craft and rural revitalization. So to begin, Dr. Li, I hope to invite you to introduce yourself to our audience. So what led you to anthropology and how did you come to focus specifically on Japan? And more specifically, I was especially impressed by how you reflect on your own positionality in your book as a South Korean scholar working for a German institute and conducting long term field work in Japan. So how has this transnational trajectory shaped your research interests and is it where you approach your work?
- [03:37]
Dr. Shella Lee
Right.
- [03:39]
Yeah, so I actually got interested in anthropology through, well, this is a long time ago, through documentary film. I was initially interested in documentary film. I mean, you know that thing in your early 20s you let John to figure out who you are and you get into something. For me it was documentary film. But it wasn't until my master's program that I really started taking anthropology seriously. And since then, well, I don't really know how I ended up here. But with the anthropology of Japan, I never really thought of it as a film fixed field I'm committed to. So Japan's more like my main field site for exploring bigger anthropological questions. But being in Japan does add a bit of extra texture. Since Japan is neighbor to my home, South Korea, I've been thinking a lot about what it means to study a neighbor and how that shapes our perspective.
- [04:42]
So to be honest, well, I don't think nothing really led me to anthropology or to Japan specifically. It just kind of happened. But yeah, the topic of regional revitalization was something that I'd long been interested perhaps before even knowing what anthropology is. And you asked me about my positionality. Korean doing fieldwork in Japan but being affiliated in a German research institute, I think that did create an interesting relationship with the Potters, with the city hall officials and many other people that I talked to.
- [05:20]
Well, specifically background wise at the time, Korea and Japan wasn't particularly good in terms of diplomatic relationship.
- [05:30]
So I was a little bit concerned what I would be talking to when I start talking about my personal life and thoughts and so on and so forth.
- [05:41]
But in a way, because I'm a Korean. But then I was affiliated in German research institute, I think that sort of made the other puzzled about my identity, who I am supposed to be. So I wasn't somebody who fitted in so well in their image of, I guess, Korean or researcher from Korea. And I think that sort of opened up our relationship in a broader.
- [06:11]
I think the other didn't really necessarily judge me in certain ways, and I think I kind of sensed that as well. The kind of things that we could talk about really broadened. And sometimes because of the diplomatic situations between Korea and Japan, sometimes I would ask about craft or regional revitalization, but then the conversation somehow ended up with, what do you think about Japan? How do you think about the current political situation? Initially, I was a little bit afraid to talk about it. I mean, honestly about my opinion and so on and so forth. But later I found out that these were important to discuss. I mean, as a researcher, you might want to sort of keep boundary between your private thoughts, your sort of real thoughts and the work that you do as a researcher. Right. You make the boundary. But I kind of realized unless you open up about your honest opinions and, you know, thoughts about certain things, the other won't open up as. As well. And I think the other also sort of sense that if you keep that boundary. So I got to talk a lot about sensitive things as well, political issues and so on and so forth. But somehow that sort of bonded me with the. With the porters and some people. So.
- [07:32]
Yeah, in a way, my interesting positionality opened up our discussion because of my vague identity, but at the same time, my nationality being Korean. Doing research in Japan also sort of.
- [07:50]
Let us touch upon sensitive issues and hence kind of made our sort of relationship more easygoing later on because we've been. We've been through these sensitive issues and so on and so forth. Yeah, so, yeah, that was interesting. Part of my research, I guess.
- [08:10]
Yadong Li
Yeah, understood. It's really fascinating and interesting to see how East Asian geopolitics not only impacts, but also is actually an integral part of our fieldwork and finally can also be a resources for fieldwork as moving between these different nation states and societies. So I think you provide a very interesting and insightful reflection in your book. So thank you for this contribution. And now let's turn to the origin story of crafting rural Japan. So what first brought you to this small community, Tenba Sasayama? And how did pottery and original revitalization come together as a central problem for you? Were there particular encounters, policy developments, or field moments, fieldwork moments that convinced you that this was the right side and length for thinking about, you know, the topics that you talk about rural change in contemporary Japan?
- [09:04]
Dr. Shella Lee
Yeah. So what drew me to do Fieldwork in Tambasa Sayama and focus on the pottery industry as a way to think about regional revitalization was, I'd say, a kind of a slightly unconventional approach that the municipality, the government, was taking. The main policy behind our efforts to breed so sort of new life into the local social and economic scene. I mean, by revitalize, I mean trying to spark a sense of liveliness in a place facing demographic and economic challenges. Was this idea of Sozono Son, or you can just say creative village. But it wasn't really the specific policies or tactics that drew me in, though those were certainly part of it. What really caught my attention was the way they were rethinking about rethinking what it means to be rural. And when I talk about creative village, I'm not just referring to a new slogan or rebranding of the region. What fascinated me was how the very ideas and practices around rurality, the struggles to define what rural life can be, seem to shape and give meaning to the whole effort of regional revitalization. So Tamasasayama was one of the key regions where the concept of creative village, Sozo no Son, was being developed. I touched on this briefly in one of my chapters, but it's important to note that this wasn't just something the local government came up with out of nowhere. It actually has a firm academic foundation in Japan, where a group of dedicated scholars developed it as a counterpart to Sozotoshi soap. Creative City. I think creative city is a widely known concept, so it's kind of a counterpart to that invented in, sort of created in Japan Japanese context. So while Tambasa Sayama's regional revitalization efforts were very locally based and driven, framing itself as a creative village was also part of a broader movement addressing a new sense of rurality in Japan. So with ongoing demographic challenges, especially in peripheral regions, and all these sort of national and regional government support for regional revitalization, there has been a strong push for new ideas and policies to increase population and boost local economies. And across Japan, many small villages and towns have experimented with ways to attract people and generate new activities, you know, showing that these places can still offer hope for sustainability. And traditionally, rural areas drew people for their, you know, bucolic landscapes or slower pace of life, sort of that kind of thing. You know, for retirees, they. They want to move back to countryside and so on and so forth. Right? That's still true. But what's changed is that small towns are increasingly attracting people who wanted to experimental, innovative work. Activities that aren't so different from what you might find in urban areas. Thanks. In large part, of course, IT and digital technologies. And scholars have noted the ship recently, and where rurality is no longer seen as backwardness, but which can also be viewed as innovative, alternative, and even ahead of urban trends. And in some ways. So in that sense, Tambasa Sayama's Create a Village campaign reflects a local government responding to this changing perception of rural life, integrating these new expectations into their regional, you know, revitalization efforts. So the reason this drew me to Tambasa Sayama is that I didn't want to do a typical case study ethnography, you know, focused on, you know, certain quirky festivals or businesses in some towns or villages. Well, there are many of those in Japan that attract attention from outsiders. But I wanted to focus on regional revitalization, revitalization as a central social issue, something that reflects broader contemporary challenges in Japanese society, rather than treating rural areas as a peripheral or the court decorative element. And I think Tanbasa Sayama offered that its initiatives were local, but they also vividly reflected larger changes in how rurality and also post growth values are understood across Japan. And also, I mean, Kambasa Sayama is a relatively typical municipality. It's small, not extremely famous, facing moderate demographic challenges. So it sort of made it an ideal example of a place trying to find a new vision in a context that's very common across Japan.
- [14:01]
Yadong Li
Yeah, thank you very much. And the insights I obtain from your description is that Tanbasa Sayama, although a small community in Japan, it cannot be analyzed or understood in isolation, but we need to put it in a broader backdrop. And in your description, and also early in your book, I think you situate Tanbasa Yama within a broader shift from post war economic growth to what you label as a post growth Japan, what is marked by economic uncertainty, demographic decline, and also heightened attention to the concept of hope. So can you tell about how your book conceptualizes hope in this context? How did rural revitalization in this small place both reflect and reshape these wider discourses of hope, crisis and a search for alternatives?
- [14:51]
Dr. Shella Lee
Right.
- [14:54]
So when I thought about bringing the topic of hope, particularly into my introduction, I wanted to look at it in a broader sense, not just in terms of Japan's local. I mean, it kind of connects to my previous answer, not just in terms of Japan's local context, but as a general discussion about regional revitalization. Of course, I addressed the demographic crisis, but my goal was to frame regional revitalization as a central social issue rather than as a case study of one locality. So in reading the general sentiment in Japan at the time of writing, to me, hope's hope seemed to reveal a kind of landscape of regional disparity. I mean, regional disparity not in, not just in terms of demographic, but in terms of having expectations for the future.
- [15:47]
So the post war economic boom in Japan, followed by the well known sort of lost decades, created very different life experiences among across generations. Some grew up in prosperity and others in its immediate aftermath. You know, post 90s and the prolonged economic and demographic stagnation has generated feelings of hopelessness, disconnections, a sense that the world around us offers few new possibilities. And this context is often described with concepts like a society of lost connections, where people die alone, graves are neglected, and some never leaving their rooms. And anthropologists are especially, I think, had been especially sensitive to the absence of relationships. And this has become a defining image of contemporary Japanese urban life. But against the spectrum, I thought rural areas present a strikingly, strikingly different sentiment. So while urban spaces are often associated with stagnation, somehow I felt like slowly these peripheral regions are increasingly seen as spaces of potential where new possibilities might, might be able to emerge. It's not that something already exists there. It's rather like there's an expectation that things could be different, that there's some unexplored path in these rural places that might be achievable.
- [17:22]
And there's also been studies of hope in Japan and recent works on rural revitalization that highlight how even small municipalities, despite their demographic and economic challenges, can become sites of experimentation and vision for a better future. And this perspective is reflected in national policy as well. Regional revitalization has been a key agenda, including during the Abe administration and even before that, aiming to generate hope and action not just locally, but nationally. So in my work I try to distinguish what I call the post growth era from the general lost decades of the post 90s, trying to emphasize a subtle shift in society since the bubble period and trying to avoid this overgeneralization of sort of seeing post 90s as the era of stagnation. I thought there might be something different in recent times. So in this way I'm kind of, I might kind of generalize, but in a very strategic way where I juxtapose urban space, seen as the default side of stagnation and social malaise, with rural space, which is emerging as an alternative space where new ideas and possibilities are being explored. So I argue in a general sense that rural space has become the new spatial configuration of hope in Japan.
- [18:54]
And that rural revitalization is an effort to bring not just the region, but the nation itself, a renewed sense of possibility.
- [19:04]
New Books Network Announcer
The holidays have a way of sneaking up on you and I can tell you they snuck up on me. This year I have people coming and I need to buy those people gifts. Or as I say, I just didn't have everything I need. So what I did is I went to Wayfair. From bedding to linens to decor for every room in the house, Wayfair is your one stop shop. Last minute guest prep. Wayfair has you covered. You can refresh bedding and throw pillows and accent chairs for way less. That's what I did. Pretty much all the bedding in my house is threadbear, so I decided to replace it. I went to Wayfair and I ordered some new sheets and pillowcases and I got a comforter which was really cool. I ordered it, the price was great, the shipping was free. It arrived and now I am ready for the hordes to descend upon me. And it's not just bedding. Of course you can get linens and towels and things for the kids room, kitchen essentials, things for your living room. And of course they have holiday gifts. So get your last minute hosting essentials gifts for all your loved ones and decor to celebrate the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. That's W A Y-F A I R.com Wayfair Every style every home Coca Cola.
- [20:16]
Rumchata Advertiser
For the big, for the small, the short and the tall. Peacemakers Risk takers for the optimists, pessimists for long distance love for introverts and extroverts, the thinkers and the doers for old friends and new Coca Cola for everyone. Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you.
- [20:44]
Yadong Li
Hablas Espanol spries to Deutsch.
- [20:47]
Babbel Advertiser
If you used Babbel, you would Babbel's Conversation based techniques teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55% off your Babbel subscription right now at Babbel.com Spotify spelled B A B-B-E-L.com Spotify rules and restrictions may apply.
- [21:15]
Yadong Li
Thank you very much. It's very, very Insightful argument and also the whole description. It reminds me of many critical, important texts in the relationship between the urban and the rural, such as Raymond Williams work. And I think it's time for us to talk about the rural as a research focus or research locus. So one of the most important theoretical moves in your book is your distinction between studying in rural space and studying of rural space. So can you explain this distinction for your, you know, for our listeners? How did treating reality as an analytical focus rather than just a backdrop or locus shape the questions you ask and what you were able to see in tempesttsayama?
- [22:03]
Dr. Shella Lee
So this connects to my approach to studying regional revitalization not just as a confined case study, but as a way to address broader societal issues.
- [22:18]
So while studying rural space from a traditional anthropological perspective, I think has a dual meaning.
- [22:26]
Either as a subject or as a methodology. So as a subject, anthropologists have long been interested in societies that rely on a variety of communicative methods, not just verbal language, but also other forms of social interaction. And these have often been places considered remote or less industrialized, though I use that term cautiously, of course. We also have to acknowledge the power dynamics involved in why these places became objects of anthropological study. But then also when we think of anthropology from a methodological perspective.
- [23:06]
Traditional anthropology emphasizes participant observation rooted in Malinowski's work, which calls for immersive, long term study of a confined society to gain a holistic understanding. And even though today the idea of a field has become, you know, more diverse, flexible, I think anthropology still places a strong emphasis on these sort of immersive approach.
- [23:34]
And I think this sort of anthropological approach in terms of subject and methodology have somehow confined our understanding of rural space.
- [23:47]
So I think the challenge is that being physically present in a rural space doesn't automatically mean we understand the ideas and sentiments that define it. And that's why I talk about statistics studying the study of rural space. But then some might ask, why focus on rural rather than local or regional? How can rural space be treated as a single unit? And I understand these criticism. Then there is value in, you know, sort of more open ended concepts that allow for more heterogeneity and, you know, so on and so forth. But my focus is specifically on regional revitalization where the distinction between urban and rural carries real significance. Japan is a highly urbanized society, not just in material infrastructure, but in values and social norms. Urban lifestyles define kind of what is considered to be good life. And dominant social issues are framed in urban context as well. So in this context, rural Rural is not a neutral concept. It's highly contextualized and is tied to power dynamics. So focusing on rurality allows us to highlight values and relationships that have been overlooked or marginalized by urban centered social norms. Studying rural space then, is a deliberate attempt to take rurality seriously, to understand the relational textures and environments that shape everyday life in these regions, especially places targeted for recently regional revitalization. So, for example, take a municipality of 40,000 people, surrounded by mountains, with limited industry or agriculture, engaging in revitalization efforts through government funding or external investment. A study in rural space might simply involve being there, collecting data and presenting the findings as a case study. A study of rural space, however, situates that municipality within broader societal and national dynamics. It treats local efforts as part of a larger narrative where these communities are actively engaging with societal challenges rather than being passive object of study. So in this sense, reality becomes both a geographical and conceptual lens to think about Japan's emerging post growth era. I think. I think it allows us to explore how dominant societal values, particularly those around the idea of growth, permanent growth, how this growth oriented ideas are shifting and diversifying, and how new forms of rural life may reflect alternative possibilities for the nation as a whole.
- [26:48]
Yadong Li
Excellent, Excellent. And I think what is special about rural revitalization, which is the focus of your research, is that not only the local are contributing to it, state and its agent are also playing their role. This further pushes you as the anthropologist to adopt me multiple methodologies and multidimensional observation. So that's why we can see your research is very methodologically rich, involving both engagement with local officials and long term immersion among craftspeople supporters. What kind of methods did you use to bring this different perspective together? Archival work, interviews, participant observation in workshop and meetings, or something else? And were there particular challenges or breakthrough moments in the field that changed how you understood rural creativity or regional revitalization or the place itself for you?
- [27:43]
Dr. Shella Lee
For my field work, I mainly relied on what we all know as participant observation. I was in Tambasa, Sayama from September 2018 to September 2019, one full year. And COVID 19 sort of broke out just a few months after I returned to Germany. So I engaged with both the city hall officials and the local potters. The reason was simple. I wanted to see how regional revitalization policies and the ideals behind the Creative Village concept were being formed and communicated. And also how the potters, the main protagonists of the Creative Village campaign, perceived and experienced it in everyday life. So in other words, I wanted to explore how, I mean both the conceptual and experiential sides of regional revitalization. So I focused on two main networks. The bureaucratic world of city hall and the village life of the potters who make Tamba pottery. Of course, these were spaces I defined based on my own understanding of rural life in Tambasa Sayama. So they don't represent everything about regional revitalization. But given the limited time I needed to focus on confined spaces that could offer depth. So I attended official city hall meetings, accompanied officials on business trips, and helped with related activities. And for the potters, I followed the cooperative association, Especially when they held external events, Pottery classes, outdoor sales, and so on and so forth. So in each space, I had a close interlocutor, One at the city hall and one among the potters. And I also tagged along to them to both formal and informal gatherings.
- [29:32]
Yeah, so over time, those relationships became sort of friendships. So we still keep in touch. We sort of see each other in Japan. So. Yeah, and sometimes I often. I mean, I also often ended up in unexpected places. For example, I mean, I once served as an interpreter for a group of Americans visiting Cambasa Sayama through a sister city exchange, which led me to a middle class. I mean, middle school, sorry, middle school gym, doing exercises with students. So these sort of unplanned engagements were important still because they deepened my understanding of the networks I was studying. So I was a little bit. Cause in the beginning, but I think gradually I sort of appreciated these sort of unexpected moments as well.
- [30:21]
Well, but getting involved with the potters wasn't really easy in the beginning. So unlike the supportive city hall staff, I mean, often in Japan when you sort of meet local government officials, they're quite welcoming because. Because, you know, somebody's interested in your region and these. They want to study about it. So they want to be very helpful.
- [30:44]
But unlike them, the potters are a fairly closed community. So even though I visited their workshops, I was treated like any other tourists. And, you know, the kinds of information they shared were very. Was repetitive. And to be honest, I initially met them through city hall connection, and they connected me to a tea potter who worked closely with the local government. That was convenient, but it also sort of limited my curiosity because I was only given what they offered. So over time, I began visiting the village on my own. Of course, that was way more approachable for the potters. And I just walked around checking if the workshops were open. If it's open, I just went inside. I just, you know, shared small conversation. Then one day, during a very hot summer.
- [31:43]
I was just walking around and I think this one potter had acknowledged me and he sort of invited me for a cup of cold tea. And that small gesture somehow led to a lengthy conversation. And eventually he became my close interlocutor. He introduced me to other potters and the cooperative association. I began helping him with his work at his workshop, although minor things that won't affect the quality of his works. So I think with my engagement with the potters, I had a bit of luck as well, to be honest. I think field work is tricky in the sense that you can't really plan everything. And sometimes the biggest achievements comes out of luck, which make you feel very like, what have I been preparing? You know.
- [32:31]
And then I also conducted semi structured interviews, but most were informal interviews. So I just sort of let people talk and I listened to them attentively as they shared what they knew in their own way.
- [32:44]
And I rarely recorded conversations because I don't like, quote to quote sort of, you know, kind of data. So I kind of relied more on my notes and my own experiences, which I jotted in my notebooks. Also in the last two months, I created a written survey for the potters. I know that some researchers start with a survey just to get the general sense of the community, but I believe that I somehow thought trust matters.
- [33:17]
So I thought I should do it when I know them well. So by the time I sent the written surveys out, I was quite well known to many of them. And I did receive a very good response. I think I got 40 out of 52 potters replying on my written surveys. And I also had initially thought about trying pottery myself. I did, but I quickly realized it wasn't really practical. And I don't know, I don't think I reflected so much of that experience in my research. But I'm trying this time in this locomotive village. I'll see how it goes.
- [33:57]
Yadong Li
Well, you know, I wish you good luck and thank you for sharing all these encounters and moments in the film. And this is one of the reasons why I like chatting with anthropologists. And also it's very interesting to see in the book that you finally kind of became a mediator or middleman between different, you know, different interlocutors in the field. So very impressive. And also craft is one of your key research interests and we haven't talk about it. So it's time for us to talk more about craft. So Tamba poetry occupies a central place in your narrative not only as an, you know, economic or cultural resources, but also as a moral Symbol of rural creativity. So what really impresses me is that at one point in the story, there is a shift from black beans to pottery as the preferred emblem of Tanba Sasayama. So why did pottery emerge as the key representative of this region and its creativity? And what competing visions, interests, or moral geography shaped this decision?
- [34:56]
Dr. Shella Lee
Right, so, yeah, so the. One of the first questions I did ask myself in the field was why focus on Tamba pottery instead of black beans, which are also a prominent local product and maybe even more so? Well, the obvious reason, I guess, was because Tamba Sasayama had been designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Craft and Folk Art, and the Tamba pottery was central to that designation.
- [35:25]
So since the Create a Village campaign highlighted Tamba pottery, it was a natural choice to study the experiences of the potters who helped make the region culturally vibrant and creative. But I was aware of other significant cultural assets in the area. Black beans, traditional dance, local songs.
- [35:46]
So I wanted to understand what it is about Tamba pottery, whether material, symbolic, or otherwise, that made it so central to the creative village narrative. So deconstructing these elements was the focus of, I think, chapter two. And to be honest, it was the most challenging chapter to write.
- [36:07]
So, yeah, I wanted to connect the local context to a broader societal one. I think I mentioned this before to clarify what traditional pottery can offer in terms of regional revitalization for a small rural municipality within the creative village framework. And one conclusion I reached is that a certain moral geography underpins the relationship between traditional pottery and rurality. So in the book, I discussed how the concept of creative village was created as a counterpart to Creative City. And I was somewhat. I'm somewhat critical of this creation because it pays little attention to the complicated relational and material conditions of rural life, and instead emphasizing ephemeral rural traits like being close to nature or nature friendly. In other words.
- [37:02]
It seemed to frame rurality in terms of being non urban. Rather than valuing rural rural life on its own terms, the concept also placed. I mean, this creative village concept also tends to place the responsibility for regional revitalization on individuals, implying that local well being depends on people exercising their creativity. But by juxtaposing urban and rural creativity, the concept of creative village also frames rural creativity being morally superior because it's rooted in the human nature relationship.
- [37:42]
And this summer connects with the discussions recently about craft being ethical and how that affects consumption and so on and so forth. And also there's this whole discussions about mingaye. This is kind of people's art, sort of aesthetic Ideas in Japan, which long positioned craft as locally and ethically valuable. And I think it also played certain role. So I think I'm sort of digressing. But in short, pottery sort of told a richer story than black beans when the goal is to highlight regional revitalization with moral and cultural purpose. Well, black beans are still important for local branding and economy, but for. For the creative village campaign and the narrative of sort of new reality and hopes. Tamba pottery sort of, I think, had a stronger rationale.
- [38:40]
Yadong Li
Totally understood. Feel sorry for black beans, but I mean. Yeah, exactly. And what you just said perfectly showed, I think, how the phrase sonzo nonson or creative village became a powerful keyword in policy, planning and local discourse. And how did different actors like local government officials, development experts, porters and other residents define, mobilize or contest this idea of rural creativity or creative countryside? Where did you see convergence and where did you see fraction?
- [39:14]
Dr. Shella Lee
So, yeah, rural creativity was a powerful keyword, but it was also a highly contested one. But I wouldn't say there were overt, like so much clashes between policymakers, experts and residents in Tambasa Sayama, but I would rather say cooperation between them was challenging and complex. And I discussed two aspects of how rural creativity and the concept of creative village are defined, contested and practiced. So the first is the institutional context in which it circulates and where the role of experts is central in legitimizing the concept. So I focused on official meetings and how their very formality reinforces the authority of these ideas. For example, I describe the physical layout of the meeting room, how people were seated, and how a speech about rural creativity or the creative village were presented. And the content of the speech, of course, mattered. But I think the structure itself, formal, hierarchical, leaving little room for intervention served. This served as a mechanism for dispersing the concept. I think so. So in a way, the experts presented conclusions during these meetings rather than facilitating discussions. And I think that formality itself effectively created conclusion consent around the idea with minimal questioning. So I think this, this aspect, formality over content.
- [40:52]
Was what sort of explained creative village in a very vague sense. But still it was more about the mechanism than its sort of meaning. And this sort of formality over content kind of aspect isn't just a case of create a village in Tambasa Sayama, But I think it sort of reflects the general trends in regional revitalization policy where, you know, place making, branding have become such a big focus, they just have to get it done instead of thinking so deeply so much about what the core Idea should be. They just want to get it done, get the government funding, you know, move on, and, you know, this kind of practical ideas. And the second aspect is the ambiguity around the concept of the creative village. And this ambiguity is linked to the way the meetings themselves legitimized the idea while discouraging deeper engagement. The residents I spoke with were largely unaware of the concept, or if they have heard of it, they didn't fully understand. The potters were similar. But what intrigued me the most, though, was that even city hall officials sometimes were struggling to fully grasp its meanings and values. So it's quite interesting in that.
- [42:13]
In a way, no one fully understood what it actually means and what its value is. But still, things were going on. And that, I think, itself, is interesting. So when you look at how the creative village idea is created and so circulated, you realize that the focus is less on its meaning or its essence, but more on the practical processes of how it's produced, communicated, and institutionalized. And this sort of activity itself, that there is sort of circulation of ideas, that people are thinking about something together that itself sort of mattered, not the idea itself. So in other words, studying creative village wasn't just about understanding what it is. It was about seeing how it actually works in practice. And that taught me more about what regional revitalization is in practice.
- [43:03]
Yadong Li
Perfect. I think. It's indeed very interesting. I think the idea itself does matter. But what is more important is how revolving around this concept, how different people practice and how their practices come together and have collaboration, but also fractions. And also, in the second part of your book, you zoom in on Tachikui, the pottery village, and on everyday life there. So, pottery making, festivals, workshops, neighborhood interactions. So what did living and working alongside porters in Taqikuyu reveal to you about how rural creativity is practiced? And in what ways do these everyday activities and practices further contest the official vision of a creative countryside or creative village?
- [43:48]
Dr. Shella Lee
Right. Yeah. So in response to your question.
- [43:55]
I think in my observation, the potters or residents didn't really directly challenge the official narratives or engage so directly with the narratives of regional revitalization. In Tambasuama, in real life, there weren't so much visible conflicts or this sort of engagement, but rather what I did try to show visualize, was rather how a single official vision projected by Tanbata's authorities interacts, merges, and aligns with other sometimes unspoken visions that don't necessarily oppose to it, but evolve and mature within the specific social context of local relationships.
- [44:47]
So the potters were constantly Reassessing their own capacities within the cooperative and the village wide networks. And in doing so, they discovered new possibilities that motivated them to contribute more actively to the region.
- [45:03]
So in a way, the potters, even though they were engaged in certain public initiative that were part of Tanbasa Yama's regional revitalization campaign, they weren't thinking so much about the well being of the municipality itself, but the scale of the hope that they had in engaging in such events were more on the village level sort of hope.
- [45:31]
So in a way they all had different visions, but still they were together.
- [45:37]
In this single sort of event and project. So I think that was how things were sort of going on. Yeah.
- [45:49]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
And Doug, here we have the limu emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's a complete accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu is that guy with.
- [46:05]
Dr. Shella Lee
The binoculars watching us.
- [46:07]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
Cut the camera.
- [46:08]
Dr. Shella Lee
They see us.
- [46:08]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Affiliates excludes Massachusetts.
- [46:17]
Yadong Li
Deck your home with blinds.com.
- [46:23]
DIY or let us install.
- [46:27]
Allah.
- [46:30]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
Free design consultation.
- [46:34]
Dr. Shella Lee
Plus free samples and free shipping.
- [46:38]
Liberty Mutual Advertiser
Head to blinds.com now for up to 50% off sitewide plus a free professional measure.
- [46:45]
Rules and restrictions may apply.
- [46:47]
Yadong Li
Perfect. I think basically it's a more complicated picture rather than basically, you know, bureaucracy and resistance. And here a recurring theme in your analysis is ambiguity, especially the gaps between official visions of revitalization and the lived reality of collaboration on the ground, like you mentioned before. So why do ambiguity matter? Do you see ambiguity primarily as an obstacle or can it also create openings for new form of cooperation and experiment?
- [47:21]
Dr. Shella Lee
Yeah, so ambiguity is a big part of my. Was a big part of my research and I may repeat myself from my previous answer.
- [47:32]
But it really depends on how these. The people, they deal with their ambiguous. It was all about how they deal with their ambiguous sense around the ideas, key ideas around regional. Revitalization.
- [47:47]
So understanding the different responses was important since it connected to the different visions they have as they engage. They each engage in some common project. So ambiguity was in a way, how do I put it, a very important concept to understand what regional revitalization is really in practice.
- [48:12]
In the anthropological literature. I think ambiguity is dealt with mostly in the manner in which it is actively used by the people. The rather positive aspect of it, it's kind of like a crack in the system and you sort of make use of that. In my case, ambiguity Was less something that people made use of, but the general sentiment that cross cut the different actors involved in regional revitalization activities. In a way, this was the visible result of creative village in real life in the form of a sentiment.
- [48:48]
I might sound a little bit vague and ambiguous here again, but what I try to show is. I may have mentioned this earlier, but to show what regional revitalization is like in daily context and how it is experienced, we may think of some specific form of community initiatives. You know, the indigenous forms of activities, culture. But how regional revitalization in lievens and its experience in everyday context was rather this vague sense of ambiguity. Regional revitalization was this sense of ambiguity. This is. I mean, this might sound strange, but regional revitalization was a sense of ambiguity. I think the one that has the most relevance was the officials, since they felt the responsibility to translate the concept into a persuasive language to the locals.
- [49:43]
The potters and the residents were rather cool about not being so well informed of its key ideas. But still, there were lots of bubbles there. And somehow things were being done in this bubble. But the interesting thing is it's kind of sustaining. The bubble itself is sustaining. And that kind of itself motivates. It sort of goes on.
- [50:07]
Then why is this case? Well, I think in this book, I don't think I fully satisfyingly answer the ultimate question of why such a sentiment exists and why such a sentiment drives regional revitalization or how it came to manifest in this way. But I'm currently doing fieldwork with similar research interests in rural Japan, and I'm kind of starting to think more about scale, the experiences of different scales as a way to address this question. So maybe, I don't know, if you come back to me in the future, I may have a clear answer.
- [50:50]
Yadong Li
I will, I will. If you have another monograph or additive volume, I would definitely come back to ask, you know, do you have any new insights? But I think basically in the book, you definitely give us many insights about ambiguity and how it can be productive, actually. And also the bubble sustain is a good question. Also, it sustains not only in harmony, but also with multiple tensions and dynamics. And your ethnography also attends to this. Shifting social relations within pottery production itself, Changes in household structures, gender roles, and generational expectations. How are these changes affecting who becomes a porter, how workshops are organized, and also how community life is sustained in Tajikui.
- [51:39]
Dr. Shella Lee
Yeah, so I think this question relates to, as you said, my chapters on the pottery community in Tatikuyu. So. Well, just to give a background of how I came to do a more, how I came to zoom into the village. Initially, I hadn't planned to give such a detailed account of the village itself, but that sort of emerged as a realization during the field work. So craft villages differ in their social structures depending on the social relations of production and local geography. And in the case of Tamba pottery, the community was quite clearly delineated. Most of the workshops were located in one single village, the Upper and Lower Tachikui. And most potters were members of the Tamba pottery cooperative. And they were very socially close, close to each other, connected through multiple ties as neighbors, relatives, schoolmates, and so on. I'm not suggesting that kind of structural determinism here, but understanding the village wide social structure was important for grasping why and how the potters do what they do.
- [52:54]
So this was especially clear when it came to understand their engagement in regional revitalization activities. So as Tamba pottery became more engaged in Tamba Sasayama's regional revitalization and the Create a Village campaign, the potters were increasingly required to collaborate on organizing events for the public, you know, pottery classes and so on and so forth. And this sort of, these kind of works depended on their close pre existing relationships. And the village wide network helped them to facilitate facility in facilitating these kind of public events. You know, creating classes, outdoor activities.
- [53:40]
It takes a lot of time. You have to negotiate the schedules, have a meeting to decide certain things. It's a very, how do I say, time consuming job. But because of their tight social ties, it sort of made it easier for them to manage multiple outreach activities efficiently because they talk to each other very informally. They don't need to have a settings to have a meeting. You know, they're talking on the street and then somebody passes by. They were just grabbing and come, come just talk to us, and then they would just discuss something. This kind of very casual, informal relationship really mattered in their management of increasing outreach activities.
- [54:28]
But of course.
- [54:31]
The pottery community is very much closed and it's very much male centered, Very sort of homogenous as well. So I did have to also look at how the social structure of the Tamba pottery scene and the village wide network is changing. And I think I mentioned this somewhere. There has been a rise in female practitioners and in the context of workshops, having difficulty in securing successors. They're increasingly having been open for outsiders, young pottery, aspiring students, and so on and so forth. So gradually this sort of closed network was sort of becoming loosened. And.
- [55:21]
Yeah, so there were a lot of changes going on at the time of my failure. And I think in the future.
- [55:28]
The nature of their sociality might change as well.
- [55:33]
Yadong Li
Yeah, exactly. As you are talking about future, I think stepping back from the case of Tenba Sasuyama, what do you think this case suggests about the future of rural revitalization campaigns in Japan more broadly? And what lessons or perhaps cautions would you as a researcher offer to scholars and policymakers who are enthusiastic about creative approaches to regional changes?
- [55:58]
Dr. Shella Lee
Yeah, I think that's a very difficult question.
- [56:04]
And I don't know, I wouldn't want to give a sort of immature message or over generalize lesson for other regions, I don't know in China or in South Korea, I don't know to other East Asian regions elsewhere. I would be up for a more comparative studies in the future though, if there's a chance.
- [56:28]
But. Yeah, but the case of Tanbasa Sayama does highlight how everyday practices and local knowledge can shape the future of regional revitalization in ways that go beyond top down policies. In the potter's daily work, traditional practices like pounding clay, drawing on the wheel or firing the kill were no longer really the sole focus of their craft. Their work has adapted to wider social changes. Which is which in my case was the campaign around the creative village making and doing. So the potters having to engage in a lot of public events, initiatives and so on and so forth. And in that, in that course they discovered new sources of inspirations to navigate their own economic and demographic uncertainty. As I said before, they sort of came to realize that their close relationship, you know, just sort of tied into different kinds of relations as neighbors, as relatives. Before they considered it as sort of backwardness of traditional pottery community. Because of this closed network, it's hard to innovate something new, to adapt to something new change. But now somehow, because they found this closed network or source of efficiency, being able to, you know, drive different kinds of public initiatives more efficiently by being able to communicate with each other easily. They've come to realize that their own network has a different value in the current time. And I think that realization really mattered to them and giving them a new hope of how they could navigate this economic and demographic uncertainty. So I must say, Tamba pottery for them wasn't just. Isn't just. I mean, Tamba pottery in the context of this whole regional revitalization wasn't just a cultural product, but it sort of showed a kind of livelihood that's deeply embedded in the lives of the people and the land itself.
- [58:42]
The potter's Daily lives are intertwined with the history and materiality of the region, the soil from which they craft their pottery, and the land on which they live. In this sense, the municipal campaign for creative village ideals didn't simply impose a vision from above, but it somehow interacted with the community, allowing them to creatively shape their own future.
- [59:07]
So looking into this sort of village wide context, their sort of intricate relationships, allows us to understand how these sort of imposed ideals of rural creativity isn't just ambiguous, but it does somehow give them chances to revisit their own.
- [59:33]
Values, find new values in their own sort of relationships. So these things are rather unexpected, I guess. But again, the way how regional revitalization actually works I think is very complicated. So having to. I think I'm kind of suggesting that we have to look into this very detailed local context, how things are being understood and perceived in their everyday lives. So I guess the lesson here is rather subtle. The potential for revitalization, I think is embedded in the everyday life and practices that have persisted despite broader economic and demographic challenges. So rather than focusing solely on the values of rural things from an outsider's perspective, I think it might be more productive to pay attention to how the these regional revitalization practices are embedded and expressed within local life.
- [60:34]
And I guess the signs of meaningful regional revitalization are not only in grand policies or visible branding efforts, but it's actually in the fabric of everyday life itself. So recognizing and supporting these local capacities maybe can offer a promising path for rural Japan and potentially for other aging and shrinking regions. And of course, we do have to keep in mind the context in a very situated sense.
- [61:10]
And I guess a more direct and practical lesson for anthropologists studying similar topic is that I've actually been revisiting village studies and even the structural functional approaches found in what some may call outdated theories, but surprisingly I find new value in them in the current context of regional revitalization, especially when trying to understand and hold on to practices or social relations that are gradually fading across village wide scale. So I'm still working through it, but it seems a productive angle to explore.
- [61:48]
Yadong Li
Yeah.
- [61:50]
Fascinating. And I think you are totally right. All in all, I think hope is ambiguous in definition and also it can only emerge in concrete practice. And after reading so many works on hope in urban Japan, I think your book and your answers about cultivated hope in a rural context and from these everyday practices are refreshing. Thank you for contribution. And before we close, could you share a bit about your current and future projects? How has working in Tanbasa Yama and Tachikui shaped the question you are pursuing now at the current moment.
- [62:26]
Dr. Shella Lee
Yeah, so my current project is.
- [62:30]
About contemporary craft practices.
- [62:35]
In Japan and how it is being sustained, especially despite various economic and social challenges. It's part of a research project.
- [62:45]
At the Heinle Heine University in Dusseldorf led by Professor Harold Conrad. And I am looking into a traditional lockerwear industry in Fukui Prefecture. And it's very interesting because I have previously done a research on pottery industry and looked into how.
- [63:12]
Their certain social relations form the basis of their pottery production. It's interesting to see how in lacquerware production, the relationships are very different. So I'm kind of looking into divisions of labor and.
- [63:30]
Also the. How these traditional craftsmen are perceiving new technologies and so on and so forth. And I'm particularly interested in the idea of. In Japanese you would say sanchi. It's in. I think in English. They translated it into production site. But I'm trying to understand craft production in a more broader regional. From a broader regional perspective and how that would give us a new perspective on understanding craft practices. Well, my future project, I do have a few ideas in my head, but I'm hesitant to just say it out because, you know, I might change my mind. But, but my. My interest always lays on. Is on regional revitalization and rural societies. So I think it might be something related to that.
- [64:29]
Yadong Li
Thank you very much for sharing your current projects and also thoughts with us. And I want to say that I'm very looking forward to seeing where your future work on craft, rural society and original revival will take us. So, Dr. Lee, thank you very much for joining the New Books Network today and for sharing this insight. It has been a real pleasure chatting with you today.
- [64:51]
Dr. Shella Lee
Thank you very much.
- [64:52]
Yadong Li
Thank you. So in today's episode, I've been speaking with Dr. Shella Lee about her new book, Crafting Rural Traditional Portals and Rural Creativity in Regional Revitalization, published by Routledge in 2024. For listeners interested in rural studies, Japanese studies, craft and heritage, and debates on hope and post development futures, this book offers a rich ethnographic account. I'm Yadon Li and you've been listening to the New Books Network. We hope to see you next time.