U.S. CULCON is pleased to invite you to a webinar, “Neglected Crossroads: Black Lives in the Japanese Experience/Japanese Lives in the Black Experience” Wednesday, September 28, 9:00-10:00 ET/22:00-23:00 JT. Japanese language interpretation will be provided.

This discussion explores the intersections of Japanese and Black, primarily African American, lives, their historical context and social impact, as well as the expanding and ambivalent role the internet plays in their presentation, reappraisal, and redefinition as both societies grapple with the challenges of diversity in the age of social media.

This program focusing on DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) in the U.S.-Japan partnership is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Registration is required. Please register to join us by Tuesday, September 20 by going to:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEude-hpjwqHdEgOA9xxNBrj3e59ga2N3Eb

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

If there are others who you believe would be interested in this conversation, please feel free to share this invitation.

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John G. Russell

John G. Russell is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Anthropology in the Faculty of Regional Studies at Gifu University. His research focuses on representations of race and gender in Japanese and American popular culture. He is the author of Nihonjin no kokujin-kan [Japanese Perceptions of Blacks] (Shinhyōron, 1991) and Henken to sabetsu ga dono yō ni tsukurareru ka [How are Prejudice and Discrimination Produced?] (Akashi Shoten,1995). His chapter “Anaconda East: Fetishes, Phallacies, Chimbo Chauvinism and the Displaced Discourse of Black Male Sexuality in Japan” is included in Tamari Kitossa (ed,), Appealing Because He Is Appalling: Black Masculinities, Colonialism, and Erotic Racism (University of Alberta Press, 2021).