"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 who specialized in the Islamic world.
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 as an English Language major and studied abroad during her senior year to graduate in 1962.[3][notes 1] She earned her Master of Letters in 1968 at the Chuo University Graduate School,[3] and conducted research at Columbia University between 1971 and 1972 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 career 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 Shintani. 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
1980 Award for the Promotion of Studies on Developing Countries, Institute of Developing Economics, Japan External Trade Organization[22][notes 6]
1981 the first Kakami Kinen Zaidan Yushu Tosho Sho (Kakami Foundation Book Prize for Literature)[3]
1983 the sixth Sekiyu Bunka Sho (Petroleum Culture Award)[3]
1984 the third Esso Kenkyu Shorei Sho (Esso Research Promotion Award)[3]
1991 Daido Life Insurance Regional Studies Award[3]
Committee membership
1965 - The Association of Japanese Geographers, Member[3]
1970 - Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), Member[3]
"Book Review: Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'ān by Toshihiko Izutsu". Contemporary Religions in Japan. 8 (2). Nanzan University: 186–190. 1 June 1967. ISSN0010-7557. OCLC5542887844.
"The Disintegration of the Matrilineal Family in Early Arabia reflected in the Quran". Japanese Association for Religious Studies (197). 1968.
Yabaniya fi Wadi Fatima, Al-Madinat Al-Muhawwara Jidda, Saudi Arabia, 1969
Socio-economic Structure of Qura in Wadi Fatima, Kingkom of Saudi Arabian Government, 1970
Katakura (July 8, 1974). "An Anthropogeigraphical Study of Saudi Arabian Bedouin Communities" (Ko, 3482). ndlc:UT51. University of Tokyo (0021). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) dissertation for PhD. Science, 1974.
Faculty of Science, ed. (1974). "Socioeconomic Structure of a Bedouin Settlement--A Case Study of Buchur Saudi Arabia". Bulletin of the Department of Geography (6). University of Tokyo. ISSN0082-478X. OCLC3624538.
"The Value of Student Exchange in Cross-Cultural Relations". Dyalogue-Middle East and Japan, Symposiumon. Cultural Exchange, The Japan Foundation. 1977.
The Tokyo University Scientific Mission for the Comparative Study of the Foggara Oasis in the Arid Zone of the Old Continent, ed. (1980). "Socio-Economic Structure of an Oasus Settlement--A case Study of Taube, Syria". Report: Qanawat Romani of Taibe Oasis (1).
"Qaunawat Ramani of Taibe Oasis". The Preliminary Report of Tokyo University Scientific Mission to Syria. 1980.
Tawfic E. Farah, ed. (1984). "Political Behavior in the Arab States" (39). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
"Sources of Mutual Ignorance". Cross Currents (2). 1980.
The Tokyo University Scientific Mission for the Comparative Study of the Foggara Oasis in the Arid Zone of the Old Continent, ed. (1982). "The Mobility and the Spatial Reality of the Taibe Villages in the Syrian Desert". Report: Case Study of Foggara Oasis in the Algerian Sahara and Syria (2).
The Islamic World and Japan (1983). "Human Relations in Islam: The Group and the Individual in Arab Muslim Communities". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Tawfic E. Farah, ed. (1984). "Political Behavior in the Arab States" (39). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
"The Mobility and the Spatial Reality of the Taibe Villages in the Syrian Desert". Case Studies of Foggara Oases in the Algerian Sahara and Syria. 1984.
"Omani Culture Bound for Japan". Oman Daily Observer. 1984.
"Desert Settlement: Saudi Arabia". Communities Around Our World. 1984.
"Coexistence in the Islamic World". Echoes of Peace (34). 1991.
"Can Japanese Culture be a Counter Civilization in the Trend of Globalization?". Minato International Bulletin. 1995.
"Islamization or Localization? From the Cultural Anthropological Observations of Prural 'islams'". Asia and Islam. 1996.[29]
"Maritime nation symposium". The Daily Yomiuri. July 2002.
"Japan as a Multi-Cultural Society: In the Era of Cultural Mobility". Nichibunken Newsletter (60). 2005.
Bibliography
Katakura, Motoko (1977). Bedouin village: a study of a Saudi Arabian people in transition. The modern Middle East series (in Japanese). Tokyo: U.P. OCLC784944344. With foreword by J. C. Hurewitz.
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. ISSN0026-3141. OCLC5547390495.
Vidal, F. S. (1978). "Book Review: Bedouin Village: A Study of a Saudi Arabian People in Transition". Middle East Journal. 32 (2 (Spring)). Middle East Institute: 219–220. JSTOR4325748.
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. 12 (2). Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA): 36–37. doi:10.1017/S0026318400006210. JSTOR23057984.
Bidwell, Robin (July 1978). "JOURNAL ARTICLE Review: Bedouin Village: A Study Of A Saudi Arabian People In Transition By Motoko Katakura". The Geographical Journal. 144 (2). geographicalj: 315. doi:10.2307/634162. ISSN0016-7398. JSTOR634162. OCLC5548821610.
Katakura, Motoko (1978). Village bédouin: A study of Saudi Arabian people in transition. Annales de Géographie (in French). Translated by Beaujeu-Garnier, Jacqueline. PERSEE. OCLC928533801.
Katakura (1979). Arabia nōto: Arabu no genzō wo motomete. NHK Books (in Japanese). Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai. OCLC834537173. [30]
Katakura (1981). "Human relations in Islam: the group and the individual in Arab Muslim communities". The Islamic World and Japan: In Pursuit of Mutual Understanding. Japan Foundation Reference Series (6). Kokusai Kōryū Kikin. OCLC10924290.
Cole, Donald Powell (1982). Yuboku no tami bedoin. Gendai kyoyo bunko (in Japanese). Motoko Katakura (translator); ncid: BN04840596. Shakai shizosha. OCLC673238192. [31]
Katakura, Motoko; Nakasato, Nariaki; Intaratai, Kunton; et al. (1986). Ima ajia o kangaeru. Sanseido sensho (in Japanese). ISBN9784385431314. OCLC47436778.
Katakura (1986). Yūzō Itagaki (ed.). Zoku ninshiki kara mita kazoku. Kōza Isuramu (in Japanese). Vol. 4. Chikuma Shobō. ISBN9784480357045. OCLC47367549. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
Matsuo, Hiroshi; Onuki, Masao; Fukui, Katsuyoshi (1986). Ibunka taiken no susume. Asahi karuchā bukkusu (in Japanese). Vol. 62. Ōsaka Shoseki.
Katakura; et al. (1987). Gendai Isuramu shōjiten. Enaji shojiten (in Japanese). Esso Sekiyu Kabushiki Kaisha Kōhōbu. OCLC22796569.
Katakura (1987). Hitobito no Isurāmu: sono gakusaiteki kenkyū (in Japanese). Nihon hoso shuppan kyokai. ISBN9784140091180. OCLC19390205.
Katakura (1987). Sabakue, nobiyakani [Into the desert, with free mind] (in Japanese). Chikuma shobo. ISBN9784480853905. OCLC672666966.
Morimoto, Tetsurō; Katakura, Motoko (1988). Happī arabia hansō shindobaddo no fune [Happy Arabian voyage: Sindbad and his boat]. Enueichikei umi no shirukurōdo (in Japanese). Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai. Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai. ISBN9784140085691. OCLC833252716.
Arima, Makiko; Katakura, Motoko; Honma, Nagayo (March 1998). "Teidan: ibunka e no kyokanteki rikai o". Gaiko Forum: Journal of Japanese Perspectives on Diplomacy (in Japanese). 11 (3). (DLC) 2003210134; (OCoLC) 47130683. Toshi Shuppan: 15–22. ISSN0915-1281. OCLC5180538905.
Katakura (27 December 2001). Faculty of Policy Studies, Chuo University (ed.). "Chi to hito to: 21-seiki no ajia kenyu wo kangeru (koen)" [The People and the Land: A Discussion on Asian Studies in Transition (lecture)]. The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies (in Japanese) (19). Sophia University: 213–231. {{cite journal}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
Katakura (1 February 2002). "Isuramu: keitozu, sho gakuha; zukai, reihai". Daihorin (in Japanese). 69 (1): 84–91. OCLC5175717880.
Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris (2003). Katakura, Motoko (ed.). Isuramu o shiru 32-sho (in Japanese). Translated by Takeda, Nobuko. Akashi shoten. ISBN9784750317786. OCLC676504161. [33]
Katakura, Motoko; Senba, Yuri (July 2003). Faculty of Policy Studies, Chuo University (ed.). "Taminzoku kyosei shakai toshiteno nihon wo kangaeru: zainichi musurimu ni taisuru nihon seifu, chiho jichitai, minkan no taio" [Japan as Multi-Ethnic Society: Various Receptivity toward Muslim Immigrants in Japan]. Sogo Seisaku Kenkyu (in Japanese) (10): 209–224. ISSN1341-7827. OCLC5175851750. {{cite journal}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
Katakura (June 2004). Gunshuku shimin no kai (ed.). "Saramu o sodateru: kokka no boryoku, tero no boryoku o koete / Special issue:United Nations, escape from state violence". Gunshuku Mondai Shiryo (Disarmament Review) (in Japanese) (284): 24–29. ISSN0287-0177. OCLC5173983726.
"Katakura Motoko sensei no koen" [Professor Motoko Katakura's lectures]. Bulletin of Graduate University for Advanced Studies. Shinpo-shugi no atotsugi ha nanika (325). 14 December 2006.
Katakura (May 2007). "Takasei to kyokasei: nihonjin no ibunka juyo o megutte" [Takasei and kyokasei: the Japanese disposition for digesting outside cultures]. Bulletin of International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nihon Kenkyu) (in Japanese). 35. International Research Center for Japanese Studies: 19–78. ISSN0915-0900. OCLC5170963987.
Katakura (December 2008). Keizai kurabu (ed.). "Nihon no takasei firudo-waku kara mita sekai to nihon". Keizai Kurabu Koenroku (in Japanese) (718). Toyo keizai shinsha: 2–28. OCLC5172173956.
Isuramu no sekaikan: "Ido bunka" wo kangaeru. Iwanami gendai bunko :・shakai. Iwanami shoten. 2008. ISBN9784006031619. OCLC676284770.
^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]
^"Bedouin village" attracted much reviews.
[6][7][8][9]
^Originally published on arabic newspaper "al-Ḥayāh" (Al hayat) as an interview.[10][11]
^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]
^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]
^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
^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. OCLC784944344.
^ abcSuita, Yasuko (November 2014). "Sabakue..." [To desert...] (PDF). News Letter (in Japanese) (1). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture: 3.
^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).
^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. ISSN0026-3141. OCLC5547390495.
^Vidal, F. S. (1978). "Book Review: Bedouin Village: A Study of a Saudi Arabian People in Transition". Middle East Journal. 32 (2 (Spring)). Middle East Institute: 219–220. JSTOR4325748.
^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. 12 (2). Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA): 36–37. doi:10.1017/S0026318400006210. JSTOR23057984.
^Bidwell, Robin (1978). "JOURNAL ARTICLE Review: Bedouin Village: A Study Of A Saudi Arabian People In Transition By Motoko Katakura". The Geographical Journal. 144 (2). geographicalj: 315. doi:10.2307/634162. ISSN0016-7398. JSTOR634162. OCLC5548821610. With Foreword by J. C. Hurewitz.
^"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.
^Abdur-Rahim Al Ahmadi (November 2014). "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 (1). Kunio Katakura (translator). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture: 7.
^ ab"Sono hoka no hokoku" [Other reports] (PDF). News Letter (in Japanese). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture: 8. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
^"Fuho, tsuito" [Obituaries - Memorial]. The Japan Society for Comparative Study of Civilizations. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
^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.
^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.
^"Zaidan ni tsuite" [About our foundation] (in Japanese). Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
^Received for: Katakura, Motoko (1979). Arabia nōto: Arabu no genzō wo motomete. NHK Books (in Japanese). Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai. OCLC834537173.
^"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.
^"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). 23 (1 (No.82 June 2013)). The Japanese Association for Arid Land Studies. June 2013.
^The 4th and 5th vice president. The joint fund of Yoshiro Mutaguchi [ja] and Motoko Katakura supports the maintenance and management of the website for Collegium Mediterranistarum. "Guidance" (in Japanese). Collegium Mediterranistarum. Retrieved 1 March 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^Katakura (July 2012). "Hitobito no chichukai sekai" [People and the Mediterranean world]. Gakushikai Kaihō (in Japanese). 2012 (4 (895)): 19–23. OCLC5183430368.
^Revised in 2000 by the Japan Institute of International Affairs.
^Revised to paperback as: Katakura (2002). Arabia noto. Chikuma gakugei bunko (in Japanese). Chikuma shobo. ISBN9784480087263. OCLC54735000.