Open Edo: Diverse, Ecological, and Global Perspectives on Japanese Art, 1603–1868, Conference 3: Edo Outsiders: Ainu and Ryūkyūan Art
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles-Organized by Kristopher W. Kersey, University of California, Los Angeles To this day, many mistake Japan for a culturally homogenous society, yet this nationalistic myth is far from the truth. In an effort to underscore the diversity of early modern Japan, this conference will direct attention to two groups who are often marginalized if not absent in narratives of early modern Japanese art. To the south are the Ryūkyūans. To the north are the Ainu. Recent anniversaries—the 150th anniversary of settler colonialism in Hokkaidō and the fiftieth anniversary of the reversion of the Ryūkyūs from the USA to Japan—have brought...