Though there is no biological validity to race, it continues to play a central role in various aspects of our daily lives. What, then, generates and reinforces the reality of race, and in what ways? In order to explore these questions, this book examines racial representations from both scientific and humanistic perspectives, taking into account both historical and contemporary views. This incisive anthology is the product of an interdisciplinary collaboration among scholars from Japan, Korea, Singapore, Germany, Israel, Iraq, and the US. The discussion consists of studies in history, literature, sociology, cultural anthropology, and genetics, while the primary focus is on racial representations in Asia. The book elucidates issues and phenomena that have been neglected or marginalized in the literature on racial representation, and it serves to broaden our understanding, both in the theoretical and empirical realms. Looking at these phenomena, it is realized that racism has become increasingly obscure and harder to identify and articulate, thus posing the question: Are we really beyond 'race' and heading towards a future of 'integration?'

About Editors and Authors

TAKEZAWA Yasuko, the editor, is a Japanese cultural anthropologist and Professor at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University. She specializes in racialization/racism, ethnicity research and immigration research, mainly in the United States and Japan. She graduated from the University of Tsukuba in 1981 and entered the Graduate School of Anthropology at the University of Washington as a Fulbright Scholar. She completed her PhD at the University of Washington in 1989, and has been Professor at Kyoto University since 2005, after having previously served as Lecturer in the Graduate School of Asian American Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, as Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba and as Associate Professor at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University.

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