In Village Life in Modern Japan, author Akira Furukawa argues that the mainstream of environmentalism today remains trapped within the modernist paradigm that has led to the present global environmental malaise. Through a variety of case studies, including primary research in Japan and Nepal, as well as a rich array of secondary sources, Furukawa outlines the case for 'life-environmentalism.' Grounded in an ethnographic approach that recognizes that local, everyday-life knowledge- which has been widely denigrated and suppressed in the processes of modernization - this book offers the hope of rectifying global environmental crises. Furukawa argues that slogans such as 'think global, act local' remain problematic unless we also 'think local, act local.'

About Editors and Authors

FURUKAWA Akira is Visiting Researcher at Kwansei Gakuin University. After teaching sociology at Chukyo University and Aichi Prefectural University in the 1990s, he assumed Professorship in Sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University from 2001 to 2019. His research interests include sociology, cultural anthropology and folklore.