Idology in Transcultural Perspective Anthropological Investigations of Popular Idolatry

This edited volume expands on what Aoyagi Hiroshi intended in the first decade of the new millennium to establish as a subfield of symbolic anthropology called “idology.” It brings together case studies of popular idolatry in Japan, but goes further to provide a transcultural perspective to guide anthropological investigations in different places and times. In proposing an integrated paradigm for the growing body of literature on idols, the volume redirects recurrent questions to more fundamental points of sociocultural inquiry. Contributions from scholars conducting ethnographic fieldwork, as well as those engaged in theoretical and historical analyses, facilitate comparative reading and critical thought. Exceeding a narrow focus on human idols, the chapters shed new light on virtual idols and YouTubers, cartoon characters and voices, robot idols and cybernetic systems. Science and technology studies thus comes together with theories of animation and anthropological work on life inmore-than-human worlds.

Aoyagi Hiroshi is Professor in the School of Asia 21 at Kokushikan University in Tokyo. He is the author of Islands of Eight Million Smiles: Idol Performance and Symbolic Production in Contemporary Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2005).

Patrick W. Galbraith is Associate Professor in the School of International Communication at Senshu University in Tokyo. He is the author and editor of many books on Japanese media and popular culture.

Mateja Kovacic is Assistant Professor in the Animation and Media Arts program, Academy of Film, School of Communication, at Hong Kong Baptist University. She researches intersections between science, technology and popular culture.