Beschreibung
Based on ethnographic research that I have conducted in Japan over the past twenty years, this paper aims to demonstrate the important insights that may be gained from exploring the material and social impact that ordinary architectural forms have on their inhabitants’ everyday lives. Instead of reiterating the uniqueness of the stereotypical but powerful trope of the minimal Japanese house, that continues to fascinate the ‘western’ imagination, my research focuses on the mass-produced dwellings that the majority of Japanese people have lived in since the 1960s. Elsewhere, I have discussed the contradictions and tensions that exist inside these homes whether amongst family members (with a focus on gender or age), between people and deities or with the material world, but in this paper, I will explore a series of spatial tools and material configurations ranging from gates and street gardens to garbage bags and fire buckets that people employ to negate the relationship between the home, the larger community and the state. I will draw on classic anthropological studies about domestic space as well as the more recent material culture thinking about lived-in material environments, but I also hope to contribute to the growing social science literature about infrastructure. I will also reflect briefly upon two innovative outcomes. (Speaker’s abstract)