The Soul of Anime, and How Japanese Manga and Music Defy Zombie Capitalism

Japan Society of Boston, Harvard Digital Publishing Collaborative and Harvard Japan Society present: 

"The Soul of Anime, and How Japanese Manga and Music Defy Zombie Capitalism"

Guest speaker: 
Ian Condry
Professor, Global Studies and Languages, MIT

Thursday, February 4, 3:00-4:30pm

Harvard University Lamont Library, Forum Room - 11 Quincy Street. Cambridge, MA 02138

Free event| Registration required for Non-Harvard attendees

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How did American publishers’ response to junk science in the 1950s contribute to Japanese animation’s current dominance in TV cartoon broadcasts worldwide?  The story of Japanese popular culture demonstrates some of the keys to developing more inclusive forms of capitalism, an important issue in today’s era of worsening income inequality.  Japanese anime, manga, and music offer lessons for understanding how new industries emerge from communities of shared participation.  Put simply, we can learn from the contrast between zombie capitalism, in which the past devours the future, and cyborg capitalism, which centers on a symbiosis between technology and community.

Ian Condry is a cultural anthropologist and Professor of Global Studies and Languages at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is the author of two books, The Soul of Anime and Hip-Hop Japan, both of which explore ethnographically how cultural movements go global.  He is founder and co-director of the Creative Communities Initiative at MIT which uses fieldwork at the intersections of online and offline worlds to offer new solutions to old problems.