Summary of SEAA Reads, session 13 from June 21, 2025
Selling the Kimono - An ethnography of crisis, creativity and hope . Julie Valk, 2021 (Routledge) During the summer session hosted by Bill Kelly, there were eight anthropologists at the Zoom meeting online. The session started with the larger topic of kimono as a cultural icon inside and outside of Japan, including the "kimono Wednesdays" at the Boston Museum in 2015. Thinking of Kyoti, there have been various reactions by observers and by residents when overtourism spills over to rental kimono for short-term visitors to wear in their walks around town. Valk's ethnography touches on many topics and includes close-up and more wide-angle views of the people, places, and issues connected to the business and traditions of designing, making, wholesaling and retailing, then selecting and wearing and storing them before bequeathing them to descendants. Our host pointed to the distinction between ethnographic inquiry (the book spends some time on methods and the mix of...