Center for Japanese Studies Graduate Student Seminar

"Materializing Dreams: Technology, Humanity, and the Post-Modern Tension in Contemporary Japanese Robotics" by Hirofumi Katsuno (PhD Candidate in Anthropology, UHM)

Today, under the slogan of kyōsei, or co-living with the robot, the Japanese government has re-encouraged and reinforced cooperation between industry and academia, launching next-generation robot projects that center on the development of humanoid robots as welcome sources of social interaction and emotional exchange. This presentation explores how humanoid robotics has increasingly become a site of intense politico-economic, socio-cultural and emotional investment in contemporary Japan. Based upon his microanalysis of the human/robot dynamic, Katsuno will investigate how the humanoid robotics becomes a recuperative site of humanity, reshaping social relations, cultural myths, and individual practices in contemporary Japan. In an age of cell-phone text-messaging, computer-generated communication, and agoraphobic shut-ins, the robot represents a “nostalgic neo-human.” While appearing as a frontier of technology, it also represents what has been lost.

Ticket Information
Free and Open to the Public

Event Sponsor
Center for Japanese Studies, Manoa

More Information
Center for Japanese Studies, 956-2665, cjs@hawaii.edu, http://www.hawaii.edu/cjs/index.html

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