02/23/2021
By Judith Aquino
Rethinking Japan’s Countryside: The Emergence of Neo-Rurality
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
3:30 to 4:45 p.m.
Via Zoom
Sponsored by the Political Science Department
John W. Traphagan is Professor and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also a professor in the program in Human Dimensions of Organizations.
Traphagan received his BA in political science from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Social Ethics, an MAR in social ethics from Yale University, and Ph.D in social anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of numerous articles and books related to Japanese culture including "Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan" (SUNY Press, 2000) and "The Practice of Concern: Ritual, Well-Being, and Aging in Rural Japan" (Carolina Academic Press, 2004), and his most recent book related to Japan, "Cosmopolitan Rurality, Depopulation, and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in 21st Century Japan" (Cambria Press, 2020). He also publishes regularly on the ethics and culture of space exploration. His work has appeared in journals such as Space Policy and The International Journal of Astrobiology and his most recent book in that area is "Science, Culture, and the Search for Life on Other Worlds" (Springer, 2016).