Living in Connection – Ehiopians in Tokyo –

Bio: Itsushi Kawase is a professor at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology and the Graduate University for Advanced Studies. He combines engaged scholarship with a wide range of expertise in ethnographic filmmaking, poetry, fiction and performance. He has conducted research on hereditary poet-singers in northern Ethiopia as well as the religious practice by Ethiopian Diaspora in Tokyo. He has produced documentary films, including “Azmari – the Fest of Voices-”(2024), “When Spirits Ride Their Horses” (2012) and “Room 11, Ethiopia Hotel” (2007). He has investigated the prospects and challenges of imparting anthropological knowledge by actively communicating on-screen, and occasionally, debating with people through his films. He has won awards for his writings, including 2021 Suntory Literary Prize and the 2022 Umesao Tadao Literary Prize. He has taught as a visitor at University of Hamburg, University of Bremen, SoundImageCulture(SIC) in Belgium, Addis Ababa University, Mekelle University, Shandong University in China, etc. Since 2019, he has been co-editing the online journal TRAJECTORIA.