Title
Jomon Food Diversity, Climate Change, and Long-Term Sustainability
Abstract
International, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research in the fields of anthropology, including archaeology and ethnography, and related disciplines can make important contributions to the debates on the resilience of food systems and long-term sustainability of human society. Japanese archaeology, in particular, with its rich excavation data and its long tradition of community engagement and public outreach, is in an excellent position to contribute to these important contemporary debates. In this presentation, Dr. Junko Habu hypothesizes that diversity and decentralization may be critical for maintaining long-term sustainability of human societies in the order of hundreds to tens of thousands of years. Using case studies from the Early and Middle Jomon periods (ca. 6000-4400 cal. BP) of prehistoric Japan as well as ethnographic studies in northern Japan, Habu emphasized the importance of framing recent and current global environmental problems in the context of greater human experiences.
Biography
Junko Habu is Professor of the Department of Anthropology of UCB, and Affiliate Professor of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN). She received her BA (1982) and MA (1984) from Keio University and her Ph.D. (1996) from McGill University. Habu has excavated a number of prehistoric Jomon sites and historic Edo period sites in Japan, as well as Thule Inuit sites in the Canadian arctic.
Podcast
A discussion between CEAS Associate Director David Fields and Professor Junko Habu is available through the East Asia Now Podcast.