On April 25, 2005, Nepal was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Its epicenter was located 80 km northwest of the capital, Kathmandu. In total, the earthquake left 8,970 people dead, 199 missing, 22,302 injured, and about 770,000 houses destroyed [Chamlagain and Ngakhusi 2017: 27–29]. The earthquake produced a large amount of debris, yet except for certain areas in the capital, the government took hardly any action to remove this debris, which was left lying on the streets for months. This was also true of the village of Panga in the Kathmandu Valley, where I conducted my research. Debris from collapsed houses clogged the streets, and villagers had to emigrate outside of the village to live. As a result, the interiors of the village became empty, dangerous, and haunted, a place where bhuts (ghosts) wandered around. This situation continued for almost four months without either the government or residents taking the initiative to remove the debris. However, as the time for a mourning ritual (called sāpāru) approached, the streets were quickly cleared. I will describe and analyze this process as exemplifying the nature and challenges of the “production of locality” [Appadurai 1996] under the conditions of a modern disaster.

Indonesia’s largest Sunni Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has embraced moderation and tolerance of religious minorities, under the leadership of religious pluralists. Academic works on Indonesia’s Islam have often attributed hostile and exclusive attitudes toward religious minorities, especially toward Shi’a, to groups under influence of Wahhabism. Observers of Indonesia’s Islam in the past decade, however, have witnessed increasing violence against religious minorities by NU members using similar rhetoric to that deployed by Wahhabi-inspired groups.

What accounts for the emerging trend of intolerance? Specifically, what motivates certain NU members to engage in persecution of minorities? This paper shows that the power struggle within the organization primarily motivates rank-and-file individuals to mobilize the masses by using anti-minority rhetoric with the aim of jeopardizing the moderate leadership and advancing their own standing. Among the emerging opponents of the pluralist leadership are disciples of Sayyid Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki (1944–2004) in Mecca. Despite the moderate teaching of al-Maliki, some disciples who seek influence beyond the organization are increasingly using anti-Shi’a rhetoric to mobilize the masses in this electoral democracy. The paper explores their historical trajectory, and then analyzes development after the democratization as well as the limitations that prevent them from expanding their influence at the national level.

The Merapi volcano in Indonesia has previously been studied in various fields as a typical active volcano in Asia. However, few studies have clarified the reconstruction process of agricultural land in the pyroclastic flow disaster area with a focus on both space and time. This study examined the reconstruction process of farmland damaged by pyroclastic flows of the Merapi volcano in 2010 in terms of changes in the lives of the local people. Changes in agricultural land and people’s life as a result of pyroclastic flow damage were investigated by observation and interviews with local people. Damage by pyroclastic flow was found to be attributable to two causes: pyroclastic surge and direct pyroclastic flow. The pyroclastic flow sediments associated with these different types of damage were removed respectively by “mining” and “cleaning.” Further, the different removal methods were shown to affect the crop species planted in the farmlands. This study also suggested that the type of pyroclastic flow sediment significantly influenced the occupations and income of the local people.

Iida Taku

Akira Takada. Anthropology of Interaction: Places where “Mind” Meets “Culture.” Tokyo: Shinyosha, 2019, 248 p.

Muratsu Ran

Makito Kawada, Chihiro Shirakawa and Kazutoshi Seki eds., Portraits of Magical Practitioners. Kyoto: Rinsen Book Co., 2019, 292 p.

Adachi Mari

Kazufumi Nagatsu. Living on the Border: An Historical Ethnography of the Sama Dilaut in Sabah, Malaysia. Matsumoto: Mokuseisha, 2019, 481 p.

Tanaka Toshikazu

Yui Sunano. Local Beer as Food in the Dirasha, Ethiopia. Kyoto: Showado Press, 2019, 256 p.

Furuhashi Makiko

Vietnamese Food Culture

Motoyama Kanako

Dalit Women and Education in Contemporary India

Otani Takuma

Information Technology and the Safety of Bodaboda Motorbike Taxis in Kampala, Uganda

Yoshizumi Miki

Lessons Learned from Toilet Training for Cerebral Palsy through Fieldwork

Kameoka Taishin

Wild Boars Eat Future Forest: A Case Study of Tree-planting Activity for Peat-land Fire Protection

Kirihara Midori

Halal Industry and Its Diversity Spreading to the World: From Field research in Malaysia, Dubai and Turkey