The Monkey as Mirror

by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

This tripartite study of the monkey metaphor, the monkey performance, and the 'special status' people traces changes in Japanese culture from the eighth century to the present. During early periods of Japanese history the monkey's nearness to the human-animal boundary made it a revered mediator or an animal deity closest to humans. Later it became a scapegoat mocked for its vain efforts to behave in a human fashion. Modern Japanese have begun to see a new meaning in the monkey--a clown who turns itself into an object of laughter while challenging the basic assumptions of Japanese culture and society.

Genres: Japan, Anthropology

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney (Japanese: 大貫恵美子 1934 - ) is a noted anthropologist and the William F. Vilas Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of fourteen single-authored books in English and in Japanese, in addition to numerous articles. Her books have been translated into many other languages, including Italian, Korean, Polish and Russian. Ohnuki-Tierney was appointed the Distinguished Chair of Modern Culture at the Library of Congress in DC in 2009 and then in 2010 Fellow of Institut d’Études Avancées-Paris. She is a member of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, its mid-west council member, and a recipient of John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship among other prestigious awards.

Description taken from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emiko_O....

Reviews

[Alice Jennings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite good for quotes and looking at how we receive the unknown race. Well written, except even straight after I had finished I remember thinking "'why did they keep on mentioning 'monkey mirror?'" That's the only part I did not get

[Powersamurai · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got bored part way through, but overall found it interesting how the Japanese perceive monkeys. Calling someone a monkey is not exactly a compliment.