ryan sayre

anthropology

tokyo

japan

architecture

    

this site is an exercise in an anthropology of the moving earth. When Kant gave us the mouthful of a term ‘architectonic,’ he meant by it the rendering of raw, unprocessed datum into a coherent whole: ‘the art of systems,’ he called it. For us, ‘architectonic’ will be the epicenter of an inquiry into the architectural + cultural + geological tectonics at work in Tokyo, a city balanced precariously at the intersection of four tectonic plates. To lay bare an architectonics of Tokyo, or to work out an anthropology of a moving earth, is to strike a balance between Kant’s art of systems and the systems of a city’s art (which is to say its cunning attempts) to outfox the advancing quake. Bring any questions or comments to ryan (dot) sayre (at) yale (dot) edu.

 

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100 Influential Ethnographies

Anthropology: A Taxonomy

Ethnography is the exercise of a sustained ignorance; an ignorance partially feigned and unconditionally felt.

Anthropology is a field of tacit self-limiting activiites.


Anthropology Tool Kit: Concepts

Anthropology is a house built of concepts, some interlocking, some drifting about erratically. Anthropology_Tool_Box.html

Architectonic Tokyo

Where to Find Great Ethnographies

To discover is to witness the crystalizing of a fluid. Here are aids to help you discover some of the most important Anthropological Ethnographies, to Anthropology Book Prizes and Anthropology Books at University Presses.

 On an Architecture of Laundry in Tokyo Monday, October 31 It’s Like with the Korean Skyscraper Monday, September 5 The Urgency of Anthropological Time Monday, August 8 The Folding of Bodies, Ours and Others Monday, June 13 There’s Something about the Teeth of Tyrants Monday, May 16 read more... http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/10/on-an-architecture-of-laundry-in-tokyo.htmlhttp://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/09/its-like-with-the-korean-skyscraper.htmlhttp://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/08/the-urgency-of-anthropological-time-.htmlhttp://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/06/the-folding-of-bodies-ours-and-others.htmlhttp://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/05/theres-something-about-the-teeth-of-tyrants.htmlArchitectonic_Tokyo.htmlhttp://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/09/its-like-with-the-korean-skyscraper.htmlshapeimage_9_link_0shapeimage_9_link_1shapeimage_9_link_2shapeimage_9_link_3shapeimage_9_link_4shapeimage_9_link_5

Blog Writing

Japanese Architecture and Architects

Fashion is something you attach to yourself, put on, and through that interaction the meaning of it is born. Without the wearing of it, it has no meaning, unlike a piece of art. It is fashion because people want to buy it now, because they want to wear it now, today. Fashion is only the right now. ~ Rei KawakuboContemporary_Japanese_Fashion.html
No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking. ~ Ruth BenedictEthnographies_of_Japan.html

Japanese Fashion and Fashion Designers

Japanese Photography and Photographers

Architecture is basically a container of something. I hope they will enjoy not so much the teacup, but the tea ~ Yoshio TaniguchiContemporary_Japanese_Architecture.html
Photography is about a single point of a moment. It’s like stopping time. As everything gets condensed in that forced instant. But if you keep creating these points, they form a line which reflects your life. ~ Araki NobuyoshiContemporary_Japanese_Photography.html

I am a phd candidate in cultural anthropology at Yale University. I work on cultures of in/security in Tokyo. Check out my monthly column at 3quarksdaily.com. Read about my own work, here. Bring your questions and comments about Architectonic Tokyo to ryan.sayre (at) yale.edu

My Photos

About Me

Japanese Art and Artists

We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don't completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call art. ~ Takashi MurakamiContemporary_Japanese_Art.html

Ethnographies of Japan

ryan sayre

architecture

japan

tokyo

anthropology