Name:
Takanori OISHI, Ph.D.(Area Studies, Kyoto University)
Position:
Lecturer, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan
Research:
I am working with the forest peoples of southeastern Cameroon, especially with the Bakwele, Bantu speaking horticulturalists and the Baka, hunter-gatherers. My major topics of interest include: the ethnoecology of fishing activities, ecological and cultural perceptions of tropical forest landscapes, comparative ethnography of human-animal relationships, the diversification of subsistence economies and the dynamics of local interethnic relationships. For the last decade, I have observed drastic changes in local people’s sociocultural behavior, which might have been brought about by increased interaction with a monetary economy. Since then, I have been focusing on the interactions between local value systems, for example, the norm of so-called “egalitarianism,” and the larger systems operating at national, regional, and global scales.
Key Words: Ethnoecology, Political ecology, Anthropology of value, Bakwele, Baka, North-Western Congo basin
Major publications:
- Oishi, T. 2016. Ethnoeology and ethnomedicinal use of fish among the Bakwele of southeastern Cameroon. Revue d'ethnoecologie 10 (Special issue: Inland traditional capture fisheries in the Congo Basin). html
- Oishi, T. 2016. Aspects of interactions between Baka hunter-gatherers and migrant merchants in southeastern Cameroon. Senri Ethnological Studies, 94 (Kazunobu IKEYA and Robert K. HITCHCOCK eds., Hunter-Gatherers and their Neighbours in Asia, Africa and South America): 157-175. pdf
- Oishi, T., Hagiwara, M. 2015. A preliminary report on the distribution of freshwater fish of the Congo river: Based on the observation of local markets in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. African Study Monographs, Supplimentary Issue 51: 93-105. pdf
- Oishi, T., Hayashi, K. 2014. From ritual dance to disco: Change in habitual use of tobacco and alcohol among the Baka hunter-gatherers of southeastern Cameroon. African Study Monographs, Supplimentary Issue 47: 143-163. pdf
- Oishi, T. 2014. Sharing hunger and sharing food: Staple food procurement in long-term fishing expeditions of Bakwele horticulturalists in southeastern Cameroon. African Study Monographs, Supplimentary Issue 47: 59-72. pdf
- Oishi, T. 2013. Human-Gorilla and Gorilla-Human: Dynamics of Human-animal boundaries and interethnic relationships in the central African rainforest. Revue de primatologie 5, Document 63. (DOI: 10.4000/primatologie.1881)
- Oishi, T. 2013. Current situation of studies on the hunter-gatherers of tropics: A comparative report of ICCBHG & CHAGS10. (In Japanese). Tropical Ecology Letters 93, pp. 2-12.
- Oishi, T. 2012. Gorilla-man and Man-gorilla: Human-animal boundaries and interethnic relationships in central African rainforest. (in Japanese). In (K. Okuno, M. Yamaguchi & S. Kondo, eds.) Anthropology of Man and Animal, pp. 93-129. Shumpusha Publishing, Yokohama.
- Hayashi, K. & Oishi, T. 2012. Role of tobacco and alcohol in daily life among the Baka hunter-gatherers: Penetration of monetary economy and exotic articles of taste in south-eastern Cameroon" (In Japanese with an English abstract) Humanities and Sciences, 30: 29-43., Kobe-Gakuin University.
- Oishi, T. 2012. Cash crop cultivation and interethnic relations of the Baka Hunter-Gatherers in southeastern Cameroon." African Study Monographs, Supplementary Issue No. 43. pp. 115-136. pdf
- Oishi, T. 2010. Holidays in the forest: A case of fishing practice among Bakwele cultivators in Southeastern Cameroonian rainforest. (in Japanese). In (D. Kimura & K. Kitanishi, eds.) People, Nature and History of African Tropical Forests 1: From Social Perspectives, pp. 97-128. Kyoto University Press, Kyoto.
Selected presentations:
- Oishi, T. 2016. "Elephant hunting and YouTube: Role of new media in visualization of conflict between Conservation and Indigenous movements in Cameroonian tropical rainforest." The 6th HK (Humanities Korea) International Conference, The Institute of African Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), Yongin, South Korea, 6th October 2016. (Oral presentation)
- Oishi, T., Kamgaing, OWT., Yamaguchi, R., Hayashi, K. 2015. "Anti-poaching operations by military forces and their impacts on local people in South-Eastern Cameroon." Symposium 'Beyond Enforcement: Communities, governance, incentives and sustainable usein combating wildlife crime' Organised by IUCN CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group(SULi)/International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED)/Austrian Ministry of Environment/ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED), University of Queensland/TRAFFIC - the wildlife trade monitoring network, February 27th 2015 at Glenburn Lodge, Muldersdrift, South Africa. (Oral presentation, Invited lecture)
- Oishi, T. 2014. "Land conflict in multi-ethnic context: trans-ethnic negotiation and cultural transmissions in the expansion process ofcocoa farming in southeastern Cameroon" The Forth Forum on “Comprehensive Area Studies on Coexistence and Conflict Resolution Realizing ‘African Potentials’”, December 5th, 2014Tou'Ngou Hotel, Yaounde, Cameroon. (Oral presentation, Invited lecture)
- Oishi, T. 2013. "Various aspects of interactions between Baka hunter-gatherers and migrant merchants in southeastern Cameroon", the session 'Hunter-gatherers and their neighbours.', CHAGS10 (10th Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies), June 27th 2013, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK. (Oral presentation)
- Oishi, T. and E. Fongnzossie 2012. "Microhabitats in tropical mixed evergreen forest recognized by Baka hunter-gatherers of southeastern Cameroon: Folk concepts of vegetation change in comparison to modern ecological term of 'succession'. The 13th Congress of the International Society for Ethnobiology, May 21st, 2012, Montpellier, France. (Oral presentation)
- Oishi, T. 2011. "Partager la Faim et Partager les Aliments: Comment traiter la 'faim d'hydrates de carbone' chez les pecheurs/agriculteurs Bakwele du sud-est du Cameroun." 31°symposium ICAF (IUAES International Commission of Anthropology of Food): "PARTAGER LA NOURRITURE" Lasseube, Pyrenees Atlantiques, France, du 30 mars au 2 avril 2011. (Oral Presentation)
- Oishi, T. 2010. "Cash crop cultivation and Hunter-Gatherer society, and their relationships with Farmers: A case study of the Baka Pygmies and the Bakwele of South East Cameroon." International Conference on Congo Basin hunter-gatherers, the September 24th, 2010, CNRS Montpellier, France. (Oral Presentation)
- Oishi, T. 2010. "Family structure, residential groups, and mate preferences among the Baka hunter-gatherers and the Bakwele fisher-farmers of Cameroon: Toward a long-term comparative research of population dynamics." Joint Annual Meeting of SCCR/ SASci/ AAACIG 2010, February 18th, 2010, Albuquerque, NM, USA. (Oral Presentation)
Selected research projects:
- A historical ecological study on the relationships between the river people and the forest people in central African lowland tropical forest. Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-Up from JSPS: No. 21820018, 2009-2010.
- Enlargement of economic inequality and traditional egalitarian ethics among the forest dwellers under the penetration of cash economy in African tropical forest. Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) from JSPS: No. 23720424. April, 2011-March, 2014.
- Market economy, time preference and minimal social stratefication among the Hunting and-Gathering communities of southeastern Cameroon. Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) from JSPS: No. 26870297. April, 2014-March, 2017.
- The Environmental History of 'Hunter-gatherers' in the Tropics. Joint research project of the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. (Head: Dr. Ikeya Kazunobu) October, 2012-March, 2015.
- Long-term Sustainability through Place-based, Small-scale Economies: Approaches from Historical Ecology. Full Research Project of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto. (Head: Dr. HABU Junko) April, 2014-March, 2017.
- Applied Anthropology of Game Meat Distribution and Consumption: New perspectives on hunting for a post-industrial world. Minpaku Inter-University Research Project of the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. (Head: Takanori OISHI) October, 2016-March, 2019.
Contact:
(e-mail) takanori[at]tufs.ac.jp (Please change [at] to @.)