As a critically endangered species, Japanese Natural Monument and animal with various cultural meanings for the people of Okinawa, the Okinawan dugong (zan) became a symbol for the protest against a new military base construction project, conducted by the Japanese government for the US military. What is the history behind the dugong’s path towards regional extinction and its connections to Okinawan protest culture? Marius Palz addresses these questions by examining how humans and dugongs in Okinawa have become entangled over time, and how the dugong’s state on the verge of regional extinction affects the discourse and practices around the military base construction.
“I argue that the dugongs became not just a symbol of resistance, but that their presence and absence in vicinity of the construction site directly influenced human social production of that space. Therefore, these animals, as individual selves, possess agency,” says Marius.
Based on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork, Marius’ work aims to contribute to the fields of environmental anthropology and Japanese studies during times of increasing environmental crisis. In order to prevent dugong extinction in the region, more attention has to be paid to the various relations these animals hold to specific spaces and other species, including humans.
Marius Palz successfully defended his dissertation on 16 June 2023.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: "Methods for multi-species ethnography: What are the challenges and opportunities for anthropological analysis of combining different kinds of stories – folk stories, history and ethnography – about multi-species encounters?"
Evaluation committee
- Assistant Professor Shiho Satsuka, University of Toronto (first opponent)
- Dr. Rupert Cox, University of Manchester (second opponent)
- Professor Mark Teeuwen, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Professor Jacob Høigilt
Supervisors
- Associate Professor Aike Peter Rots, University of Oslo
- Associate Professor C. Anne Claus, American University