An Interview with Chie Nakane

Abstract

CN: In retrospect, I think the fact that I spent my teenage years in Beijing may have a connection. While I was there I was unconsciously observing Chinese behaviour in daily life, and on coming back to Japan I was surprised by its different atmosphere and the different attitudes of Japanese people. These experiences made me aware of cultural and social contrasts. Later I enrolled in the Department of Oriental History at the University of Tokyo. This choice was made less for academic reasons than out of a romantic inclination towards Central Asia, which was one of the areas covered by that department. As my study advanced, my interest shifted to Tibet, an area less explored in terms of historical study, and my graduation thesis was on Sino-Tibetan relations in the Tang period. While I was studying Tibet I became convinced that I needed to acquire knowledge of actual Tibetan people if I was to understand the literature properly, as the sources available for the study of Tibetan history were very scarce. When I became a post-graduate student in the same department, I started looking for a science that studied actual societies, and it was then that I came to know about ethnology or cultural anthropology. In Japan at that time no courses were given in these disciplines, so while I was doing my research in history I attended some lectures in the Faculty of Natural Sciences' Department of ArLthropology and read some books on cultural anthropology at the American Center, which had just opened in Tokyo. In time I came to the conclusion that I must study cultural anthropology, and, above all, I was very eager to go to Tibet. At that time it was impossible to go to Tibet through China, but I thought I might have a chance if I crossed the Himalayas through India. Fortunately, in I95 3, I was awarded an Indian government scholarship and became affiliated with the Anthropological Survey of India in Calcutta, where there were many anthropologists actively engaged in research on various tribes. This gave **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ J2.