Gender and the Koseki in Contemporary Japan - Surname, Power, and Privilege

This book engages with gender hierarchy and structural inequality in Japanese society and examines the household register, koseki, one of the central structures shaping gender in Japan today.

List of contents

Introduction 1. The Matter of Names and Why Names Matter 2. Separate Surname Activism 3. Common-law marriage as a form of koseki resistance 4. Illegitimacy and male privilege: the underlying logic of the koseki 5. Beyond the scope of the koseki: Families out of bounds

About the author

Linda White is Associate Professor and Chair of Japanese Studies at Middlebury College, USA. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she has conducted ethnographic research with grassroots organizations in the Tokyo area during the past several decades.

Summary

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Tokyo, this book engages with issues of gender hierarchy and structural inequality in Japanese society. Studying several decades of feminist activism and critique of the koseki system, it analyses the strategies of activists who have creatively circumvented koseki rules to maintain their natal names in marriage.

Product details

• Authors: White, Linda White, White Linda
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 26.04.2018
• EAN: 9781138674349
• ISBN: 978-1-138-67434-9
• No. of pages: 120
• Series: Routledge Contemporary Japan Series; Routledge Contemporary Japan Series
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries; Japan, History, Sociology, Cultural Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Regional Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Humanities, Social issues & processes, Regional Studies, Social and cultural anthropology, Regional / International studies, Gender studies, gender groups, Social and ethical issues