Dr Lola Martinez
AB(CHICAGO) DIP SOC ANTH DPHIL(OXON)
Overview
Department of Anthropology and Sociology
(Reader in Anthropology with reference to Japan)
Japan Research Centre (JRC)
(Member, Japan Research Centre)
Centre for Media and Film Studies
(Associate Member, Centre for Media and Film Studies)
Japan, maritime anthropology, religion, gender, anthropology of tourism, mass media, local and global film traditionsContact Details
- Name:
- Dr Lola Martinez
- Email address:
- dm6@soas.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- 020 7898 4425
- Address:
- School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG - Building:
- Russell Square: College Buildings
- Office No:
- 542
Teaching
Students supervised
- Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen
- Emma Cook
- James Russell
- Jessica Kendall
- Laura Treglia
- Mao Wada
- Minori Suzuki
- Paul Hansen
- Philomena Keet
- Sayako Ono
- Sylvia Simpson
Programmes Convened
Courses Taught
Research
My current research involves exploring the relationship between the Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, and modern western film directors. The impetus for the research began in an attempt to turn on its head the Orientalist premise that ‘Japan is a society that copies’ by exploring the variety of ways in which Hollywood as a part of US society has copied from Japan. This research has led me towards an analysis of how local and global filmmaking constitute each other.
The role Kurosawa has played in not only setting a technical standard, which other filmmakers have hoped to achieve or surpass, but also in writing narratives that have been incorporated into other films is the subject of a book I am planning to complete in the next few months. The research for the book has allowed me to consider a wide range of theory relating to the human capacity for creating narratives and translating them, as well as giving me an excuse to watch films with titles like Battle Beyond the Stars; Run, Lola, Run, and The Killing!
My first research was with Japanese diving women (ama, women who dive for shellfish and seaweed) and fishermen in Mie Prefecture. Kuzaki, the village in which I worked, still functioned as a sacred guild (kambe) for Ise Shrine, the most sacred Shinto Shrine in Japan. This combination of occupation and religious life required me to begin thinking about religion in Japan as well as the broader context of religion in modern societies; while also considering the importance of age and gender in organising religious events and village life.
Kuzaki was part of the domestic tourism boom that was important in 1980s Japan, and for several years I wrote about and taught the anthropology of tourism. A short spell of working for a television production company while writing the DPhil thesis led me back to my first area of interest: the mass media.
Subsequent periods in Japan have been spent working on various aspects of Japanese popular culture. I am beginning to think about new research, perhaps on the ways in which different societies depict the future.
Expertise
For help in contacting SOAS academics and advice on services to business and the community, please contact SOAS Enterprise on 020 7898 4837 or email interface@soas.ac.uk.
For all press and media enquiries please call 020 7898 4956 or email jf51@soas.ac.uk
Available for
Regional Expertise
- East Asia
Country Expertise
- Japan
Languages
Publications
Authored Books
Martinez, Dolores (2009) Remaking Kurosawa: translations and permutations in global cinema. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (In Press)
Martinez, Dolores (2004) Identity and Ritual in a Japanese Diving Village. The Making and Becoming of Person and Place. University of Hawaii Press.
Edited Books
Martinez , Dolores and Mukharji, Projit B., eds. (2008) Football: from England to the World. London: Taylor & Francis.
Rodriquez, Maria and Ackermann, Peter and Martinez , Dolores, eds. (2007) Pilgrimage and spiritual quests in Japan. London: Routledge.
Martinez , Dolores, ed. (2007) Japanese Culture and Society. London: Routledge.
D, ed, ed. (1998) The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press.
Chapters in Books
Martinez, Dolores (2007) 'Pilgrimage and experience: an afterword.' In: Rodriquez, Maria and Ackermann, Peter and P, D, (eds.), Pilgrimages and Spiritual Quests in Japan. Curzon, Routledge, UK.
Martinez, Dolores (2007) 'Seven samurai and six women: Kurosawa's Shichinin samurai.' In: Philips, Alistair and Stringer, Julian, (eds.), Japanese Cinema Texts and Contexts. Routledge, UK.
Martinez, Dolores (2006) 'When uchi becomes soto.' In: Hendry, Joy, (ed.), Dismantling the East-West Divide. Curzon, Routledge, UK.
Martinez, Dolores (2005) 'On the "Nature" of Japanese Culture, or, Is There a Japanese Sense of Nature?' In: Robertson, J., (ed.), A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan. Blackwell, pp. 185-200.
Martinez, Dolores (1998) 'Redefining Kuzaki: ritual, belief and cho boundaries.' In: J, ed, (ed.), Interpreting Japanese Society. Routledge, pp. 213-221.
Martinez, Dolores (1997) 'Burlesquing Knowledge: Japanese quiz shows and models of knowledge.' In: M, eds, (ed.), Rethinking Visual Anthropology. Yale, pp. 105-119.
Martinez, Dolores (1996) 'The tourist as deity: ancient continuities in Modern Japan.' In: T, ed, (ed.), The Tourist Image. Wiley, pp. 163-178.
Articles
Martinez, Dolores (2008) 'Soccer in the USA: 'holding out for a hero'?' Soccer & Society, 9 (2). pp. 231-243.
Martinez , Dolores (2007) 'Where the Human Heart Goes Astray: Rashomon, Boomtown and Subjective Experience.' Film Studies, 11 (Winter). pp. 27-36.
Martinez, Dolores (2007) 'Where the heart goes astray': remaking Rashomon as Boomtown.' Film Studies, special issue 'Sex in the City' .
