Archive, Events & Projects, Japanese Studies and Global Partnership

Embracing Otherness, Exploring Muslims

Organized by The Japan Foundation, Bangkok Supported by Embassy of Japan in Thailand
 

Photo Exhibition

Date & Time 15-20 Sep 2020 (10:00 – 19:00) Venue  Curved wall, 5th floor), Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) Entrance fee  Free of charge Language  Thai and English  

Online Talk Event

Date & Time  Saturday 19 Sep 2020 (13:00 – 15:00) Thailand Time GMT +7 Broadcast channel  Youtube Language  Thai and English – Free of charge – Please register this online form and we will send the link to join the talk. https://cutt.ly/Efa3kNK   Embracing Otherness, Exploring Muslims is a follow-up project of Talk with Muslims series (TAMU) by the Japan Foundation Asia Center. TAMU has brought together Southeast Asian and Japanese youths engaging in social welfare, community empowerment, and socio-religious affairs into a dialogue to discover each other’s cultures, religions, and values.   This follow-up project will take you to discover other sides of being a Muslim and to embrace cultural diversity through photo exhibition from and online talk event in order to develop a better understanding towards Muslim from many perspectives and to create cultural exchanges so that the otherness will become more perceivable in this multicultural society.   Photo Exhibition 15-20.09.2020 (10:00 – 19:00) Curved wall, 5th floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)   The photo exhibition comprises of two sets of photo by three photographers sharing 65 pictures about lives of Muslims in Thailand and Japan.  Samak Kosem and Kalil Pitsuwan pick Chiang Mai as a place to tell the story with short dialogues about diversity and migration of Muslim under the name fieldnote – visual ethnography of Muslim in Chiang Mai. On the other hand, Sato Kenei, a Japanese journalist, thought that the narratives about Muslim through mass media in Japan focuses merely on their religion. Instead of thinking that they are foreign people living in Japanese community, Muslims should be perceived as a member of our community so that we could discover many more sides apart from religion. His 25 photos  are presented with short story alongside under the title of Everyday Life of Muslims in Japan.  
Samak Kosem and Kalil Pitsuwan (2020)

Grave Visiting by Sato Kenei (2018)

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Everyday Life of Muslims in Japan

Photo and Story by

  Sato Kenei is a Tokyo-based freelance photographer, who gained strong interest in the relation between minorities and their host society when he experienced his own identity as a Japanese got blurred while studying photojournalism at the University of Minnesota. He also does extensive interviews of his subject to better understand them, which led to the publication of the nonfiction book Believing in Islam in Japan published by Bungeishunju (2015).  
 

fieldnote – visual ethnography of Muslim in Chiang Mai

Photo and Story by

  Samak Kosem (TAMU fellow – 2017) works in the field of anthropology and his ongoing research in the Deep South of Thailand. His works portray through photography and visual ethnography. Samak’s previous works include Otherwise Inside (2018) and Nonhuman Ethnography (2018) in Bangkok Art Biennale.  He continues his PhD to combine art and visual anthropo-logical practice for his project on Borders re/make Bodies that show at Osage Gallery in Hong Kong.  
  Kalil Pitsuwan holds a B.A.in history from Thammasat University, he is currently studying an M.A.in Sociology and Anthropology at Chiang Mai University on the topic of subculture in the urban context. Kalil is interested in film criticism and literature, therefore, he writes articles concerning such topics for several magazines and websites such as a day magazine, The Momentum and GM Live. He also co-wrote a movie script that portrays the life of Muslim women in the southern part of Thailand.  
  Online Talk Event 19.09.2020 (13:00-15:00, Thailand Time GMT+7) Youtube Live   The first session will start with a talk from Essaadi Miwa, Secretary-General of  Shizuoka Muslim Association, about living a life as a Muslim in Japan and life during a New Normal, followed by a reflection and messages about photo exhibition from Sato Kenei. As for a cross-sharing with Essaadi, Alisah Hansamoh will give a talk about Muslims and pandemic in Southern Thailand and Malaysia. The last session will be Embracing Diversity shared by ex TAMU fellows who will have a discussion on Muslims society in each region of Thailand and conflict management in community. Stay tuned for more details at www.ba.jpf.go.jp and www.facebook.com/jfbangkok  

Please register this online form and we will send the link to join the talk. https://cutt.ly/Efa3kNK

  For more information Matsuo Yuichi matsuo@ba.jpf.go.jp  (Japanese and English) Wathana Onpanich wathana@ba.jpf.go.jp  (Thai and English) Tamawan Pengsatis tamawan@ba.jpf.go.jp  (Thai and English) Organized by  The Japan Foundation, Bangkok Supported by Embassy of Japan in Thailand The Japan Foundation, Bangkok 10th Fl. Serm-Mit Tower, Sukhumvit 21, Bangkok  (Tel: 02-260-8560) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jfbangkok/ Website: https://ba.jpf.go.jp/