Online | Mecila Working Paper 55 2023

Simone Toji: Conviviality-in-Action. Of Silence and Memory in the Cultural Performance of Generations of Japanese Migrants in a Riverine Town in Brazil.

São Paulo: Mecila 2023 (Working Paper Series, No. 55).

The paper examines the impact of Brazil’s intangible cultural heritage policy on Tooro Nagashi, a cultural practice of Japanese descendants in the Ribeira Valley in São Paulo, Brazil.

By using the concept of “friction,” it uncovers new accounts and silences related to Tooro Nagashi and its history.

The paper also shows how silence can be an important part of collective experiences in contexts shaped by migration, war, and repression, and how Japanese families in the Ribeira Valley are actively shaping their conviviality.

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