An Anthropology of Ba: Place and Performance Co-Emerging

Do places influence human behavior? In everyday thinking, spaces and places are generally seen as empty vessels where human activity occurs. Digging a bit deeper, we can distinguish spaces from places: places are spaces that have meanings attached -- an empty room becomes a classroom or a bedroom depending on what people do in it. Focusing on the Japanese concept ba -- usually translated as 'place' -- these studies recognize that places imbued with social meaning influence human behavior. Ba takes into account the social context, the norms that dictate behavior, the mood of a place, and the individual's feelings about it. Conceptualized as ba, places limit and direct what we can do, and in the process, shape who we are. Drawing from a wide array of ethnographic studies, this collection illustrates various ways in which place and human agency co-emerge.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1925608042
• ISBN13: 9781925608045
• Release Date: June 2021
• Publisher: Trans Pacific Press
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"