It is an honour and a pleasure to greet you here as the newly appointed JAWS Secretary General. Like many in this community, I’ve long benefited from JAWS as a space of intellectual exchange and generosity, shared curiosity, and long-standing friendships. Taking on this role feels both exciting and slightly surreal.
I follow in the footsteps of remarkable scholars who have helped shape JAWS into what it is today. In particular, I want to express my deep gratitude to Prof. Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni, who recently stepped down after her dedicated and thoughtful leadership. It is no exaggeration to say that all my predecessors set a very high bar.
I am certainly proud — albeit also slightly nervous — to be the first Secretary General who is not an accomplished and well-established anthropologist. But that, too, is a motivation, a reason to commit fully to steering the association forward, while preserving its defining qualities of friendliness, equity, and high academic standards. Along the way, I know I’ll have the support of a wonderful community — and the luck and privilege of calling many of its members friends.
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of serving as a JAWS Newsletter Editor, which gave me a behind-the-scenes appreciation for the people and passion that keep this network alive. I’ve also served as Liaison Officer with the European Association of Japanese Studies (EAJS). Since January 2024, I’ve held the role of Research Coordinator at the Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Kyoto.
Nevertheless, taking on this new role slightly feels like stepping into a paradox. A bit like the contrast represented in the picture: between the monstrous trickster — liminal, anti-structural, and border-crossing — and a Japanese oni.
Yet if we allow ourselves to become fully trapped in and by academic authority… Why would we even be doing anthropology?
In this new role, I look forward to supporting our members, welcoming new voices, sustaining the debates that make JAWS such a vibrant and collaborative space, and building stronger bridges with the broader international community in anthropology and East Asian studies.
Whether you are a long-time member or just discovering JAWS, I invite you to stay in touch, contribute, and — most importantly — feel at home here. This is, and will continue to be, an authoritative (but not authoritarian) community: a liberal network of people who thrive on shared knowledge, generous feedback, occasional communal drinking, and the joy of talking (and thinking) about Japan — and beyond — from the full spectrum of perspectives that the great discipline of anthropology has to offer.
Warm wishes,
Andrea De Antoni
JAWS Secretary General, May 2025