SATO, Ren'ya (Ph.D.)

Associate Professor
Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies
Kyushu University

Contents

Brief personal record and main interest

Field experiences

Publications and other activities

Brief personal record and main interest

[Brief personal record]

SATO Ren'ya is currently an associate professor of Kyushu University, who is studying subsistence economy, indigenous knowledge and technology, ecohistory and socio-cultural change of shifting cultivators in Southwestern Ethiopia and other areas by field work. He graduated from the Department of Human Geography, Fuculty of Letters, Kyoto University in 1991 and received his Ph.D. from the Fuculty of Letters, Kyoto University in 1999.

[His main interest]

The main purpose of his study is to reconstruct the historical and cultural description of African peoples.

• Land use history and indigenous fallow systems of shifting cultivators in tropical rainforests.
• Demography and life histories in small-scale societies.
• War and violence in small-scale societies.
• Labor allocation and diversification strategy among shifting cultivators.
• Christianization and its socio-cultural meaning among African minorities.
• Center-periphery relationships and ethnopolitics in Ethiopia and its neighboring countries.

• The Humen Geographical Society of Japan.
• Japan Association for African Studies.
• The Association of Japanese Geographers.
• Japan Association for Nilo-Ethiopian Studies.
• Japanese Society of Ethnology.

Field experiences

• Ethnobotanical survey among the Yami (Tawo) , Lang-yu island in Taiwan: from July through September 1991.
• Participant observation on subsistence economy and ethnobotany among the Majangir, Southwestern Ethiopia: from August 1992 through April 1994.
• Christianization and oral tradition among the Majangir, Southwestern Ethiopia: from September 1995 through February 1996.
• Migration history in relation to villagization policy of the Majangir, Southwestern Ethiopia: from August 1997 through October 1997.
• Research on the ecological succession following shifting cultivation with reference to land use history among the Majangir, Southwestern Ethiopia: from December 1998 through February 1999.
• Research on war and violence among the Majangir, Southwestern Ethiopia: from 2000 through 2002.
• Research on life histories and demographic change among the Majangir, Southwestern Ethiopia: from 2003 through 2008.

Publications and other activities

• SATO, R.(2008)African area studies by Japanese geographers, 1987-2007. Geographical Review of Japan.
• SATO, R. (2007)Dynamics of Subsistence and Reproduction among the Majangir:　Preliminary Report on Demographic Reconstruction. Paper submitted in the 17th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, held at Trondheim.
• Y.Teramoto, R.Sato, and S.Ueda. (2005)Characteristics of fermentation yeast isolated from traditional Ethiopian honey wine, ogol. African Journal of Biotechnology4(2), pp.160-163.
• SATO, R. (2002) Evangelical Christianity and Ethnic Consciousness in Majangir. In James, W. et al. (eds). Remapping Ethiopia. Oxford: James & Currey Publishers, 185-197. 
• SATO, R. (1999) "Swidden Agriculture with mulch technology", In Fukui, K.(ed.), Rethinking Swidden Agruculture, Showado Publishers. (in Japanese)
• SATO, R. (1997) "Christianization through Villagization: Experiences of Social Change among the Majangir", In Fukui, K., Kurimoto, E. and Shigeta M. (eds). Ethiopia in Broader Perspective. vol.2: 565-576.
• SATO R. (1995) "Seasonal Labor Allocation and Diversification Strategy of Swidden Agricultural System: A Report from the Majangir, Southwest Ethiopia", Human Geography 47-6, pp.541-561. (in Japanese)
• SATO R. (1995) Swidden Agricultural System among the Majangir, a Surmic People in Southwestern Ethiopia, M.A. Thesis, Fuculty of Letters, Kyoto University. (in Japanese)
• SATO R. (1994)"Uti Kaari!: Another Coffee Drinking Custom in Ethiopian Forest , in Higashi Africa Yuuwaku Dokuhon, Takarajima-sha, pp.136-139. (in Japanese)

[Copyright] SATO Ren'ya, 1997