Ippei Shimamura

{{short description|Japanese anthropologist (born 1969)}} {{Nihongo|'''Ippei Shimamura'''|島村一平|Shimamura Ippei|born in 1969}} is a Japanese anthropologist who is best known for his ethnographic work on [[shamanism]] and ethnic identity among Mongol [[Buryats]], which has won multiple awards. Currently he is a Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Mongolian Studies in the [[National Museum of Ethnology (Japan)|National Museum of Ethnology]] (a.k.a. Minpaku) in Osaka.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SHIMAMURA Ippei {{!}} 国立民族学博物館|url=https://www.minpaku.ac.jp/english/research/activity/organization/staff/shimamura/index|website=www.minpaku.ac.jp|access-date=2020-05-06|archive-date=2020-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027220219/https://www.minpaku.ac.jp/english/research/activity/organization/staff/shimamura/index|url-status=dead}}</ref> Working for 15 years in the School of Human Cultures at the [[University of Shiga Prefecture]] in [[Hikone, Shiga|Hikone]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Ippei Shimamura|url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ippei_Shimamura|website=Researchgate.net|accessdate=30 August 2017}}</ref> he joined the Minpaku on April 1, 2020. Between April 2004 and September 2005 he was a research fellow at the [[National Museum of Ethnology (Japan)|National Museum of Ethnology]] in Osaka, and between October 2011 and March 2012 he was a visiting scholar at [https://www.miasu.socanth.cam.ac.uk/ Mongolia and Inner Asian Studies Unit] in the Department of Social Anthropology at the [[University of Cambridge]] in the UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=SHIMAMURA Ippei|url=http://db.spins.usp.ac.jp/html/124_en.html|website=University of Shiga Prefecture|accessdate=30 August 2017|archive-date=31 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831083340/http://db.spins.usp.ac.jp/html/124_en.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Shimamura originally studied law at [[Waseda University]] (1988-1993), but after visiting [[Mongolia]] with a film crew he decided to return to that country in 1995 and began his studies as an anthropologist. He completed a master's degree in Ethnology at the [[National University of Mongolia]] in Ulaanbaatar in 1998, being the first person from Japan to do so. Returning to Japan after living in Mongolia for 6 years, Shimamura achieved his Ph.D. in March 2004 at [[Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Japan)|The Graduate University for Advanced Studies]] (SOKENDAI) in [[Hayama, Kanagawa|Hayama]] in [[Kanagawa Prefecture]]. His dissertation research was later published as a book, first in Japanese (in 2011) and later in English under the title ''[http://www.shumpu.com/?s=The+Roots+Seekers The Roots Seekers: Shamanism and Ethnicity Among the Mongol Buryats]'' (2014).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shimamura|first1=Ippei|title=The Roots Seekers: Shamanism and Ethnicity Among the Mongol Buryats|date=2014|publisher=Shumpusha Publishing|location=Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan|isbn=978-4-86110-397-1}}</ref>

Shimamura's book, and the ethnographic research it was based upon, has earned him four major national awards in Japan. In November 2013 he won the Japan Consortium for Area Studies (JCAS)Award.<ref>{{cite web|title=Japan Consortium for Area Studies (JCAS) Awards|url=http://www.jcas.jp/en/consortiumaward/selection.html|accessdate=30 August 2017}}</ref> In February 2014 it was announced that he had won a JSPS Prize from the [[Japan Society for the Promotion of Science]].<ref>{{cite web|title=SHIMAMURA Ippei|url=http://researchmap.jp/read0124272/?lang=english|website=Researchmap|accessdate=30 August 2017|archive-date=31 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831043026/http://researchmap.jp/read0124272/?lang=english|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=JSPS Prize|url=https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-jsps-prize/awards_10th_02.html|website=Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)|accessdate=30 August 2017|archive-date=31 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831042723/https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-jsps-prize/awards_10th_02.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October 2014 he was also awarded with the Daido Life Encouragement Prize for Area Studies from the Daido Life Foundation. In April 2016 he received the SOKENDAI Scientist Award from his alma mater, the Graduate University for Advanced Studies.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Recipients of the 2nd SOKENDO Scientist Awards|url=https://www.soken.ac.jp/en/en-news/27148/|website=The Graduate University for Advanced Studies|accessdate=30 August 2017|archive-date=31 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831045859/https://www.soken.ac.jp/en/en-news/27148/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimamura, Ippei}} [[Category:1969 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Japanese anthropologists]] [[Category:Waseda University alumni]] [[Category:Academics from Ehime Prefecture]]