特別講演 “‘I Call Japan My Mecca’: Black Orientalism as Escape and Belonging”
講師：Mark Villegas (Franklin & Marshall College)
日時：2026年 6月 9日（火） 18:30-19:30
会場：慶應義塾大学三田キャンパス 大学院校舎 2階 325B教室
参加費：無料（どなたでも歓迎）
使用言語：英語（通訳なし）
参加登録：下記のフォームよりご登録をお願いいたします。
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JGWVP2P
主催：有光道生ゼミ（慶應義塾大学）
共催：慶應義塾アメリカ学会
助成：小泉基金
◆◆◆Abstract: How has Japan become a “mecca” for some contemporary US Black audiences? Observing this fascination as “Black Orientalism,” and drawing on concepts refined by Bill V. Mullen and Helen Jun, this talk interprets the phenomenon as African Americans’ cultivation of the self in relation to Asia. Based on fieldwork at Blerd (“Black nerd”) conventions such as BlerDCon and Dream Con, and an ethnography of Black residents living in Japan, Villegas examines how Japan and Japanese culture—anime, gaming, fashion, music, and beyond—come to represent a preferable lifestyle alternative to a white-coded US. Rooted in histories of US empire and mid-20th-century Third World solidarity, yet driven today by postmodern consumption of Japan as “cool,” this gravitation toward a former empire with its own brand of racism reveals striking ironies. The talk argues that Black Orientalism expands the repertoire of Black
worldmaking, where the fantastical East fosters a sense of Black global belonging, with today’s Blerds and Black residents in Japan pursuing fantasy, peace, and an escape from US whiteness. （※フライヤーより）◆◆◆
