Japan is arguably the first postindustrial society to embrace the prospect of human-robot coexistence. Over the past decade, Japanese humanoid robots designed for use in homes, hospitals, offices, and schools have become celebrated in the mass media and social media throughout the world. In Robo sapiens japanicus, Jennifer Robertson casts a critical eye on press releases and public relations videos that misrepresent actual robots as being as versatile and agile as their science fiction counterparts. An ethnography and sociocultural history of governmental and academic discourses of human-robot relations in Japan, this book explores how actual robots-humanoids, androids, animaloids-are "imagineered" in ways that reinforce the conventional sex/gender system and political-economic status quo. In addition, Robertson interrogates the notion of human exceptionalism as she considers whether "civil rights" should be granted to robots. Similarly, she juxtaposes how robots and robotic exoskeletons reinforce a conception of the "normal" body with a deconstruction of the much-invoked Theory of the Uncanny Valley.

About the Author
Jennifer Robertson is Professor of Anthropology and the History of Art at the University of Michigan. She is author of Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular Culture in Modern Japan and Native and Newcomer: Making and Remaking a Japanese City.

Reviews
"Jennifer Robertson's engaging and insightful book Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Robots, Gender, Family and the Japanese Nation is one of the first scholarly works to examine the social and cultural implications of robotics in Japan. . . . Robertson's book breaks new ground by putting the field of Japanese robotics technology into conversation with social scientific scholarship on gender, nationalism, and disability. The book will be of great interest to researchers working in these fields and will surely stimulate further work on the culture of robotics. Robertson is a gifted writer whose prose is fluid and free of jargon. Advanced undergraduate students and graduate students will encounter little difficulty in making their way through the text. They and other readers will be well rewarded for doing so." * Social Science Japan *
"At a time when mainstream English-language media tends to uncritically buy into the Japanese government/corporate vision of a utopian robot future, Robertson's thoroughly researched and insightful dismantling of the myths and propaganda surrounding Japanese robots is incredibly valuable." * Japanese Studies *
"Anyone with even a passing interest in robotics in Japan would naturally enjoy this book, but the benefit of its insights extends to all those interested in the workings of contemporary Japan." * Journal of Japanese Studies *
"This book is a vital contribution to the history and anthropology of robotics and offers insightful critiques of gendered and ableist assumptions underlying robot designs past and present." * Technology and Culture *



Book Information
ISBN 9780520283206
Author Jennifer Robertson
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint University of California Press
Publisher University of California Press
Weight(grams) 408g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 20mm