Research Theme :
Economy and Ethnics (Care) in Insular Southeast Asia

Waka Aoyama is a Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo, Japan. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Tokyo, and is the author of An Ethnography of Poverty: Socioeconomic Life of Five Sama Families in Davao City, Philippines. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press (2006, written in Japanese); and An Intimate Journey: Finding Myself Amongst the Sama-Bajau, Kyoto University Press + Trans Pacific Press (2020, written in English). The first book earned academic awards including the 8th Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Prize. Her research interest is in understanding the interactions of institutions and agency in the adaptive process of cultural minorities to the globalized market society. She is also interested in economy and ethnics (care) in general. She has been making multiple visits to Christian Sama-Bajau communities in Davao City (Mindanao, the Philippines) since 1997. She also looks into organic farming and revitalization of local communities through collaborations with other scholars within and outside the University of Tokyo (comparative studies: the Philippines, Mexico and Japan)