AINU IN DIASPORA
Ainu in Diaspora: Rising From Shame, Honoring Ainu Resilience
Join us for a discussion on what it means and how it feels to be Ainu in the Japanese American community. This discussion was moderated by Dr. R. Māpuana Hayashi-Simpliciano and Dr. Sachi Edwards with panelists Ed Sheffield, Anna Hasegawa, Carol Hasegawa, Ellen Bruning, Betsy Hasegawa and Joanne O.S. Qinaʻau, MA, E-YT.
For more information:
UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
Ainu Art: Reclaiming Ainu Pride
Katana
Dr. R. Māpuanapaiaʻaʻala Shizuko Hayashi-Simpliciano a.k.a. Katana, is a Hip Hop ethnographer and school administrator at a Hawaiian language and immersion school. In the early 80ʻs while still in diapers, Katana began to dance and rap along with her brothers who performed locally in the Popping and Locking/Break Dancing crew called ʻEbony Expressʻ. As a teen, Katana became an award winning female pioneer in Hawaiiʻs spoken word and hip-hop community. In the early 2000ʻs Katana was named as a distinguished Asian-Pacific Island Gen. Xʻer by Bamboo Ridge Press, and was the $20,000 Grand Prize winner in the grueling 12 week long Open Mic Contest sponsored by The Lion of Judah out of Zanzabar NightClub in Waikīkī. Katanaʻs vocals and lyrical compositions have been featured on the albums of Big Every Time (B.E.T.), and the Urban Island Hip Hop Compilation which was produced by the island music sensation, Fiji. After a successful performance run at the Steve Harvey Showcase ("The Apollo of the West Coast'') in Los Angeles CA, Katana came back to her island home in Hawaiʻi to open for the legendary group Public Enemy. Katana scored a recording deal with Kahoano Productions and together with Kamuela Kahoano, wrote the album titled Kaotica which received the 2008 Hawaii Music Award for the category of Spoken Word, and two New England Urban Hip Hop awards.
As a researcher and scholar, Dr. Hayashi-Simpliciano uses performance ethnography and hip-hop to facilitate the creation of narratives of resistance for groups whose voices may otherwise be marginalized. ( example of work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv6fXHhMXHA ). Dr. Hayashi-Simpliciano specializes in: culturally and spiritually sustaining pedagogy where hip-hop is used as a form of survivance for Aboriginal communities, trauma-informed educational practices, the history of complex racial dynamics within the Japanese diaspora, and anti-racist research & educational practices.
Artists of Ainu descent share how they express their culture through their art. Panelists include Tara “Seta” Duffin, Léo Anderson, Madi Sato, Anjamora Ishi Sato and Māpuana Shizuko Hayashi-Simpliciano aka Katana.
This discussion was moderated by Dr. Sachi Edwards, a faculty member in the Graduate School of International Peace Studies, Soka University, Japan
Tara “Seta” Duffin
Tara "Seta" Duffin is an artist born and raised around occupied dxʷdəwʔabš and dxʷlilap land. Seta's utari came to Turtle Island from Shiraoi Kotan, and she explores her roots and what it means to be Repunkuru Ainu through art, design, and writing.
Léo Anderson is a multi-media painter and sculptor that primarily works with organic material--with an affinity for wood, clay and oil paints. A recent graduate of Oberlin College, they previously worked with Professor Chie Sakakibara to support an upcoming exhibition that will showcase Ainu art at the Allen Memorial Art Museum. Currently, they live in Tokyo, with family in both Hokkaido and the US.
Léo explores themes of spirituality, dreams/the surreal, and the relationship of humans with their environment in their work. They see art-making as a ritual that connects them to their ancestors, and through their practice, hope to connect with other Ainu artists to explore new possibilities in the expression of contemporary Ainu identity.
Anjamora Ishi Sato is an emerging singer-songwriter of Taos & Jemez Pueblo, Japanese Ainu, and Irish lineages. She was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico amidst a rich cultural foundation of musical performance and ceremonial devotion. At a very young age, Anja began experimenting with music and her voice. She recently recorded two full-fledged songs and is on her way to a début album.
Anja has contributed to two professional recordings: Return to the River (with her mother, singer Madi Sato) and Spirit Line (a tribute to Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women). She has performed at numerous public events including Indigenous People’s Day 2020 and she was recently chosen to participate in the Native Youth Summit 2021. Anja is passionate about women’s issues, LGBTQ rights, and the wellness of earth.
Madi Sato is a singer and women's community leader of Japanese Ainu and Celtic roots. Madi has guided hundreds of women in awakening and empowering their authentic voices through the self-designed Song Carrier method of gathering in community. From a young age, she was immersed in indigenous ceremony and drawn to the feet of traditional grandmothers. Through prayer, she creates original earth songs and chants and is a lifelong dancer versed in an array of traditions and styles.
Ainu Activism with Ryoko Tahara
Ryoko Tahara, President of the Ainu Women’s Association, shares how she became an activist for Ainu women and tells of her travels to the Kiril and Aleutian Islands to honor Ainu ancestors.
Ryoko Tahara was born in a relatively affluent Ainu family in Mukawa Hokkaido, which enabled her to pursue education to support her surrounding community. In her thirties, Tahara was employed as a social worker for Ainu women by the municipality of Sapporo and also had the opportunity to serve the Ainu community at the executive office of the Sapporo Ainu Association. With two-decades of experience as a social worker and office worker, Tahara became altered to the social and economic problems which were directly impacting Ainu women. Tahara learned about the kinds of discrimination, abuse and exploitation that her Ainu sisters regularly endure by Japanese society. During this time, Tahara learned to navigate the many difficulties that minoritized people in Japan face due to Japanese authorities. In 2003, Tahara participated in the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in New York. This was the first time in a history that an Ainu would bring attention to the discrimination against Ainu women on an international stage. In 2017, Tahara founded the Ainu Women’s Association (Menoko Mosmos in the Ainu language meaning “Wake Up Ainu women!”). Since its foundation, the Ainu Women’s Association has been collaborating with two international organizations: Slow Food Nippon/International for the maintenance and development of Ainu traditional food and Amareya Theatre in Gdansk Poland for the provision of performances to decolonize their minds and bodies. Thus Tahara has been devoted to tackling Ainu women’s issues, which were hidden prior to her campaign, in cooperation with other minority women in Japan for decades.