Warren Stanislaus: A History of Black Japan & Afro-Japanese Identity The Arts of Travel

I was honored to speak with Warren Stanislaus, a PhD Candidate at Oxford & Associate Lecturer at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, on his studies of Blackness, Japan and the history of Afro-Japanese identity. 

Warren and I discuss the history of how Black people have encountered Japan & how Japanese people have encountered Blackness, how Japan's racism towards Blackness differs from the 'structural white supremacy' of countries like the United States, how the global Black Community (from W.E.B Du Bois to the Wu Tang Clan) have looked to Japan in solidarity, and how the rise of Black Japanese Superstars like Naomi Osaka, Rui Hachimura and others are changing perceptions of Black identity in Japan. 

For more on Warren's fascinating scholarship, please follow his twitter @warren_desu   // and visit his website:  https://www.warrenstanislaus.com/



Music by Gold Streak Beats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz_Mmlgc8DQ