This is our first interview as part of the NIHU DH × The DO Interviews. This series features interviews with researchers working at institutions affiliated with the National Institutes for the Humanities exploring different projects, ideas, and initiatives.
The first interview with Prof. Kawase Itushi focuses on the National Museum of Ethnology‘s journal, TRAJECTORIA, its history, the difficulties associated with setting it up, and the ways in which it advances multimodal representation of research. We recommend visiting some of the links included in the interview in order to experience the different forms of multimodal representation that TRAJECTORIA employs.
JM: Could you tell us a little bit about the history and scope of the TRAJECTORIA?
KI: TRAJECTORIA is an international, peer-reviewed online journal published by the National Museum of Ethnology (also known as Minpaku). It focuses on research related to museums, anthropology, cultural heritage, and the arts. In recent years, Minpaku has been been engaging in activities as a “forum-type museum” i.e. a museum that, rather than simply displaying artifacts unilaterally, brings together a diverse range of people, including local communities connected to the artifacts, visitors, and researchers, to create new knowledge and culture through dialogue. In around 2017 as a response to this trend, momentum grew within the museum to create a journal that would serve as an open online forum for the dissemination of knowledge.
Given my background as both an anthropologist and a filmmaker, I strongly felt the need to create a journal with a format that transcends the traditional, text-centric framework of academic publishing. However, at first, I had absolutely no idea how to build such a new type of journal from scratch. So I researched the editorial and operational structures, research strategies, designs, and functions of online journals in multimodal anthropology in Europe and the United States including AnthroVision, Entanglements, Sensate, and The Journal of Anthropological Films. I met directly with their editors and conducted online interviews to learn as much as possible about creating and managing a journal. Following that and after thorough discussions with my colleagues at Minpaku regarding conceptual design and editorial structure, we published the inaugural issue (Vol. 1) in March 2020.
The name of the journal, TRAJECTORIA, is based on the image of objects, knowledge, and people tracing dynamic trajectories as they intersect across time and space, both within and outside the museum. Currently Seki Yūji 關雄二, Director of the National Museum of Ethnology, serves as Editor-in-Chief, with an the editorial team consisting of Suemori Kaoru 末森薫 (Associate Professor at Minpaku) and I as Co-Editors-in-Chief. Additionally, Inge Daniels (Professor at the University of Oxford), an expert in material culture studies and visual anthropology, and Rossella Lagazzi (Associate Professor at the Arctic University of Norway), an expert in Sámi studies, have also joined as Co-Editors-in-Chief allowing us to establish an international collaborative framework. The Consulting Board is also composed of members from Japan and abroad who share the journal’s experimental and interdisciplinary philosophy and who are actively committed to it. Additionally, Kagiya Kai 鍵谷開, an outstanding young anthropologist and skater, serves as a technical assistant, acting as a liaison between contributors and designers.
TRAJECTORIA’s Homepage.
JM: I quite enjoyed the use of multimedia in some of the articles. One that stood out to me was the recent “Sounds of the Uncanny: Documenting and Exhibiting the Invisible” by Yamanaka Yukiko 山中由里子, but a lot of the journals articles seem to include video—some articles aren’t even articles, they are films—high quality photographs, or other media. Indeed your about page even notes that the journals itself serves as a gallery! What sort of challenges and opportunities does [producing] this create in comparison to traditional print journals? Particularly, thinking about your readers, aspects of journal management, technical support etc. Also how has the use of these diverse sorts of media shaped the publication as it has been developed?
KI: TRAJECTORIA enables the dissemination of research findings that combine diverse media, such as video, photography, audio, drawings, and graphics, with text. Its greatest appeal lies in its ability to generate polyphonic and multifaceted narratives among researchers, research participants, and source communities. There are, of course, numerous operational and technical challenges. Today, technologies and methods of digital expression are evolving at a fast pace, and we need to be flexible in incorporating these developments. When the journal was first launched, communication with the initial design team proved difficult as we tried to implement our multimodal vision and this eventually led to a change in personnel. In addition, determining how to conduct peer review for ever-evolving forms of media expression remains a constant challenge. This is because the editorial department is frequently presented with innovative ideas and works that surpass our expectations and imagination. For this reason, the editorial team holds regular meetings. We have also established a system to collaboratively refine the quality of online content with authors whose work has passed review. Pioneering new frontiers in media expression within academia has the potential not only to expand the established definition of academic papers but also to transform the very nature of research itself.
Part of “Sounds of the Uncanny: Documenting and Exhibiting the Invisible” by Yamanaka Yukiko 山中由里子 showing sounds visualised as Japanese characters.
JM: The journal seems to push a lot of different boundaries both technical and in thematically. How have these features and the publication been received both in Japan and abroad?
KI: TRAJECTORIA pushes the boundaries of traditional academic expression, both in terms of technology and subject matter. Since its inception, the journal has been filled with a wealth of global, experimental, and diverse works ranging from pieces by anthropologists and filmmakers studying indigenous peoples in Taiwan and Brazil to research utilizing interactive comics and paintings born from fieldwork in Mexico, Greece, Japan, Cambodia, and other places. As such, the journal has been well-received and is highly regarded as a platform that revolutionizes traditional academic dissemination and communication by researchers and artists at the forefront of multimodal expression, both domestically and internationally. Over the past two to three years, the number of submissions has increased dramatically, and the institutions to which contributors belong have become increasingly diverse. Nevertheless, whether in Japan or abroad it is also true that there are still few journals that specialize so specifically in multimodal expression, and text-dominated journals remain deeply entrenched. This is precisely why our journal has the potential to serve as a new alternative, though its recognition both domestically and internationally still has a long way to go.
JM: Three objectives are listed on the website. Has the journal been successful at fulfilling these? Which of these objectives have been most challenging, most rewarding and why?
KI: The three objectives outlined on our website are as follows:
1 to examine the multi-sensory aspects of objects and material environments and to generate and disseminate new forms of knowledge;
2 to share knowledge with source communities (the groups of people in whom research outputs and museum collections originate), stimulating multiple creative collaborations and cross-fertilisations between researchers and those who are represented or studied;
3 to explore the innovative uses of multi-media and other exhibition techniques that allow a variety of museum audiences to participate in the ongoing process of knowledge production.
Looking back on our journey so far, I feel that these objectives are steadily being realized. In particular, elements that are difficult or cannot be conveyed through text alone—such as the dynamics of different fields and unique graphical representations and analyses—are being released into the online space and are encouraging readers to engage in non-linear exploration. Despite these successes, we are constantly experimenting with how to translate these compelling works and papers into an interface that reaches not only scholars but also a broad readership.
JM: Are there any articles that have really stood out to you during your time working as an editor? What pieces would you recommend to our readers to check out if they visit your website? Are there any pieces that showcase particularly well what you’re trying to do at TRAJECTORIA?
KI: As an editor, I have a deep personal connection to every work. However, I would like to introduce the following projects as examples that vividly embody the ideas of collaboration, multisensory experience, decolonization, and non-linearity.
“New York, Just Another City” (featured in Vol. 2) is a collaborative work between the Institute of Visual and Audio Anthropology (LISA) at the University of São Paulo and Patricia, a Brazilian Indigenous leader and filmmaker. When she was invited to the American Museum of Natural History in New York to participate in the Anthropology Film Festival (Margaret Mead Film Festival), she offered improvisational and critical feedback on the museum’s exhibits—including those related to Indigenous material culture that were personally significant to her. This work treats film not merely as a form of expression, but as an “active agent.”
“Story of Mirrors: Together They Cross the Border” (featured in Vol. 3) is a multimodal ethnography by José Sherwood-Gonzalez, a researcher and artist at Manchester Metropolitan University, that blends interactive comics to depict the diverse narratives and perceptions surrounding the meeting of his great-grandparents. Rather than presenting a single anthropologist’s perspective, the work is designed so that readers (viewers) can actively participate in the “family story” by selecting from multiple narratives themselves.
An image from the beginning of “Story of Mirrors: Together They Cross the Border” by Laura Haapiö-Kirk and Ito Megumi 伊藤めぐみ.
“Turning Points” (featured in Vol. 3) is a collaborative project by Laura Haapiö-Kirk, an anthropologist at University College London (UCL), and Ito Megumi 伊藤めぐみ, an artist based in rural Kochi Prefecture. It delicately portrays the life changes and migration history of Ito, who moved from Tokyo to Kochi following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, by combining her own paintings and narration. It is a beautiful work that offers a nonlinear viewing experience.
“Emergent Use of Visual Media in Young Muslim Studies” (Published in Vol. 5) A project led by Sawazaki Kenichi 澤崎賢一 of the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature and Amo Kae 阿毛香絵 of the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University, among others. This initiative brings together young Muslims living in Japan (including second-generation immigrants and Japanese converts) with anthropologists and filmmakers to collaborate on film production, exhibitions, and other projects. By reversing and fluidifying the traditional roles of “the observed” and “the observer,” the project explores co-creative relationships mediated through the camera. Through multimodal approaches, it offers a multifaceted portrayal of the diversifying identities of young Muslims and the nature of Japanese society as seen through their perspectives.
JM: What are the future plans for TRAJECTORIA?
KI: Following the publication of Volume 7 in March 2026, we are currently preparing Volume 8 for release in the spring of 2027. Looking ahead, our goal is to further develop our existing multimodal platform environment and respond promptly to advancements in web technology. Driven by proposals and ideas from contributors and others related parties, we will flexibly expand the journal’s functionality and design. In doing so, we hope to continue to renew the platform itself as a testing ground for innovation in academic expression.
JM: Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers? For example, are there possibilities to get involved in or publish in TRAJECTORIA? In what ways would you like to see people engage with your journal and use it in research and teaching?
We welcome contributions from anyone at any time. Looking back at the content of recent issues, we can observe that researchers in fields such as epigraphy, archaeology, architecture, and linguistics have also begun contributing. Even if you’re not ready to submit a full article, please feel free to contact the editorial office at any time to inquire whether your material is suitable for submission or to ask any questions you may have. It is also important to note that our journal is open access.
TRAJECTORIA is currently beginning to be used as teaching material in lectures and seminars at various universities and graduate schools both in Japan and abroad. We believe that by not only having students read the texts but also showing them the videos featured in the journal, having them listen to the authors’ video discussions, or letting them experience the interactive comics first-hand, we can provide a “multisensory learning” experience that allows them to engage with and reflect on the research topics of each project. Please feel free to use our materials in own teaching as well.
We would be delighted if many of you would join us on this exciting journey to redefine the future of academic expression.
AI Disclosure: ChatGPT was used to create the cover image for this post.
