Ethnicity and Identity in the North　　　Takashi Irimoto

　Due to the rapid environmental, political and economic upheavals that northern regions are currently experiencing, the cultures of northern peoples are also changing dramatically. Such upheavals are no longer the province solely of individual ethnic groups or nations, but are also being recognized as international issues. Efforts to revitalize northern peoples' cultures, maintain their identities, reestablish relationships between ethnic groups and nations, rethink of relationships between man and nature, solve ethnic conflicts, and promote coexistence and mutual understanding among people with different cultural backgrounds are some of the challenges that will face humanity in the 21st century.
　At this international conference, therefore, a comparative study will be conducted on the status of ethnicity and identities of circumpolar peoples, including northern Eurasia, Japan and North America. This study will be conducted based on case studies presented and discussed from various points of view by the multi - national group of scholars. Then, the purpose of this conference is to understand the current ethnic and cultural dynamics in northern regions and to clarify our challenges in the 21st century by taking an ethnological approach.
　This conference will present one possible answer to a universally acknowledged anthropological question, "what are human beings?" It will be academically significant if we succeed in presenting an answer -- based on research on northern regions, and by clarifying the true meaning of ethnicity and identity and their relationships -- to this most difficult but fascinating and challenging question, and if we help establish new anthropological theories and methodologies.
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