From Situated Selves to the Self

<p><b>Argues for an important transformation in the construction of the self among Japanese converts to Roman Catholicism.</b></p><p>In many parts of the world the Roman Catholic Church in the twenty-first century finds itself mired in scandal and its future prospects appear fairly dim in the eyes of many social critics. In <i>From Situated Selves to the Self</i> however Hisako Omori finds a radically different situation with jubilant Roman Catholics in an unexpected place: Tokyo Japan. Based on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork the author provides a culturally sensitive account of the transformative processes associated with becoming Catholic in Tokyo. Her ethnographically rich narrative reveals the ways in which Christianity as a cultural force can effect changes in one's personhood by juxtaposing two models of the self-one based on conventional Japanese social ideals and the other on Roman Catholic teachings. Omori takes readers to a living room (<i>ochanoma</i>) in a parish a Catholic bar in a nightclub area Catholic charismatic meetings and busy intersections in Tokyo. In so doing she traces subtle yet emerging changes in women's agentive power that accompany the processes of deepening faith. <i>From Situated Selves to the Self</i> gives us a rare glimpse into Christianity as a cultural force in an East Asian context where Confucianism has historically been the dominant ethical framework.</p>