Introduction: Anthropology and Business in Asia

The theme of this volume is “Culture, Corporation, and Economy in Asia.” It introduces seven articles written by leading business anthropologists. Anthropology is the study of humans, past and present. The central concern of anthropologists is the application of anthropological knowledge to the solution of human problems. This introductory article briefly summarizes the history of anthropology and business studies in Japan, Korea, and China, and examines the intertwined relationship of this branch of anthropology with the history of East Asian colonialism. The author then introduces anthropology’s methodology and perspective that emphasize holistic, comparative, empirical, inductive, and ethno-historically oriented mode of inquiry. Anthropology regards the economic organization not only as an entity dealing with financial issues, but also as a cultural-emitter that operates in a nexus of multiple stakeholder-agencies. To study companies and economic activities in Asia anthropologically is to explore organizationally mediated, symbol-producing practices, schemes, actions, and consequences, that interact with politico-economic forces and institutional assemblage, both locally and globally. The author argues for combining the critical ethnography of Asian business on the ground, with the macro-level analyses of economic conditions and socio-political movements.