Rupert Cox
University of Manchester
Discussant: Crossing Borders
Rupert Cox is Lecturer in Visual Anthropology and Director of the MA programme at the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology, University of Manchester. His regional orientation is Japan where he conducted extensive fieldwork into the Zen Arts ('The Zen Arts: an anthropological study of the culture of aesthetic form in Japan.' Routledge Press, 2002).
Rupert has developed extensive interests in the broadly defined field of visual culture, encompassing not only filmmaking but the history of forms of visuality and material exchange as they have been constructed since the first contacts between the West and Japan in the 16th century and the impact of new media technologies, in particular photography, on philosophies and practices of representation in Japanese Zen. His current work develops soundscape studies and the use of sound recording within anthropology, investigating the perception and significance of silent places in Japan.