「The Social Life of American Crayfish in Asia」
日時：2010年6月8日（火）
時間：1：00－3：00
場所：一橋大学東本館２階・演習１番教室
講師：Sidney Cheung（The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
発表要旨：Recent anthropological studies on foodways have highlighted the globalization of local foodways as well as the localization of foreign foodways in various countries, reminding us that foodways are simultaneously local and global in terms of production, manufacturing, and marketing. This paper seeks to examine the influences brought by the move of the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii and Pacifastacus leniusculus) which are both freshwater crustaceans from the North America to Asia, especially in Lake Akan, Hokkaido in Japan and Xuyi, Jiangsu in mainland China, and investigate individual and community responses toward adaptation, consumption and conservation since the introduction of crayfish in the 1920s. In this paper, I will describe how the introduction and cultivation of a new non-local food species has contributed to changes in farming methods, trading network and conservation efforts in contemporary Asia. We have seen many invasive/ exotic/alien species bring negative impacts to their new environments. A few examples are Nile perch in Australia/Tanzania, black bass in Japan, janitor fish in the Philippines, bullfrog in South Korea, and grass carp and snakehead in North America, while there are also species bringing new foodways to their new habitat, such as the popular tilapia in Asia and the red swamp crayfish in China. Of these, tracking down the spread of the red swamp crayfish both in Japan and China provides a wonderful case study, as it has spread globally and brought various impacts to the two different countries in many ways. By making use of the two paths of the red swamp crayfish, a native species in Southern United States, I will discuss how it was widely accepted as a delicacy in China while it also became a phasing-out local food after it was introduced more than half a century ago.