Webinars & Presentations
Outcasts in Medieval Japan: Lives, Stigmas, and Agency
In this lecture, taught by Dr. Morten Oxenbøll, we will dive into the world of outcasts and marginalized groups in early medieval Japan. We will explore how groups like the hinin as well as female entertainers (shirabyōshi) constructed semi‐autonomous communities that constantly negotiated boundaries with mainstream society and even with the imperial court. Though the work these groups performed was often socially despised, it remained indispensable to the functioning of the state. Join us as we trace how those relegated to society’s margins were simultaneously defined by, and essential to, the social order itself.