Value Statement

Yoshio Markino: A Japanese Artist in London strives to achieve three main goals:

1) Promote the scholarship of minoritized authors/creators in past history who have not been critically studied to the degree that their anglophone counterparts have been.

My purpose is to fill in the gaps in scholarship on minoritized creators, and Markino’s story is just one of many that has yet to be filled. This is critical because what is studied marks what society finds important. It is essential that digital humanists and scholars throughout the world turn some of their attention away from Eurocentric topics and themes so that other perspectives and views are included and made prevalent in academic and cultural circles. If this is done, these voices will not be lost to time and the people of today’s world will gain exposure to more voices and experiences which can only serve to make them stronger.

We hope that through this project, and the other projects connected with One More Voice, modern scholars and students will see the importance in including and thinking about these unique voices.

2) Facilitate the thinking of Markino as a multi-faceted individual. 

When thinking about authors/creators it is important to keep in mind that these individuals were more than their respective disciplines and likely had other interests and hobbies. Markino himself was many things and had many interests, anywhere from writing books to designing gravestones. He was a writer, a social commentator, a Japanese immigrant, an anglophile, a painter, a theater enthusiast, etc., and all of these sides often interact within the creations he has left behind.

It is easy when conducting scholarship to focus solely on one or a few aspects of an individual, but with this project I wish to emphasize Markino as a multi-faceted person both in his interests, his relationships, and personal views, and to make connections between all of these themes. 

3) Create material that is accessible, understandable, and engaging for people of all different education levels.

This means that not all material will be presented in an academic way and that the project will utilize unique and creative formats, concepts, and techniques. While it is important to take a project like this seriously, it is possible and, dare I say, beneficial to stray away from the traditional ways of archival work. Critical and meaningful scholarship can be achieved simply by switching the angle and presenting information in a variety of ways will be able to reach different groups of people, diversifying the perspectives of the scholarship.

In this way, the scholarship will be able to reach people in non-academic setting and users will be more naturally able, hopefully, to interact with the material in creative ways.