David W. Plath (b. 1930), professor emeritus, was professor of anthropology (1966-98) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He specialized in cultural anthropology, visual ethnography, and maritime cultures in the geographic region of Japan as well as related studies in human development and aging; he is a documentary and educational filmmaker and cofounder of the Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS).
Plath was born on December 8, 1930. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1952. He served as an officer in the US Naval Reserve's Pacific Fleet (1952-55) before earning a master's degree (1959) and a PhD (1962) from Harvard University in anthropology and Far Eastern languages. Plath has held academic appointments at the University of California, Berkley (1961-63), University of Iowa (1963-66), and UIUC (1966-98) as well as visiting appointments at Konan University in Kobe, Japan (1972-73, 1976, 1995), and Kyoto University (1972-73) in Japan. At UIUC, Plath served as Head of the Anthropology department for three years and created the department's study-abroad program in Japan. Since 1975, Plath has been a documentary filmmaker, working in a variety of roles to explore educational topics aligned with his research interests. In 1991, he and Professor Jackson Bailey developed a (pre-internet) database of educational media about Japan. In 1996, following Bailey's death, Plath was instrumental in relocating the repository to UIUC, where it was transformed into the Asian Educational Media Service with the affiliated Media Production Group. Films by Plath, include Fit Surroundings (1993), Can't Go Native? (2011), and So Long Asleep (2016). Written publications by Plath include Long Engagements: Maturity in Modern Japan (1980) and Work and Lifecourse in Japan (ed., 1983).
In 2010, the biennial David Plath Media Award was introduced by the Society for East Asian Anthropology to recognize the best new media production related to the field of East Asian anthropology. Plath was awarded for his Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies by the Association for Asian Studies in 2013.
He is married to Jacquetta F. Hill, emeritus professor of anthropology at UIUC.
Sources:
"David Plath Media Award," AnthroGuide, accessed April 21, 2020, http://seaa.americananthro.org/awards/david-plath-media-award/.
"David W. Plath, PhD, Biography," accessed April 21, 2020, https://www.u-46.org/cms/lib/IL01804616/Centricity/Domain/3280/Plath%20David%20W%20Ph.D.%201948%20Bio.pdf.
"David W. Plath," AnthroGuide, accessed April 21, 2020, https://guide.americananthro.org/4814/David-Plath?id=4814&tab=profile#viewTab.
"David W. Plath," Department of Anthropology [UIUC], accessed April 21, 2020, https://anthro.illinois.edu/directory/profile/d-plath.
"History," Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS), accessed April 21, 2020, http://www.aems.illinois.edu/overview/index.html.
"Media Production Group," Asian Educational Media Service (AEMS), accessed April 21, 2020, http://www.aems.illinois.edu/mpg/index.html.
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