Beyond​Utopia

The Virtual Ninja Project emerged from a VICI award for innovative research,
as part of a larger project: 'Beyond Utopia: new politics,
​the politics of knowledge, and the science fictional field of Japan.'
The project ran for 5 years, culminating in a book (2016)
MENTALPRAXIS
  • Teaching
    • Summary
    • DeMystifying Mindfulness
    • Honours Course
    • Mindfulness Philosophy
    • Supervision
  • Research
    • Summary
    • Virtual Ninja Project
    • Zombie Mindfulness
    • Ninja Mindfulness
    • Jedi Mindfulness
  • Clinic
  • Who/Where are we?
    • Director
    • Copyright
  • COVID19

Beyond Utopia

The Virtual Ninja Project emerged from the context of a larger, 5-year research project directed by Chris Goto-Jones at Leiden University in The Netherlands.  This larger project, 'Beyond Utopia: new politics, the politics of knowledge, and the science fictional field of Japan,' was supported by a 1.25million euro VICI award for innovational research by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).  At various stages, it was also supported Asiascape.org, the Political Arts Initiative, and Leiden University College in The Hague.

Beyond Utopia was concerned with the analysis of visual and interactive media (concerning or originating from Japan) in the genre of science fiction, focussing on the various ways in which these media (manga, anime, videogames etc.) enabled forms of philosophical and political creativity and expression that would be impossible in other forms of media.  The results of the project were presented at various universities around the world, including (Asia) National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technical University, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; (Europe) Leiden University, Amsterdam University, SOAS University of London, Oxford University; (North America) University of California at Berkeley, UBC Vancouver.
Picture

Virtual Ninja Project Publications

Final version: The Virtual Ninja Manifesto Book, sample
Edge magazine article about the Virtual Ninja Project
Phase II version: Virtual Ninja Manifesto
Japan Review article: Is Street Fighter a Martial Art?
Asiascape article: The Digital Dojo

Reviews

The images used on this site were conceptualized by Chris Goto-Jones for various projects.  The character set (monk, zombie, ninja, hippie, scientist) was illustrated by Siku for the MOOC: Demystifying Mindfulness.  The Ninja Mindfulness and Virtual Ninja images were also illustrated by Siku.  The art for the Zombie Mindfulness project is by Ricardo Bessa.  The Jedi Mindfulness images are by Glen Mullaly.  The Mindfulness Philosophy images were drawn by Roxanne van Beek.  All images are copyright  MentalPraxis 2016 - they can be re-used for non-commercial purposes with proper acknowledgement.
  • Teaching
    • Summary
    • DeMystifying Mindfulness
    • Honours Course
    • Mindfulness Philosophy
    • Supervision
  • Research
    • Summary
    • Virtual Ninja Project
    • Zombie Mindfulness
    • Ninja Mindfulness
    • Jedi Mindfulness
  • Clinic
  • Who/Where are we?
    • Director
    • Copyright
  • COVID19