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The Ubume Challenge: A Digital Environmental Humanities Project

Critical Statement

This Scalar site applies an ecocritical lens to contextualize the ubume (“birthing-woman”), a figure who has appeared in Japanese folklore for centuries and was most recently appropriated for the viral hoax “The Momo Challenge.” The ubume is one of many yōkai (supernatural creatures) said to signify the uncertainties of the land. She first appeared in setsuwa (spoken stories), which largely depicted her as residing within shadows and under bridges. However, as we industrialized, so too did our fears, and the more worrisome environments became those that we created, both in cities and online. The ubume was adapted to fit these new environments, and I examine how by analyzing three of her most popular transmutations: the setsuwa collection Konjaku Monogatarishū, the illustrated encyclopedia Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, and the viral hoax “The Momo Challenge.”
            Similar to our passing down of the ubume’s story, we have passed down the story of technology-as-savior, and it has enabled our age of the Anthropocene as much as it has enabled the ubume to become Momo. While we may not have always understood the extent to which humans impact the planet, there have been consistent uncertainties regarding industrialization—those uncertainties just did not belong to those with the dominant platform. I created this site to give them one. Rather than construct a cause-and-effect narrative, I sought to bring hidden stories to light, and I designed a Scalar book in which each body chapter is capable of standing on its own.
            To unify these chapters, I created a comic that depicts the narrative I built once I put the research in those chapters together. Unlike academic text or computer-generated visuals, the drawn nature of comics marks them as an inherently subjective medium. The increased authorial presence of the medium encourages users to question whether they agree with my conclusions, and we need to ask those questions if we are to understand why certain histories are privileged over others, particularly today when the hands shaping our digital environments remain so largely hidden. Because the focus of my comic is the environment, the robots personify humans’ relationship with industry and technology, and Momo, the land. I chose “Momo” as the guide because I first encountered the ubume through “The Momo Challenge,” and I wanted to indicate that my analysis is one born through a Western lens.
            A Digital Humanities wesbite might seem like a paradoxical choice for a project that heavily critiques our reliance on technology; however, that critique is not a condemnation. This Scalar site attempts to reach people where they are, and we cannot turn off all our devices now any more than we can rewind our clocks to undo all of their damages. One task we can take on is a task this Scalar site seeks to assist: we can ask ourselves why we know so little about a world we helped create.

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Critical Statement This Scalar site applies an ecocritical lens to contextualize the ubume (“birthing-woman”), a figure who has appeared in Japanese folklore for centuries and was most recently appropriated for the viral hoax “The Momo Challenge.” The ubume is one of many yōkai (supernatural creatures) said to signify the uncertainties of the land. She first appeared in setsuwa (spoken stories), which largely depicted her as residing within shadows and under bridges. However, as we industrialized, so too did our fears, and the more worrisome environments became those that we created, both in cities and online. The ubume was adapted to fit these new environments, and I examine how by analyzing three of her most popular transmutations: the setsuwa collection Konjaku Monogatarishū, the illustrated encyclopedia Gazu Hyakki Yagyō, and the viral hoax “The Momo Challenge.”
            Similar to our passing down of the ubume’s story, we have passed down the story of technology-as-savior, and it has enabled our age of the Anthropocene as much as it has enabled the ubume to become Momo. While we may not have always understood the extent to which humans impact the planet, there have been consistent uncertainties regarding industrialization—those uncertainties just did not belong to those with the dominant platform. I created this site to give them one. Rather than construct a cause-and-effect narrative, I sought to bring hidden stories to light, and I designed a Scalar book in which each body chapter is capable of standing on its own.
            To unify these chapters, I created a comic that depicts the narrative I built once I put the research in those chapters together. Unlike academic text or computer-generated visuals, the drawn nature of comics marks them as an inherently subjective medium. The increased authorial presence of the medium encourages users to question whether they agree with my conclusions, and we need to ask those questions if we are to understand why certain histories are privileged over others, particularly today when the hands shaping our digital environments remain so largely hidden. Because the focus of my comic is the environment, the robots personify humans’ relationship with industry and technology, and Momo, the land. I chose “Momo” as the guide because I first encountered the ubume through “The Momo Challenge,” and I wanted to indicate that my analysis is one born through a Western lens.
            A Digital Humanities wesbite might seem like a paradoxical choice for a project that heavily critiques our reliance on technology; however, that critique is not a condemnation. This Scalar site attempts to reach people where they are, and we cannot turn off all our devices now any more than we can rewind our clocks to undo all of their damages. One task we can take on is a task this Scalar site seeks to assist: we can ask ourselves why we know so little about a world we helped create.

This page references:

Critical Statement