02. Event: September 2014 Archives

[date & time]
9/18(Thu), 19(Fri) 12:40-15:00

[place]
Center for Gender Studies @ ERB-I 301 (The rainbow flag will be a guide!)

Anybody who is interested in CGS or Gender & Sexuality Studies will be welcome!!

We would like you all to join us at our tea party! We are especially looking forward to meeting new students arriving this term. Come and learn about the major in Gender and Sexuality Studies.

It's a good opportunity to see and talk with other students and CGS staff.
You can share topics related to gender & sexuality, and ask questions about your registration, campus life, and study.

All staff are looking forward to your visiting with preparing tea and snack.
How about taking this occasion to visit CGS?

[CGS 10th Anniversary Symposium]
Kana TAKAMATSU
Assistant Director, CGS
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the seventeenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]

CGS will hold its 10th anniversary symposium, "Redefining Boundaries and Conviviality: Nationality, Body, Gender and Sexuality," on Sunday, November 23, 2014. CGS steering committee member Kana Takamatsu discusses the theme of the symposium, and CGS associate researchers Shingo Hori and Miho Matsuzaki and research institute assistant Yuko Sasaki introduce the individual sessions below.

[CGS 10th Anniversary Symposium]
Shingo HORI
Junkenkyuin (Associate Researcher), CGS; Doctoral Program (Sociology), Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Waseda University
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the seventeenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]

Recurring incidents of hate speech targeting Zainichi Koreans and foreigners have spread beyond Tokyo and Osaka to other regions of Japan over the past year. The ongoing counter-protests against this racism have also garnered attention, and hate speech is gradually being recognized as a social problem.

What can gender and sexuality studies contribute to this evolving debate? This session will critically examine the rising intensity of racism in our society from the perspective of gender and sexuality. For this purpose, we have invited two guest speakers whose research has focused on the multi-layered relationship between sexism and racism: Natsuno Kikuchi of Nagoya City University and Yeonghae Jung of Otsuma Women's University. It is hoped that their insights will stimulate fruitful discussion among all the participants.

At this session, I think it will be vital to consider the issue of "comfort women" and the Japanese army in relation to this debate. The fact that Japanese society has continued to proceed without facing up to this issue has not only fostered a climate in which hate speech can go unchallenged on our streets but also provided a foundation for the radical-right regime that is the second Abe administration. In fact, I believe that this neglect has nurtured a society that can ignore the pleas of those who have suffered from discrimination and violence. This session aims to elucidate this problem by deconstructing the conflicting narratives of states, social movements, and identities.

[CGS 10th Anniversary Symposium]
Miho MATSUZAKI
Junkenkyuin (Associate Researcher), CGS
Yuko SASAKI
Research Institute Assistant, CGS; Master's Student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the seventeenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]

This session will examine the Japanese university system and international students from the perspective of gender and sexuality, which is an aspect that has hitherto not been sufficiently explored. In particular, we ask, how do the various institutions and norms of gender and sexuality impact international students who are ethnic, linguistic, religious, and/or cultural minorities in Japan? How are the actual bodies of these students marginalized or made invisible in this process?

We have invited guest speakers to share their experiences in coordinating and supporting international students in Japan. The session will begin with a report by CGS Assistant Director Kana Takamatsu on how the Japanese university system handles international students and some of the challenges involved. Next, Kyoko Tanaka of the Education Center for International Students at Nagoya University will discuss the Japanese university system from the perspective of international students who are religious minorities. Then Tomoka Toraiwa of the same center will speak about the types of harassment that international students in Japan tend to be subjected to. Finally, we hope to widen the debate by inviting further discussion among all the participants.

While the asymmetry of local and international students in Japan continues to be spawned, it is also becoming less visible by the day. To address this issue, this session will examine the intrinsic link between gender/sexuality norms and institutions and the study abroad system in Japan, and provide a forum for participants to share their viewpoints on how this impacts the "bodies" who have traveled from other countries to study here. Besides introducing case studies and debating the diverse gender and sexuality issues concerning international students in Japan, we will also question the "absent debate," namely, the fact that these issues have received little attention both in research and in practice.