ESOPExchange Students from Overseas Program

This course introduces and examines the history of racial formation and ethnicity in Japan. Focusing on the period after 1868, students will explore the social construction of race, ethnicity, and nationhood in the nation-building project. In particular, this class scrutinizes the complex ways race and ethnicity have constructed in Japanese society and culture including how race and ethnicity have been defined; and how definitions have changed over time.

At the end of this course, students should be able to:
• Explain such concepts as race/ethnicity, nationalism, minority and diversity;

• Define the major sociological concepts applicable to the historical construction of racial and ethnic identity, intergroup relations, prejudice, discrimination, racism, immigration, assimilation, and multiculturalism;

• Analyze various primary and secondary sources including governmental policies, legislations, historical facts, and personal and collective narratives;

• Apply such concepts and theories to explain various race and ethnicity related social prejudice, privilege, and discrimination in contemporary Japan;

• Explain the dynamics of power relationships among racial and ethnic groups in Japan and how minority groups have negotiated the conditions of identity and citizenship in Japan;

• Demonstrate heightened sensitivity to political and cultural issues associated with race and ethnicity, gender, and social class in contemporary society.

英語 / English

To complete this course, it is important that students have regular access to Hoppii and Zoom. The instructor will provide the basic framework in a lecture every week. However, it is essential for students to read each week’s reading assignment prior to joining in the lecture. Also, students are expected to actively participate in and contribute to class discussions. This includes asking questions, seeking clarification, and offering your critical ideas and interpretation in each class. In addition, a small group of individuals will work on a 15-minute presentation on weekly readings.
Students will get some constructive feedback on their assignments and essays via Hoppii or email.
Further details will be announced in class.

あり / Yes

なし / No

授業形態/methods of teaching：対面/face to face

※各回の授業形態は予定です。教員の指示に従ってください。

1[対面/face to face]：Introduction: multicultural Japan?

Course overview, racial/ethnic composition of contemporary Japanese society

2[対面/face to face]：Understanding race, ethnicity, and diversity in Japan

(Lecture and discussion based on
: Millie Creighton, “Chapter 8: Soto Others and uchi Others: Imaging racial diversity, imaging homogeneous Japan" (pp. 211-238)

3[対面/face to face]：Debunking the myth of Japaneseness

Lecture and discussion based on: Michael Weiner, "The invention of identity:'Self' and 'Other' in pre-war Japan” (pp. 1-16)

And Film: "Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan (2013)"

4[対面/face to face]：Assimilation or autonomy? The buraku liberation and Japan’s outcast group

Lecture and discussion based on:"Ian J. Neary, “Chapter 4: Burakumin in contemporary Japan” (pp. 50-78)

5[対面/face to face]：Field work or movie day

Visiting Tokyo’s former Buraku district (Details: TBA)

6[対面/face to face]：Culture, race, and identity of Japan's Indigenous People: Ainu

Lecture and discussion based on: Richard M. Siddle, “Chapter 1: 'Race, ethnicity and the Ainu” (pp. 6-25)

7[対面/face to face]：Japan's imperial capitalism and Colonial hybridity (I): Okinawa or Ryuku?

(Lecture and discussion based on: Richard Pearson, “The Place of Okinawa in Japanese Historical Identity" (pp. 95-116)

8[対面/face to face]：Japan's imperial capitalism and colonial legacies (II): ambivalence

(Lecture and discussion based on: Erin Aeran Chung, “Chapter 3: Negotiating Korean Identity in Japan"(pp. 82-114)

9[対面/face to face]：Post-1990s: Dawn of “multicultural coexistence” (tabunka kyosei) policy

Discussion: “multicultural coexistence” today

Discussion based on: Chikako Kashiwazaki, "Multicultural Discourse and Policies in Japan:
An Assessment of Tabunka Kyōsei" (pp. 1-15)

10[対面/face to face]：Gender and migration

Lecture and discussion based on: Mike Douglass, "The singularities of international migration of women to Japan: Past, present and future" (pp. 89-119)

11[対面/face to face]：“Bubble Economy” and the return of Japanese Diasporas

Lecture and discussion based on: Keiko Yamanaka, ""I will go home, but when?": Labor migration and circular diaspora formation by Japanese Brazilians in Japan"Labor migration and circular diaspora formation by Japanese Brazilians in Japan” (pp. 120-149)

12[対面/face to face]：Movie Day: Minamata (2019)

(Details: TBA)

13[対面/face to face]：Final presentation

Research project

14[対面/face to face]：Conclusion

Deciphering the myth of 'homogeneity' Japan

Students should complete weekly reading assignments, and submit reading responses online. The average study time outside of class per week would be roughly 4 hours.

There is no required textbook. Instead, weekly readings will be distributed in PDF format via Hosei's online system.

•Benesch, Oleg. Inventing the Way of the Samurai. London: Oxford University Press, 2016.
•Dower, John W. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: W.W. Norton &/New Press, 2000.
•Eldridge, Robert D., and Paul Midford. The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force: Search for Legitimacy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
•Seaton, Philip A. Japan's Contested War Memories: The "Memory Rifts" in Historical Consciousness of World War II. New York: Routledge, 2010.

Weekly Reading Responses (to be submitted online)- 30%

Midterm Paper (Paper Plan/Outline to be submitted online) - 20%

Class Participation - 10%

Final Paper (to be submitted online) - 40%

Greater grade value has been placed on reading responses and the class participation grade has been slightly reduced in value.

N/A

N/A

Reading materials will be distributed before class.