teaching

What is gender? What is sexuality? How can we understand and conceptualise them in the East Asian

social context? By focusing on key societies in the East Asian region, such as Japan, China, Hong Kong,

Taiwan, North and South Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia, this course introduces students to the field of

gender and sexuality.

This interdisciplinary course integrates the study of migration and mobility with broader processes of development and social transformation world-wide. It provides an introductory theoretical understanding of human mobility and the role of international migration in economic and political processes, social change and globalisation with a particular focus on queer migration and queer diaspora.

This intermediate course is an introduction to the idea of "intersectionality" in gender studies― in which we take as our starting point the idea that gender itself is largely a social achievement and a phenomenon that intersects with other constructs that societies have about race, age, nationality, body, sexuality, desire, ability, privilege, power, science and many other discourses. Indeed, gender is embedded so deeply in nearly everything we do and think that it is quite difficult to become conscious of the ways in which we literally gender our world and create hierarchies that empower some people and marginalise others.

Throughout the course, we will examine themes of bias, equality, hegemony, marginalisation and minorities, social justice and human rights. We will also look especially at how gender studies is useful in thinking about Japanese history and histories of the larger Pacific and Asia region. In so doing, we will examine how understanding gender helps us to think critically about power and the institutionalisation of inequality. At the same time, we will engage in our study and discussion in a spirit of self-reflexivity, creativity, and open-mindedness, attempting to go beyond binaries and overly fixed categories.

Open Call for Application Until 12 July 2024

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Are you working on a thesis/research project in queer studies and are looking for guidance and feedback on how to ‘do’ queer studies? Tokyo College invites you to join us for a Masterclass on queer studies with three distinguished scholars working on queer history, literature and anthropology. We are organizing an intensive afternoon session with four PhD students to discuss their work with experts in the field.

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Program

For the first part of the Masterclass, we will assign published research from the participating scholars as well as short introductory readings on queer studies which we will engage with in a semi-structured discussion format with the participants. We will talk about the purposes and challenges of queer studies, the framing of research, methodology, concepts, and the archive. In the second part, participants will present and receive feedback on their own ongoing research projects. Please be prepared to submit a piece of writing (ca. 10-20 pages) or give a 15 min presentation a week in advance of the event.

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Date: July 29, 2024 (Monday)

Time: 15:00-19:00, followed by an informal dinner

Location: Tokyo College, Hongo Campus, The University of Tokyo

Participating experts

• Iris Issen (U Tokyo, anthropology): queer migration; nationalism; intersectionality between gender, connectivity, and mobility

• Grace En-Yi Ting (U Hongkong, literature): gender studies; queer & feminist approaches to Japanese literature; women writers and girls’ culture; race and gender in the academy

• Sébastien Tremblay (U Flensburg, history): queer history; history of sexuality; transatlantic history of social movements; memory culture; migration history; history of concepts

• Facilitator: Michael Facius (UTokyo): identity studies; software studies; translation studies; history and sociology of knowledge; transnational studies

How to apply

Please apply by July 12, 2024 by sending a short abstract of your research project and two paragraphs about what you want to get out of the masterclass to michael.facius@mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp. Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the format as well.