International Symposium held by the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies

16 May 2013 Last updated

17th International Symposium
(Held jointly between Kobe University ,Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Kyoto University)

Creativity of Space-cultural Studies: Communicating with Space, Communicating in Space

The Graduate School of Intercultural Studies concluded an agreement on the collaboration of research and education with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on October 3rd, 2011. This is the first contract of collaboration between JAXA and a graduate school or faculty of humanities and social science of Japanese university. On the basis of this collaboration, it is expected for us to work on various problems of the globalized society and to explore a new field of research.

To commemorate the agreement of collaboration with JAXA, and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Intercultural Studies and the 110th anniversary of the foundation of Kobe University, we held a symposium supported by JAXA and the Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University.

The purpose of this symposium is to explore the possibilities of contribution to space research on the side of humanities and social science. The main title of the symposium, Creativity of Space-cultural Studies, represents the creation of a new field of apace research by humanities and social science. At the same time, it means metaphorically to imagine the space from the perspective of humanities and social science. In particular, we tried to pose some problems from the viewpoint of communication studies, centering on the topic of“the space as a laboratory of communication.”

For this purpose we invited guest speakers from JAXA and Kyoto University. After the lectures delivered by four speakers, we had a panel discussion joined by two commentators. Especially, one of the commentators, Chiaki Mukai, who has experienced the life in outer space as an astronaut, put forth very interesting and significant opinions. As a result, the discussion became highly exciting and suggestive. Through this symposium we could make clear some approaches to the problems arising from the globalization of society.
It is possible to see the whole proceeding of this symposium on U-stream (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kobe-jaxa).

 

Time:	November 10th, 2012 (Sat), 12:00~18:00
Venue:	Convention Hall of the Integrated Research Center of Kobe University
Panel	Moderator:Toshiyuki Sadanobu (Professor of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies)
Lecture 1	Kiyoshi Higuchi (Vice director of JAXA) “Encouragement to Space-cultural Studies”
Lecture 2	Hiroaki Isobe (Lecturer of the Unit of Synergetic Studies for Space, Kyoto University) “Space and Humanities and Social Science”
Lecture 3	Daiji Kimura (Professor of the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University) “Anthropology of First Contact”
Lecture 4	Takeshi Nishida (Lecturer of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies) “What Do We Learn from Communication between the Earth and Space?”
Discussion	Moderator Hiroki Okada (Professor of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies) Commentators Chiaki Mukai (Special Consultant of JAXA) Narisuke Utsuki(Professor of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies)