About the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies

12 April 2024 Last updated

Dean’s Message

It is common knowledge that the world around us is changing more and more due to what we call globalization. In fact, while global exchange has a long history, as seen in the Silk Road, the speed and degree of this exchange is has been incomparably greater in recent years. Furthermore, advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing our forms of communication. In the post-COVID world, the range of things that can be performed online has undoubtedly expanded. The recent development of generative AI also foreshadows the emergence of a new other.

When people and cultures with differing backgrounds and values come into contact, it is natural that intense friction and conflict occur. There are deep-seated issues that cannot be fixed by simply making small changes in the way we think. Furthermore, in recent years, the so-called ‘Anthropocene’ has become a major issue of human intervention in the natural environment. How then should we live in this world?

Francis B. Nyamnjoh (1961-), an anthropologist and philosopher from Cameroon, seeks to view the essence of the world through the lens of ‘incompleteness’ of all existence. In this world, ‘incomplete’ humans have created an incomplete world by facing and drawing from incomplete things and supernatural forces. This includes man-made things such as ICTs. It may all be superficial, as with the ‘curious creature’ depicted by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola(1920-1997), which uses borrowed material to disguise itself as a ‘complete gentleman’. In The Palm-Wine Drinkard, the ‘curious creature’ is nothing more than a skeleton.

Encounters with that which is alien rarely provide ideal balance, harmony, symphony or polyphony, regardless of the degree of effort. Rather, they are usually accompanied by cacophony (dissonance) that is a typical reflection or symbolization of our modern activities such as academic research.

Nevertheless, Nyamnjoh does not despair about the world or humanity. According to him, humans must recognize this cacophony and negotiate and come to terms with it, while at the same time resisting the temptations of division, isolation, and domination, and ultimately aim to realize conviviality in which they can share mutual benefits such the benefits of collaborative research.

Human society is always at risk of devolving into a zero-sum game in which the strong unilaterally exploit the weak based on a single value system. This is something that not only Nyamnjoh, but various other outstanding thinkers have sounded the alarm about in unison.

Nyamnjoh states that living as a human being is ultimately a cycle of borrowing and lending. It is important to recognize that the nature of life is borrowing and lending and that there are debts that can never be repaid. That is, there are debts to that humans owe the natural environment, resources, and supernatural forces such as our ancestors that cannot be repaid.

We tend to forget that our current existence is the result of having received various things from various places. In a sense, we are always in debt, and many of those debts cannot be repaid by the persons who have received benefits. Some things in life cannot be repaid. It is also easy to forget that all humans are interconnected and that we support and depend on each other. We forget that the logic of reciprocity, donation, distribution, and altruism is one of the essences of human nature and sociality, and is the most fundamental survival strategy.

As ‘incomplete’ human beings, we need various tools to ensure survival. Yet it is often the case that there might be no ready-made tool available that matches the need. It requires a process similar to bricolage, in which items that may seem like junk at first glance are put together to create something. And since we are gathered in an academic environment, I make bold to remind us that there is no successful research that is not built on bricolage, As researchers therefore, we are bricoleurs.

The rule of bricolage is to make do with what is available, that is, with the tools and materials that are at hand at the time. All tools and materials are miscellaneous items that are collected without regard to what the ultimate aim at that time is. They are not collected with a certain purpose in mind. The stock is updated and increased on various occasions, and collection from previous creations and destructions is performed. The persons involved confirm if the tools are appropriate for the intended operation and if it seems necessary, it is possible to change tools at any time or simultaneously use multiple tools without hesitation, regardless of whether if the origin or form of the tool is alien.

　Regarding undergraduate and graduate school education, there is often discussion about how to acquire skills and abilities that will be visibly useful after graduation. This is not necessarily wrong. However, if one falls into teleology, where one considers a simple purpose and the means to reach it as a set, a shallow and simplistic way of thinking ends up developing.

We should look far into the future, as humans are much more complex and multifaceted. Things that are useful at present quickly become useless. Of course, we would also like to provide you with things that are directly connected to your career, but our greatest desire is to create a place where you can unexpectedly encounter a ‘someone’ or a ‘something’ that will support you when the things that you used to rely on are no longer useful. It may be different for each person. Rather, it should be. For example, for one person, it might be French language skills, but for another, it might be networking and communication with friends far from home who were encountered while studying abroad, and for another, it might be a piece of poetry that the person happened to come across in a the corner of a classroom or the library written by a complete stranger or a wayfarer.

Rather, what we would like to provide more than tools (i.e., skills) with a clear purpose, is an environment that provides an encounter with something different for each person that will support that individual’s future. In the extreme, it is a place of ‘encounter’ with something that dramatically transforms ‘life’. Here, bricolage-like miscellaneousness takes on a positive meaning. I believe our specialized 15 courses in two departments are well structured to provide such encounters. Fortunately, there are already many researchers and practitioners active in various fields who were together with us for several years. It is my sincere hope that within this graduate school, each of you will be able to find this ‘something’ that will support himself or herself. I call on all of us to become incomplete bricoleurs with the ambition of undauntingly propelling our Graduate School towards higher heights.

Our Goals and Principles

The philosophy of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies is to cultivate advanced fields of cultural studies, with an eye towards intercultural coexistence, and to construct new paradigms for understanding human culture. To this end, we have formulated the following five research aims:

1. Pursuit of cultural research that understands culture to be a complex entity and incorporates concepts of intercultural relations into such research.
2. Dynamic research into culture as a complex entity with attention to intercultural interaction in such forms as conflict, fusion, and interchange.
3. Multifaceted studies of cultural transformations amid the globalization of contemporary society.
4. Development of advanced communication research related to language and information.
5. Execution of a shift from monocular, single paradigms that apply over-simplistic dichotomies such as central / peripheral, civilized / uncivilized, and advanced / backward to pluralistic, multiplex paradigms, and the creation of research methodologies adapted to the cultural dynamics of contemporary society.

 

Admission Policy, Diploma Policy

	Admission Policy	Diploma Policy
Master’s Program	The objective of the Kobe University Graduate School of Intercultural Studies is to nurture individuals who have deep intercultural understanding and flexible communication skills,as well as profound scholarship and creative research skills. In view of this educational goal, the Graduate School seeks students who have the following characteristics.	The objective of the Kobe University Graduate School of Intercultural Studies is to nurture individuals who have deep intercultural understanding and flexible communication skills, as well as profound scholarship and creative research skills. In view of this human resource development goal and the four objectives prescribed in the universitywide degree conferral policy, the graduate school awards degrees to students who have successfully completed the curriculum in line with the following two policies. Students shall study at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies for two years in principle, earn the credits required for completion, and pass a review of the master’s thesis or research report. Students of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies are encouraged to achieve the following learning goals by the completion of the program.
	● Have a keen interest in understanding culture as a complex entity and pursuing multifaceted studies of intercultural correlation. Have the fundamental capabilities required to achieve this.	● Understand culture as a complex entity and pursue multifaceted studies of intercultural correlation.
	● Have a keen interest in understanding the dynamics of language and information communication and addressing various problems confronting the contemporary global society. Have the fundamental capabilities required to achieve this.	● Understand the dynamics of language and information communication and address various problems confronting the contemporary global society.
	● Have a keen interest in carrying out interdisciplinary research with high standards of expertise. Have the fundamental capabilities required to achieve this.	● Carry out interdisciplinary research based on high standards of expertise.
Doctoral Program	The objective of the Kobe University Graduate School of Intercultural Studies is to nurture individuals who have deep intercultural understanding and flexible communication skills, as well as profound scholarship and creative research skills. In view of this educational goal, the Graduate School seeks students who have the following characteristics.	The objective of the Kobe University Graduate School of Intercultural Studies is to nurture individuals who have deep intercultural understanding and flexible communication skills, as well as profound scholarship and creative research skills. In view of this human resource development goal and the four objectives prescribed in the universitywide degree conferral policy, the graduate school awards degrees to students who have successfully completed the curriculum in line with the following two policies. Students shall study at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies for three years in principle, earn the credits required for completion, and pass the doctoral degree review. Students of the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies are encouraged to achieve the following learning goals by the completion of the program.
	● Have a keen interest in clarifying the structure and dynamics of culture as a complex entity and proactively exploring an advanced field of cultural research. Have the fundamental capabilities to achieve this.	● Clarify the structure and dynamics of culture as a complex entity and proactively explore an advanced field of cultural research.
	● Have a keen interest in pursuing various language and information communication issues and conducting multifaceted studies on the increasingly globalized contemporary world. Have the fundamental capabilities to achieve this.	● Pursue various language and information communication issues and conduct multifaceted studies on the increasingly globalized contemporary world.
	● Have a keen interest in carrying out cross-disciplinary research based on superior expertise. Have the fundamental capabilities to achieve this.	● Carry out cross-disciplinary research based on superior expertise.