About Intercultural Research Center

History

Intercultural Research Center (IReC) was founded in July 2006 as an adjunct facility at Faculty of Intercultural Studies. Since April 2007, when the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies (GSIS) was established, the center has been a division at GSIS. IReC plays a central role in the GSIS as a research hub for intercultural studies.

Mission

As a research hub at the Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, IReC facilitates inter-disciplinary research and educational activities at the GSIS, networking researchers from various fields of humanities and social studies such as economics, politics, ethics, arts, philosophy, and science and technology. IReC organizes research projects which host symposiums, seminars, field research programs, and also expand the worldwide network of the GSIS through international exchange programs both for researchers and for students.

Structure

IReC consists of four sections

Director: MIURA Nobuo

Section	Chief	Objectives
Research	ISHIKAWA Tatsuo	encourage intercultural research and education through research projects under the conceptions of "intercultural contact and multicultural coexistence" and "the universality and relativity of culture."
Promotion of Multicultural Civil Society and Regional Liaison	OKADA Hiroki	promote regional cooperation both through research projects about local multicultural settings and through networking with local civil society.
Arts Management and Regional Liaison	FUJINO Kazuo	give technical support to and organize grace-rooted art projects with its international network.
International Relations	NOTANI Keiji	host international exchange programs both for researchers and for students.

Cooperation and networking

IReC actively works in networking with other related institutions, government-funded projects, and groups with a view to promoting research activities on intercultural studies.

Cooperation with other institutions in Kobe University

IReC has been a liaison center for these two programs, funded by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

• Education Project for Researchers with Culture-Information Literacy (Support Program for Contemporary Education Needs)
  
• Renaissance of Urban Culture through Arts Management Education (Program for Enhancing Systematic Education in Graduate Schools)
  

Regional liaisons

Section of Promotion of Multiculturall Civil Society and Regional Liaison has acted as a liaison between GSIS and Hyogo International Association since 2008.
Through this section, IReC coordinates the liaison projects as below:

• Oxbridge English Summer Camp: about 30 undergraduate students join this annual workshop as participants and staff.
• Lectures on Civilizations of the Twenty-first Century: faculty members give lectures.
• Educational support for foreign children and students: some students work as volunteers.

Future cooperation with local civil society

IReC will focus on these activities:

• enhance mutual cooperation with other institutions, sending volunteers and speakers to related events
• organize or support joint programs with local civil society
• facilitate exchanges of students with local foreign residents and local civil society
• organize other regional cooperation activities by mutual agreement of IReC and its counterpart

Research Project

Year 2009-2010

• Multi-ethnic Coexistence in the EU Region
• Life History Project of Asian Permanent Foreign Residents in Nagata, Kobe (2)
• Research on the Public Sphere of Public Culture Institutions : Based on Theoretical Reflections

Year 2008-2009

• International and Historical Comparative Research on the Maintenance of Multi-linguistic and Multi-ethnic Coexistence and Cultural Diversity
• Life History Project of Asian Permanent Foreign Residents in Nagata, Kobe
• Research on the Public Sphere of Public Culture Institutions : Focusing on Prefectural Halls

Year 2007-2008

• Language and Culture Policy in Microstates and Comparative Study on the idea of "Pluralism": Globalization in Oceania and the Caribbean Region, "Regional" Culture, and Postcolonialism
• Toward A New Figure of Civil Society in Multi-cultural Coexistence Settings: Research on Newcomer Migrants and Local Society, Focusing on Latin-American Nikkei* Migrants in Japan. (* Nikkei: Japanese emigrants and their descendants born outside Japan)

Year 2006-2007

• Construction of A Hub for International Joint Research and Networking for Culture Policy of Microstates and Daily Practices of Their Population
• Research on the Modern Aspects of Traditional Culture Heritage in Hanshin and Awaji Area, Focusing on Awaji Ningyo Joruri (Japanese Traditional Puppet Ballad Drama in Awaji Area)
• Arts Management Education in Coordination with Culture Policy of Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe City, Focusing on the Produce of Kobe Music Festival
• Reevaluation of Modernism in Hanshin Area and Its Reception of Modern Art: On the Role  of "Fukae Bunka Mura" (Fukae Culture Village)
• Promotion of Appreciation of Cultural Difference and Regional Cooperative Education through Fieldwork Activities

Publications

IReC has published five reports based on its past projects.  

• Foreign Residents around Kobe: Vietnamese, Koreans, Chinese (March, 2007)
• Tourism and Culture in Oceania and the Caribbean Region (March, 2007)
• Toward A New Figure of Civil Society in Multi-cultural Coexistence Settings: Research on Newcomer Migrants and Local Society, Focusing on Latin-American Nikkei Migrants in Japan (March 2008)
• The World of Pidgins and Creoles: Languages and Cultures in Oceania and the Caribbean Region (March, 2008)
• International and Historical Comparative Research on the Maintenance of Multi-linguistic and Multi-ethnic Coexistence and Cultural Diversity (March, 2009)

Contact address

(c)2006- 　InterCultural Research Center, Graduate School of InterCultural Studies, Kobe University
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