The Production of Knowledge:A Case Study of a Government-Funded Women\u27s/Gender Studies Program

　本稿では、グローバライゼーションと高等教育に関する先行研究のレビューに基づき、高等教育における知の生産について、何をもとに理論が作られているのか、理論面および研究面での主体と対象の位置がどこにあるのか、そしてグローバル的な文脈におけるジェンダーに関わるテーマとしてどのようなものが扱われているのか、という課題を導出した。これらの課題を検討するために、日本政府から資金を得た女性学/ ジェンダー・スタディーズのプログラムを分析した。その結果、プログラムの目的では、知の生産における「西洋」による支配が認識され、日本をアジアの中に位置づけようとする試みがなされていることがわかった。実際の活動では、必ずしもこれらの目的が達成されたとは言えないが、今後に向け、いかに「西洋」を周縁化し、「アジア」の中で知の生産が行われる方向に進めることができるのかのヒントを見ることができた

Framing Same-sex Marriage in Japan

This research note reports the first analysis of how same-sex marriage is framed by stakeholders in Japan, in a larger Japan-Hong Kong comparative project examining how same-sex partnership is advocated or resisted, what the implications are for the heteronormative institution of the marriage and the family, and how same-sex couples negotiate marriage and family norms in their everyday life. The analysis shows that whether arguing for or against same-sex marriage, the state as well as civil society reinforce homonationalistic discourses, albeit in a slightly different manner than observed in the West. Further, there is a tendency for advocates of same-sex marriage to construct marriage as the essence of human existence, leaving little room for a critical examination of a gendered and unequal institution, at least as it is practiced in today’s Japan. All this provides some preliminary support for the claim that the legalization of same-sex marriage might indeed reinforce rather than undermine heteronormativity

Gender Research in Japanese Sociology : Complicit or Critical?

To assess the impact of critical gender research on sociology in Japan, I analyzed 558 theoretical and empirical articles published between 1989 and 2010 in the official journal of the Japan Sociological Society, Japanese Sociological Review (Shakaigaku Hyoron). All the articles were coded for topic/subarea, methodology, and gender, affiliation, and professional status of the author(s). In addition, the gender-relevant articles were analyzed to gauge the extent to which a critical gender approach was adopted that challenged conventional sociological research, theories or concepts. It was found that while men authored the vast majority of the articles published, women authored the vast majority of the gender relevant articles. Further, there was no sign of vibrant critical gender research among junior scholars. However, despite the limited impact of gender research on sociology, there were also clear signs of critical challenges to the conventional practice of sociology

「カイガイ」ノシセン?ニホンノドウセイカンセクシュアリティニカンスルエイゴブンケンノヒハンテキコウサツ

筆者は日本におけるレズビアンの経験・生活を分析するにあたって、その背景となる理論を確立する過程で、英文で書かれた日本の同性間セクシュアリティに関する研究が、数人の研究者によるものによって占められている状況に直面した。それらの英語文献における主張は、日本における同性愛に対する寛容さ、セクシュアリティの多様さ、さらにアイデンティティの一貫性のなさを想起させるものである。本稿ではそれらの主張および、日本の同性間セクシュアリティの一般化に対して意義を唱える。第一に、日本の同性愛に対する寛容さが誇張されることで、ジェンダーによる不平等やレズビアンに与えられるスティグマの問題をいかに無視しているかを示す。第二に、日本におけるアイデンティティの一貫性のなさという主張は、「西洋における一貫したアイデンティティ」を誇張することで可能となっており、アイデンティティに関する論考の対象が個人なのか集団なのかを混合したまま比較している、という分析レベルに問題があることを指摘する。これらの問題含みの主張や、日本のゲイ・レズビアン運動や活動家らは柔軟性がなく、西洋の真似に過ぎないという彼らの批判は、ある種のオリエンタリズムを反映しているとも考えられる。英語話者による日本のジェンダー・セクシュアリティ研究のコミュニティにおいては、見解の多様化を奨励し、日本におけるクィアな人々の経験や生活についての実証研究を推進して行くことが急務である

Practices of Intimacy : Mother-Daughter Relationships in Hong Kong and Japan

As the first stage in a larger project comparing mother-daughter relationships in Japan and Hong Kong, we conducted focus group discussions with mothers and adult daughters. Our sample included heterosexually-identified and lesbian-identified adult daughters, and mothers of heterosexually-identified daughters and those of lesbian-identified daughters. In this paper, we focus on the daughters, analyzing their practices of intimacy through monetary gifts, emotional closeness, and gendered labor. In each of these, we pay attention to the impact of the sexual orientation of the daughters and the role of the partner on the relationship between mothers and daughters and on gendered familial expectations. In the conclusion, we reflect critically on the implications of the current analysis on extant and future research, particularly with respect to the concepts and framework of analysis

Same-sex Partners and Practices of Familial Intimacy

This paper presents the preliminary findings of interviews with adult non-partnered non-heterosexual daughters in Hong Kong and Japan, in a larger project comparing the practices of intimacy between mothers and adult heterosexual and non-heterosexual daughters in the two East Asian societies. The interviews revealed the mechanisms through which heteronormativity is enforced, even in cases where the mothers have apparently accepted the daughters’ sexuality and their female partners. While the daughters’ socioeconomic achievements constitute a source of pride for the mothers, they do not thoroughly compensate for the daughters’ gender and sexual transgressions. Likewise, while the presence of a partner could allay the mother’s worry about the daughter, her presence or status in the family is not equivalent to that of a sibling’s spouse

Utilising Constructed Wetlands From Water Hyacinth for Wastewater Treatment in Oxidation Ponds

Constructed wetlands are engineered to duplicate the processes occurring in natural wetlands. The main purpose of the structure is to remove contaminants or pollutants from wastewater. Constructed wetland is a new, creative, cost-effective, and green technology compared to conventional treatment systems. Water hyacinth could be cultivated for wastewater treatment and utilised to aid the purification of either industrial wastewater or sewer water. Consequently, the present study was conducted to determine the effects of constructing wetlands with water hyacinth on the wastewater quality of an oxidation pond and the cultivation of water hyacinth as constructed wetlands in an oxidation pond. Floating cages containing water hyacinth plants were monitored for two phases under different wastewater parameters. The data were compared to the Malaysian prescribed Sewage and Industrial Effluent Discharge Standards. The water hyacinth constructed wetlands produced a positive impact and met the requirements for effluent discharge standards

Utilising Constructed Wetlands From Water Hyacinth for Wastewater Treatment in Oxidation Ponds

Constructed wetlands are engineered to duplicate the processes occurring in natural wetlands. The main purpose of the structure is to remove contaminants or pollutants from wastewater. Constructed wetland is a new, creative, cost-effective, and green technology compared to conventional treatment systems. Water hyacinth could be cultivated for wastewater treatment and utilised to aid the purification of either industrial wastewater or sewer water. Consequently, the present study was conducted to determine the effects of constructing wetlands with water hyacinth on the wastewater quality of an oxidation pond and the cultivation of water hyacinth as constructed wetlands in an oxidation pond. Floating cages containing water hyacinth plants were monitored for two phases under different wastewater parameters. The data were compared to the Malaysian prescribed Sewage and Industrial Effluent Discharge Standards. The water hyacinth constructed wetlands produced a positive impact and met the requirements for effluent discharge standards

Life is beautiful: gay representation, moral panics, and South Korean television drama beyond Hallyu

Critical attention on Korean popular culture, particularly outside of Korea, has focused upon the Hallyu cultural phenomenon at the expense of sectors of the Korean creative industries that have sought to actively engage with their social and cultural environment and challenge the status quo. Politically charged, countercultural or just distinctive and/or original, non-Hallyu cultural artifacts have been and continue to be born out of a desire to be creative, to comment on or to create social change. This article focuses upon one such critically overlooked South Korean cultural artifact, the audacious and genuinely groundbreaking television drama "Life is Beautiful" (SBS 2010), which motivated an immense amount of critical and social reaction within Korea and yet has barely featured in English language analysis of Korean drama because it has not been classified as Hallyu. This is in spite of it being a finely produced and performed series and one written by the most prolific, longest serving and commercially successful of all Korean writers of Hallyu drama, Kim Soo-hyeon. In addition to its impressive production credentials, "Life is Beautiful" is also notable for being hugely controversial at the time of its broadcast due to its boldness in tackling the subject of Korean prejudice towards homosexuality

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes