Does the written word have a future? Some contemporary trends seem to suggest otherwise: the replacement of the novel first by movies and then video games as leading cultural form; the shift from text to audio and video in messenger apps and on social media platforms; a (related?) loss of concentration and focus; and sinking rates of functional literacy in many developed countries. And just a year after large language models such as ChatGPT arrived on the scene, artificial intelligence is already doing a lot of writing and reading for us. In this seminar we will take these trends not necessarily at face value, but as a starting point to explore the relationship between reading/writing, media and society from interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives. I invited colleagues in literature and psychology, book history and the history of computing to co-teach this seminar together with me. Together we will look at long-term trends related to various textual media, the evolution of technologies from the printing press to social media platforms, and the social contexts of reading and literacy in order to think about past, present, and future trajectories of textuality. <<Learning Goals>> After successfully completing this seminar, participants will be able to - identify and compare different conceptions of text, reading, writing and literacy - understand textuality as a complex social and cultural practice - analyze how textual practices are influenced by social and technological contexts - consider a range of interdisciplinary perspectives from social media studies, anthropology, history and science and technology studies on textuality - apply critical approaches on the relationship between text, media, and society to their own research as well as to reflections on future scenarios

広く産学官にわたってグローバルに活躍するために必要な「俯瞰力」を養成することを目指す。物質科学の各分野について最先端の知識を修得し、自分の専門分野と周辺分野がどのように関連するか、あるいはし得るか、について深く考察するために、第一線で活躍する講師の方々にその分野の最前線を概観していただく。さらに、それらの講義を通して異分野間のコミュニケーションを円滑に進めるための具体的方法論を学ぶ。 This survey course is designed to enable students to develop the broad perspective that is required of global leaders working in and across industry, academia, and government. Students will gain knowledge and insight on advancements in each field of materials science research, given by leading researchers working on the frontline in those fields. This will allow students to consider how peripheral fields are related to their own area of expertise, and to consider the potential for forging bridges between related fields in the future. In addition, students will learn specific methodologies designed to facilitate smooth communication among different disciplines.

In this course, we will study Japanese cinema of the 1960s through the lens of relevant works of film theory and analysis. Through screenings, readings, and discussion of exemplary works by directors working during the 1960s, we will explore how postwar Japanese film has represented society, class, gender, the family, love, the nation, and socio-political conflict. We will take an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to consider recent debates concerning the dynamics of national specificity. Beyond considering cinema as a means for understanding society, politics, and culture, we will explore the nature of cinematic texts themselves, not so much as expressions or reflections of cultural identity, but as reflexive constructions which themselves create meaning. This course invites you to productively engage with a variety of analytical concepts such as: criticism; interpretation; stardom; mass culture; form; narrative; and more. This course provides an opportunity for you to both expand your critical understanding of cinema, and to hone the skills necessary to write effective, personal responses to films and film-critical texts. In addition to exploring screen culture, you will be introduced to a series of texts that exemplify different styles of analysis and forms of persuasive argument. For the final writing assignment, you will learn strategies for effective use of both primary and secondary sources though summary, paraphrase, quotation, and proper citation. In this fashion, this course will familiarize you with the kinds of writing that are specific to the discipline of film studies.

In this course, we will study Japanese cinema of the Golden Age (roughly, the Shōwa 20s and 30s) through the lens of relevant works of film theory and analysis. Through screenings, readings, and discussion of exemplary works by directors working during this period, we will explore how postwar Japanese film has represented society, class, gender, the family, love, the nation, and socio-political conflict. We will take an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to consider recent debates concerning the dynamics of national specificity. Beyond considering cinema as a means for understanding society, politics, and culture, we will explore the nature of cinematic texts themselves, not so much as expressions or reflections of cultural identity, but as reflexive constructions which themselves create meaning. This course invites you to productively engage with a variety of analytical concepts such as: criticism; interpretation; stardom; mass culture; allegory; form; ideology; narrative; and more. This course provides an opportunity for you to both expand your critical understanding of cinema, and to hone the skills necessary to write effective, personal responses to films and film-critical texts. In addition to exploring screen culture, you will be introduced to a series of texts that exemplify different styles of analysis and forms of persuasive argument. For the final writing assignment, you will learn strategies for effective use of both primary and secondary sources though summary, paraphrase, quotation, and proper citation. In this fashion, this course will familiarize you with the kinds of writing that are specific to the discipline of film studies.

　講義では充分に論ずることのできない基礎的ないし原理的な論点を、掘り下げて考察することを目標とする。その際、演習が散漫なものになるのを防ぐための工夫として、参加者には、「書評」という文章ジャンルに挑戦されるよう、強く希望したい。

This course explores the visions and historical processes that shaped the political, economic, and legal principles, policies, and practices of a transnational order in East Asia from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Its focus will be on the trans-Pacific interactions between the United States, Japan, the Philippines, and China, but always with the rest of East Asia in mind. The discussions will delve into the interplay of law, politics, and economics during the period covered. Through these discussions, this class will explore new ways of understanding the historical developments whereby a coherent transnational order was formed in East Asia. The aim will be to overcome the limitations of the two prevalent narratives regarding East Asian history. The first, known as the “Western Impact” model, looks at modern East Asian history in the context of how each society reacted to Western powers attempting to dominate the area through trade and colonization. The second approach has traditionally been presented as an antithesis to the first, focusing on the internal logic of East Asian societies, and modernization in these societies is explained by referring primarily to domestic political dynamics, avoiding overemphasis on influence from the West. By grounding our analyses on the development of a transnational order among East Asian societies on one hand, but focusing on trans-Pacific interactions on the other, our objective will be to re-assess not just the history of East Asian societies, but the history of the US, and its role in the shaping of a global order that remains crucially important to this day.

This course explores the visions and historical processes that shaped the political, economic, and legal principles, policies, and practices of a transnational order in East Asia from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Its focus will be on the trans-Pacific interactions between the United States, Japan, the Philippines, and China, but always with the rest of East Asia in mind. The discussions will delve into the interplay of law, politics, and economics during the period covered. Through these discussions, this class will explore new ways of understanding the historical developments whereby a coherent transnational order was formed in East Asia. The aim will be to overcome the limitations of the two prevalent narratives regarding East Asian history. The first, known as the “Western Impact” model, looks at modern East Asian history in the context of how each society reacted to Western powers attempting to dominate the area through trade and colonization. The second approach has traditionally been presented as an antithesis to the first, focusing on the internal logic of East Asian societies, and modernization in these societies is explained by referring primarily to domestic political dynamics, avoiding overemphasis on influence from the West. By grounding our analyses on the development of a transnational order among East Asian societies on one hand, but focusing on trans-Pacific interactions on the other, our objective will be to re-assess not just the history of East Asian societies, but the history of the US, and its role in the shaping of a global order that remains crucially important to this day.

"The Art of Attention" explores attention as a social, cultural, and personal phenomenon, with a special focus on the concept of Radical Human Attention. Drawing on philosophical, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives, the course examines various attentional practices and their applications in everyday life, art, and social change. 「注意の技法」は、注意を社会的、文化的、個人的な現象として探求し、特にラディカル・ヒューマン・アテンションの概念に焦点を当てます。哲学的、心理学的、社会文化的な観点を取り入れ、日常生活、芸術、社会変革におけるさまざまな注意の実践とその応用を検討します。

"The Art of Attention" explores attention as a social, cultural, and personal phenomenon, with a special focus on the concept of Radical Human Attention. Drawing on philosophical, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives, the course examines various attentional practices and their applications in everyday life, art, and social change. 「注意の技法」は、注意を社会的、文化的、個人的な現象として探求し、特にラディカル・ヒューマン・アテンションの概念に焦点を当てます。哲学的、心理学的、社会文化的な観点を取り入れ、日常生活、芸術、社会変革におけるさまざまな注意の実践とその応用を検討します。

In this seven sessions seminar, we will focus on how to conduct ethnographic fieldwork and how to create and circulate ethnographic narratives during health emergencies and disasters. For the purpose of the course, we will consider narratives in a broad sense, encompassing texts, videos, stills (such as photographs, digitally generated art, paintings), to reflect on the meanings and the possibilities offered through “bearing witness” in contexts of health emergencies and disasters – and the ethical stances such work calls for both in the fieldwork and beyond it. In our seven-week exercise, we will put women and women’s perspectives and needs in the center of our analysis. To facilitate the conversation, the bibliography will prioritize the instructor's academic and visual production. · The English language is not the first language for all of us, I suppose (and Professor Diniz is still learning basic Japanese), so empathy and a good sense of humor are recommended to create a safe space for all the participants. Students are welcomed to suggest class dynamics that better fit to the group. About the instructor Debora Diniz is a Brazilian anthropologist, professor at the University of Brasilia (Brazil). She is also a visiting scholar at the Law Faculty, University of Toronto (Canada). Diniz is a member of the High-Level Advisory Group for the Gender and Health Hub coordinated by the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH), and she is a member of the WHO working group to develop intersectional gender lens to research ethics. Diniz’s 2016 book “Zika: from Brazilian backlands to global threat” was awarded the Brazilian Health Sciences Jabuti Prize and has since been translated into English and Japanese. Her ethnographic films have won more than 90 awards, and have been exhibited at festivals, prisons, universities and schools, hospitals and labs, courts, and churches in more than 35 countries. Due to her rights-based response to the effects of the Zika epidemic in Brazil, she was nominated as one of 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine. In 2020, she won the prestigious Dan David prize, a lifetime achievement recognition for her contributions to gender justice and the Global Health Ethics Leadership (University of Oxford, UK). In 2024, she was granted an honorary degree by the Social Sciences Department of the University of Ottawa. She was a visiting scholar in universities in Canada, France, Germany, Japan and USA; and served in several international boards, currently serving at the Witness board. · To know more about how Diniz explores her intersecting work between anthropology and women’s rights and health emergencies, read: Bähre, Erik; Diniz, Debora. Women's rights and misogyny in Brazil: an interview with Debora Diniz. Anthropology Today, 36(2), 17-20. With the remote collaboration of: Arbel Griner is a Brazilian anthropologist, currently associate research scholar at the Center for Health and Wellbeing, Princeton University. Griner is a member of the Brazilian research team working on the aftermath of the Zika epidemic and Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil.