Event Recap: 9/16-9/17/2021: Manuscript Workshop on "Gender, Ethnicity, and Immigration"

On September 16^th and 17^th, 2021, the 21^st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI*) hosted a virtual manuscript workshop organized around the theme of “Gender, Ethnicity, and Immigration.” Six U.S.- and Japan-based scholars from different social science disciplines convened virtually to present academic works-in-progress. Each working paper was the subject of a dedicated session designed to provide the paper’s author with critical feedback from an assigned discussant and other participants. The multidisciplinary workshop was organized by 21JPSI Faculty Affiliate Hilary Holbrow and 21JPSI Director Adam P. Liff.

At the workshop’s first session, Yoshiaki Kubo (Ryukyu University), a visiting scholar in-residence at the Hamilton Lugar School and 21JPSI this year, presented an article manuscript analyzing the relationship between border controls and xenophobia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tristan Ivory, an assistant professor at Cornell University, served as the discussant of Dr. Kubo’s paper.

During the workshop’s second session, Fumiya Uchikoshi (Princeton University) presented an article exploring gender differences in risk taking in college applications, with a particular focus on the institutional origins of female under-representation in selective colleges in Japan. Mr. Uchikoshi is a PhD student in Princeton’s Sociology Department. Yuko Hara served as the discussant.

At the workshop’s third session, Eunmi Mun (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) presented a working paper examining how the changing nature of employment relations in Japan (especially the weakening of lifetime employment norms) affects CEO succession. Dr. Mun is an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Holbrow served as her discussant.

During the workshop’s fourth session, Hilary Holbrow (Indiana University) presented an article examining women’s managerial representation and gender inequality in Japanese firms. Dr. Holbrow is Assistant Professor of Japanese Politics and Society at Indiana University, where she is also an affiliate faculty member of the 21^st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative. Dr. Mun served as her discussant.

During the penultimate session, Yuko Hara (University of Maryland) presented a manuscript draft analyzing family responsibilities and work attitudes of Japanese adults, with a particular focus on how work attitudes change upon becoming a spouse and and parent. Ms. Hara is a PhD student at the University of Maryland, College Park. Mr. Uchikoshi served as her discussant.

The workshop concluded with a presentation and discussion of a paper written by  Tristan Ivory (Cornell University) analyzing how migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa experience social mobility within Japan. Dr. Ivory is an assistant professor of international and comparative labor at Cornell University. Dr. Kubo of Ryukyu University served as his discussant.

*The 21^st Century Japan Politics and Society Initiative (21JPSI) was launched at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in 2018. Under the leadership of Founding Director and HLS faculty member Adam Liff, 21JPSI aims to invigorate and expand research, teaching, and programming on contemporary Japanese politics, society, and international (esp. U.S.-Japan) relations, and to educate, raise awareness, and debate policy responses to the various political, social, and foreign policy challenges that Japan faces in this extremely dynamic era of 21st-century change. Supported by a generous $900,000 grant from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, in its first five years 21JPSI has enabled a new tenure-track faculty line contemporary Japanese politics and society; launched four new courses on contemporary Japan and a multidisciplinary speaker series on Japanese Politics and Society; hosted national conferences and webinars on U.S.-Japan relations; and funded graduate fellowships and faculty travel grants to support research in Japan. For more information, please see https://jpsi.indiana.edu/ or write to jpsi@iu.edu