Annual conference of the German Association of Social Science Research on Japan (VSJF), Hamburg, Chamber of Commerce, 10-12 November 2006

Social Science Matters:
Inquiries into the current state of social sciences in Japan

Organizers:
Wolfram Manzenreiter, University of Vienna, Dept. of East Asian Studies
Iris Wieczorek, GIGA Institute of Asian Affairs

Knowledge in general has been identified as a fundamental resource for the competitive power of postindustrial society. Questions concerning the quality of social science research, science management and the practical applicability of social science intelligence are of utmost importance for the future relevance of the disciplines both in national as well as in larger contexts. The conference on Social Science Matters is designed to bring together specialists on Japan from different sectors and different regions in order to address the significance of social sciences in contemporary Japan and to compare it with the situation abroad. While we are convinced that “social science matters”, probably more than ever, it is still an open question why, to whom and what kind of “social science matters” actually matter. Leading figures in social sciences from and on Japan will come together with representatives from the demand side of social science knowledge to discuss the challenges social sciences are confronted with in a globalizing world.

A more detailed description of the conference objectives, a programme ››, registration form ››(to be sent back until 20 October, 2006), map ›› of the conference location and some suggestions for staying in Hamburg ››can be downloaded from this website.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Welcome address (Iris WIECZOREK / Wolfram MANZENREITER / HCC)
Keynote lecture: Roger GOODMAN (Oxford University): The 'Big Bang' in Japanese higher education and its effects on teaching, research and administration

Session 1: Defining the Agenda: Social Sciences Research Fields
Sepp LINHART (University of Vienna): People, problems, perspectives: the development of sociology in postwar Japan
Werner PASCHA (University of Duisburg-Essen): Economic thought in Japan: knowledge creation under the constraint of external influences
KATŌ Tetsurō (Hitotsubashi University, Tōkyō): Japanese social sciences in transition: new institutional and methodological constellation after the collapse of the Cold War System
Fabian SCHÄFER (University of Leipzig): The emergence of Cultural Studies in Japan

Reception, Hamburg City Hall


Saturday, November 11, 2006

Session 2: Academic Markets and Networks in Japan and Beyond
Verena BLECHINGER-TALCOTT (Free University Berlin): American political scientist networks and the agenda of Japanese political science
Arnaud NANTA (L’Ecole Des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris): Networks, schools and topics of Japanese postwar anthropology

Session 3: Social Sciences in (best) Practice
Bruce WHITE (Doshisha University, Kyōto): Social science at work: ethnographic notes from a sociology department
Robert TRIENDL (Translational Research, Inc., Vienna and Tokyo): System, anti-system, and beyond: (social) scientists and politics in Japan

Session 4: Social Sciences and Public Knowledge
Robert HORRES (Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen): Biopolitics and political science research in Japan
David CHIAVACCI (Free University Berlin): The submersion and reemersion of social class in Japan: The perception of social stratification between social sciences and public discourse


Sunday, November 12, 2006

Session 5: Pursuing Excellence
NAGANO Hiroshi (JST, Tokyo): Centers of excellence and definitions of good science in Japan
YONEZAWA Akiyoshi (NIAD-UE, Tokyo): Quality assessment and social sciences in Japanese universities

Session 6: Do Social Sciences Really Matter?
Final round table: managing, funding and evaluating social sciences in Japan and Germany
Chair: Iris WIECZOREK (GIGA Institute of Asian Affairs), Wolfram MANZENREITER (University of Vienna)
Participants:
Jörn DOSCH (University of Leeds and GIGA Institute of Asian Affairs)
Harald CONRAD, DIJ Tokyo und Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Martin THOMÉ, Leibnitz Association
Representative of Japan Foundation
Representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Representatives from German and Japanese research institutions

12:30 concluding words

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