This symposium aims to understand the current global challenges, such as war, disasters, climate change, and population issues focusing on local and global well-being from the perspective of anthropology, history, and area studies. Conflicts and disasters considerably hinder people’s livelihood and well-being developed through their existing cultures and societies. Concurrently, we observe that climate change and demographic changes, including aging, gradually force the adaptation of conventional/current forms of well-being. We have already observed that amid crises, human societies create happiness and comfort in adaptive ways, as in the case of disaster utopias. These two social processes occur across various boundaries, such as local, ethnic, and national levels, a special feature of our time. During this symposium, we will learn from multiple ethnographic cases and theoretical considerations to discuss crisis of well-being and the well-being in crisis across borders. This event will also be an opportunity for knowledge exchange and exploring the possibilities of future joint research between Japan and international scholarships.
Date: December 5-7, 2024
Venue: Chi-no-Yakata (TOKYO ELECTRON House of Creativity)
Katahira Campus, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
https://www.tfc.tohoku.ac.jp/about_us/facilities.html
Registration URL:
https://forms.gle/Pgc68zdTiQxbXHLs7
（The application deadline is Nov. 22th）
Contact:
ees2024@grp.tohoku.ac.jp
Full Program
5 Dec: Tour of the remains of the Great East Japan Earthquake site (This event is by invitation only)
6 Dec: Seminar of early career scholar 2:00pm-5:00pm
7 Dec: Science conference 9:00am-6:30pm
Session1. Transition and Transformation: The Quest for Well-being in a Dynamic Environment
Session 2. Nomadism, Borders, and Well-being: Strategies of life around crisis and mobility in contemporary pastoralists
Session 3. People with Disabilities in Times of Disasters and Wars: Mobility, Welfare, and Social Inclusion
Session 4. Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Wellbeing of Indigenous peoples
Session 5. General discussion
Organizers:
National Institute of Humanities, Global Area Studies Program and East Eurasian Studies Project (GASP-EES)
Center for Northeast Asian Studies (CNEAS), Tohoku University
International Research Institute of Disaster Sciences (IRIDeS), Tohoku University
Session Description
Session1. Transition and Transformation: The Quest for Well-being in a Dynamic Environment
Speakers: Yuen Shan (Ruby) Lai (Lingnan University)
Ryuta Hagiwara (Hitotsubashi University)
Discussant: Sayaka Ogawa (Ritsumeikan University)
Coordinator: Hiroko Naito (Institute of Developing Economies)
Session 2. Nomadism, Borders, and Well-being: Strategies of life around crisis and mobility in contemporary pastoralists
Speakers: Ariell Ahearn (University of Oxford)
Byambabaatar Ichinhorloo (National University of Mongolia)
Daniel Murphy (University of Cincinnati)
Discussant: Ayumi Nakano (Chukyo University) Coordinator: Moe Terao (Tohoku University)
Session 3. People with Disabilities in Times of Disasters and Wars: Mobility, Welfare, and Social Inclusion
Speakers: Abby Ewen (University College London)
Madoka Nishiura (University of Tokyo)
Keiko Kitagawa (Saga University) Coordinator: Sebastien P. Boret (Tohoku University)
Session 4: Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Wellbeing of Indigenous peoples
Speakers: Stephan Dudeck (University of Tartu)
Victoria Peemot (JSPS/University of Helsinki)
Takehiko Inoue (Osaka Kyoiku University) Coordinator: Hiroki Takakura (Tohoku University)
＃Poster （PDF file, 1600 kB）
＃Detailed Programme （PDF file, 346 kB）