2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
The Literature of the Japanese Diaspora: Identity beyond Japan
| Project/Area Number |
16F16751
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
竹沢 泰子 京都大学, 人文科学研究所, 教授 (70227015)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
DE SOUZA LYLE 京都大学, 人文科学研究所, 外国人特別研究員
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| Project Period (FY) |
2016-10-07 – 2019-03-31
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| Keywords | Literature / Nikkei / Diaspora / Identity |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During this period I completed a first draft of several chapters of my planned monograph. I wrote an ‘Introduction’ which locates the Nikkei diaspora literature debate within my specific postcolonial approach. The introduction also explains my positionality to the topic. I justify my choice of texts and why I have excluded others.
In addition to the monograph, I published an article ‘Rooted-transnationalism and the Representational Function of Food in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms’ in Contemporary Japan, 29:2 (7 July, 2017), pp. 132-147. This article looks at the way in which food as a representation of cultural identity is represented in Goto’s novel.
I made three major conference presentations during the period. I chaired a panel on diaspora politics and presented a paper at the International Association of Cultural Studies (IACS) Conference in Seoul. I also presented my research at the European Research Day to a wide group of scholars beyond the humanities and social sciences. I was asked to provide a “literary perspective” as a commentator for the December 2017 meeting of the Asian-Pacific Studies seminar, Osaka University.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
At present I am writing the final two chapters of my monograph (Chapter 4 and Chapter 5). These chapters are both relatively longer than the ‘Introduction’ and first chapters because they synthesise material from a wide range of diaspora Nikkei literature both geographically and conceptually. I have identified several key themes from my reading that occur across my corpus of Nikkei literature. I have previously digitised much of this corpus and I am currently using computer aided qualitative data analysis software to find further related themes my readings might have missed. I am also currently rewriting and editing my previously written chapters.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In my remaining months of the fellowship I intend to complete writing my drafts of the final chapters for my monograph: Ch4, Ch5, Introduction, Conclusion. I will then review the entire manuscript based on comments by colleagues and revise the manuscript further into a coherent whole. Finally, I will send the completed manuscript for copyediting and proofreading before submitting it to my chosen publisher. In addition to completing my monograph, I am also working on a journal article titled "The Ambivalent Model Minority: Japanese Canadians and Canadian Multiculturalism" which is currently under review at OMNES: The Journal for Multicultural Society. I will also prepare a paper for the July meeting of the Asian American Literature Association at Kobe University.
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