2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Creating a Multicultural Japan: Ethnographic Study and Digital Oral Interview Archive of Social Integration by Civic Institutions Supporting Recent Migrants in Kanto
| Project/Area Number |
18K02006
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| Research Institution | Sophia University |
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Principal Investigator |
Slater David 上智大学, 国際教養学部, 教授 (70296888)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | archive / oral narrative / refugees |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Following the three parts of our project.
1. Refugee Interviews: We did end up collecting fewer original data than in 2019 (which is expected). Nevertheless, using Zoom and Skype, we did collect more than 30 interviews with refugee asylum seekers. This was fewer than we had hoped but still enough to keep our network active. Moreover, during this time, we were able to develop different techniques in order to improve the quality of recording (because our project requires enough quality to post publicly). https://refugeevoicesjapannet.wordpress.com/
2. The NPO and CSO have actually been more directly affected than many of the refugees, and we have decided to suspend this part of the project until they are more fully functioning. Nevertheless, we have published a collection of 14 papers on “Vulnerable Populations in Japan Under Covid," which has included many of our refugee and migrant populations, as well as the efforts of the NPO and CSO who support then. https://apjjf.org/2020/18/Slater.html. This has been the first of its kind in Japan in either English or Japanese, and one of the first systematic attempt to represent the wholistic picture of covid through the use of oral narrative.
3. Community Outreach: Jumping off from this collection, we held a 14 open talk to alert the general population to the situation suffered by different populations, including refugees and migrants. More than 100 people registered for each talk. Here is the link to the lecture series: https://7b912aaa-2400-46c3-9847-666028c2ab29.filesusr.com/ugd/2edff9_38d9787f642542159a62e2100c1d6476.pdf
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
Like all research projects that were originally structured to depend on any face-to-face contact, COVID-19 has made 2020 a very difficult year. We have had to almost completely re-design our research plan, make modifications that would not have been imagined even a year ago. Since our project is based on ethnographic participant observation fieldwork and individual interviews, none of which is possible under the threat of infection during COVID-19.
Fortunately, we have had develop new types of data collection. And because we re-structured our research group in 2019, we were able to adapt to make the best of the situation.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
While we did not conduct many interviews during the 2020 period, we did spend a great deal of time developing and refining digital techniques that will enable us to better conduct interviews in 2021 Thus, until summer 2021, we will use these methods in order to continue conducting interviews of refugee asylum seekers and other migrants in Tokyo. Because the NGOs and CSOs are so terribly effective I think that we wiil I will be using the whole of this amount in 2021 data collection, and for the very labor and money intensive production and post-production phase of turning the data in a proper archive that can be use by many researchers. This will include research assistants and technical specialists in video and website work.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Because I was unable to use the funds allocated for face to face interviewing in 2020, I will be using the full amount in 2021, either for face to face or else the digital mediation, and for post-production editing of the data for research and distribution in publications.
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| Remarks |
This is the first oral archive of digital video on refugees and migrants in Japan.
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Research Products
(11 results)
