International Conference

How to Study Asia in Social Science and Humanities? :

Some Methodological Reflections 

Date: 5th and 6th of December 2016

Venue: Room No 638-640, 6th floor, 190 av. de France, 75013 Paris, France

Deadline of the Application: 15th July 2016 

For details of the conference, please refer to the Call for Applications.

• Call for Applications

Call for Application

The 8th Next-Generation Global Workshop

Theme: Demographic Challenges in the Era of Global Ageing and Migration

Date: August 1-3, 2015

Venue: Faculty of Letters Main Building, Kyoto University

I. The Purposes of the Next-Generation Global Workshop

Since 2008, we have organized the Next-Generation Global Workshop (NGGW) annually to provide an opportunity for early-career scholars to present their research and to have feedback from an international audience. It has proved to be a pleasant and effective way for capacity building of early-career scholars through mentorship of professors from different universities in different areas of the world.The NGGW has also provided invaluable opportunities for all participantsto learn from other participants and to deepen the understanding of various social phenomena and perspectives encompassing social issues in respective parts of the world, particularly in Asia. Ultimately, the NGGW has served as a forum for scholars of different generations from various regions to build a common academic foundation by redefining Asia in the global context.

*The NGGW was initiated by the Kyoto University Global COE on“Reconstruction of the Intimate and Public Spheres in 21st Century Asia”together with its international partners, and succeeded by Kyoto University Asian Studies Unit (KUASU) and its international partners who established Kyoto International Consortium for Asian Studies (KICAS) in January, 2014.

II. Theme

The theme of this year's workshop is“Demographic Challenges in the Era of Global Ageing and Migration.”Forty years have passed since European and North American countries entered the stage of “aged society.” Japan reached the stage twenty-five years ago. In these societies, the birth rate remains below the replacement level and, in Japan, the population is actually shrinking. Due to the demographic reasons characterized by the decline in productive age population, many societies face social problems such as economic downturn and an increasing demand for care. In short, sustainability of society is in doubt.

On the other hand, many Asian countries other than Japan have enjoyed a higher proportion of productive age population, called “population bonus”or "demographic dividend”until recently. Scholars explain that the current economic boom of these regions substantially owes to their favorable demographic conditions. However,“population bonus”does not last forever. According to a recent estimate, the“early group" including South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China, and Thailand either have already lost their benefits of“population bonus" in the 2010s or are estimated to lose it soon. The speed of ageing in the“early group” countries is more rapid than in Japan. Contrary to many industrialized countries where the transition from ageing society (more than seven percent of its population is over sixty-five of age) to aged society (more than fourteen percent of the population is over sixty-five of age) occurred gradually (i.e. the transition in France took 115 years, the United Kingdom forty-seven years, and Japan twenty-four years), South Korea and Singapore are estimated to experience its transition within eighteen years and seventeen years respectively. Such estimation of steep progress of ageing population shocks the relevant societies and urges them to prepare for the forthcoming aged society.

In contrast, the“later group" including Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and the Philippines are likely to enjoy“population bonus" until the late 2030s. The difference in demographic level across the regions causes transnational migration of people and that connects the world more intimately than ever. The“later group" in Asia has served as population sending countries to the“early group” within Asia, not limited to the Western countries. Contrary to aged societies, these sending countries face different types of demographic challenges such as the massive outflow of productive population, brain drain of highly educated and skilled laborers, and women migrating as laborers or brides. Needless to say, social integration of immigrants has become a serious issue in many receiving countries.

As such, by focusing on demography we can situate ourselves at a vantage point where we can connect social phenomena unfolding in individual regions to global concerns. Moreover, demographical phenomena are more aptly predictable than other social phenomena, thus allow us to draw reliable foresights about the future. However, no frameworks have been devised to comprehensively discuss demography-related concerns across the regions. Besides, different demographic challenges and their implications in each region have not been exchanged world-widely.

Taking full advantage of hosting participants from various areas of the world, we envisage working on global demographic issues while sharing and deepening understanding of different concerns in various societies. Moreover, we aim to find an appropriate set of policies for the construction of sustainable human society by sharing both successful and failed cases in the world.

Anticipated topics to be addressed in the workshop:

• The estimates of demography and socioeconomic conditions in every part of the world.
• Social reforms to maintain vitality of aged society: We need to learn from each country's experience by sharing the successful and the failed cases in their implementation of measures for appropriate use of human resources, such as policies for declining birth rates, promoting women's and elderly's participation, integrating foreign nationals, and promoting sensitivity to diversity in society.
• The future of welfare states in aged societies: Studies indicate that an increasing cost of social security in aged society is aggravating the financial status of many societies. Simultaneously, there is an increasing demand for appropriate social and labor policies concerning pension, social services, and active labor market policies, and so on. Human societies need to find an appropriate level of governmental intervention and the roles of families and communities in an aged society.
• Policies for hosting foreign population in the phase of global migration: We need to articulate the merits and the demerits of the policies that promote both permanent settlement and temporary sojourn of migrant population. Although many countries in Asia predominantly adopt the policies for temporary migration, we need to reconsider whether aged societies can be adequately supported through such apolicy.
• What will happen when the“later group”experiences ageing society after the 2030s? What kind of society is this“later group”going to construct? How can the global ageing human society sustain itself when the tide of global migration is weakened?
• How the bio-politics of respective countries can affect the demographic issues in the world (i.e. one-child policy in China, the reproductive health act in the Philippines, and so forth).

III. Application

Schedule of the workshop (Japan Standard Time)

Application deadline: March 15, 2015

Notification of screening result: Early April, 2015 (Provision of travel grant to be decided at this time)

Deadline for submission of full paper (4,000-6,000 words): June 30, 2015.

Workshop: August 1st and 2nd, 2015

Fieldwork: August 3rd, 2015.

Applicants should provide the following information in pdf attachment to email:

a) Name (please capitalize your family name)

b) Paper Title

c) Position (Master's student, Ph.D. student, etc.)

d) Affiliation

e) Postal Address, Telephone Number, and Email Address

f) Name of a referee who is a faculty member in any of the KUASU overseas partner universities.

g) A 350-word maximum abstract in English.

h) Whether travel grant from KUASU is needed.

The application should be sent as a PDF file to kuasu.nextgeneration★bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp(★→＠)

Email Subject Line should say: “Application for NGGW 2015”

Eligibility for application

Master's students and Ph.D. students of the KUASU overseas partner universities.

(http://www.kuasu.cpier.kyoto-u.ac.jp/english/about/partner-universities-and-research-institutes)

The Organizing Committee will screen the applications based on candidates' qualifications and abstracts.

Fee for Registration: No registration fee is required

Travel Grant: Travel grant including roundtrip airfare will be awarded to several participants according to the quality of abstract and guideline of the fund. Those who wish to apply for travel grant must clearly state it in the application. Decision notification will be made together with notification for paper acceptance.

IV. For Professors

To support capacity building of early-career scholars and active discussion in the Next-Generation workshop, we would like to ask KUASU partner professors to participate in the workshop as advisors who provide comments on the papers presented in a session. KUASU will cover the cost of hotel accommodation for the four nights in Kyoto. We apologize that we cannot cover the airfare due to budgetary constraints. Please kindly inform us of your attendance plans, including your name, affiliation, and position, not later than June 30. We would appreciate your cooperation in the program.

V. Credit and Certificate

The Next-Generation Global Workshop is recognized as a course with 2 credits at Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University. Participants from Kyoto University can receive 2 credits. Participants from other universities will receive a certificate. The partner universities are encouraged to recognize this certificate and give credits to the participants.

Contact:

Organizing Committee of the 8th Next-Generation Global Workshop, KUASU

Kimio Ito, Motoji Matsuda, Wako Asato, Toshiko Tsujimoto, Shoko Kurata (Kyoto University) and Emiko Ochiai (ENS & EHESS)

Email: kuasu.nextgeneration★bun.kyoto-u.ac.jp(★→＠）

• The 8th NGGW_Call for paper.pdf

For the details, see

http://www.kuasu.cpier.kyoto-u.ac.jp/2014/12/16/20150131job/