Seminar

No.1 Seminar　：　Encouraging trans-border approaches

• Koji Tanaka（The Hakubi Center）
• 2010-04-13 16:00:00
• The Hakubi Center (iCeMS West Wing 2F, Seminar Room)
• Japanese

Summary

As the first speaker for this Hakubi Seminar, my intention is two-fold: first, to introduce my research to the Hakubi scholars, and then to possibly show a sample presentation. The Hakubi Seminar is a gathering of specialists from a variety of research fields including natural and social sciences, and the humanities. Thus, I chose "Encouraging trans-border approaches" for the title of my presentation. My research in Southeast Asia has been conducted through fieldwork-based approaches, within the framework of Area Studies. In fact, there have been long debates about whether Area Studies should be a specific discipline in academia or just an arena where various established disciplines meet together. Whichever it is, conducting fieldwork has been commonly understood as a basic approach for developing Area Studies. Although Area Studies often involves crossing national boundaries to work in multiple countries, the main message of my talk is the importance of transcending the boundaries of academic discipline. I have tried to go beyond my discipline, agricultural science, to collaborate with researchers in other disciplines. Taking the opportunity of this seminar, I would like to emphasize the importance of cross-border or trans-border approaches, and to encourage the Hakubi scholars to try to go beyond his/her disciplines. In addition, I would like to introduce my recent research interest concerning the involvement of Japanese scientists in Japanese colonial expansion to East and Southeast Asia in the Age of Pre-World War II, particularly in the field of agricultural sciences.

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