On the Inaugural Issue

On the Inaugural Issue

CGS invites you all for submissions of research papers and field reports for the second issue of our journal scheduled for publication in March 2007. Please refer to the Guidelines for Contributors below. We look forward to your contribution to the next issue.
http://web.icu.ac.jp/cgs/e/invitation_for_contributions_t.html

“Gender & Sexuality 01” can be downloaded as a PDF file into your computer from the link listed at the end of this article. Bound journal copies will be sent to universities, centers and other institutes at home and abroad.

cgsjnl001.pdf
Kazuko Tanaka, CGS Director

The ICU Center for Gender Studies (CGS) is proud to present the inaugural issue of its journal, Gender and Sexuality. The successful completion of this publication, in only the second year since CGS was established in April 2004, could not have been achieved without the continuing support and encouragement we received from many people. On behalf of the Center, I would like to thank all those who have supported CGS in its activities so far.

Gender and Sexuality has three ultimate objectives. Firstly, we aim to develop a journal which is central to the generation and transmission of fresh knowledge and innovative studies from an Asian perspective. Gender and Sexuality Studies in Japan, like many other academic fields here, has so far been largely preoccupied with the translation and consumption of work by Western researchers. Consequently, there have been few concerted attempts to build on research in Japan and to convey it overseas. Compounded with an unabashed ignorance of our Asian neighbors, we have thus internalized Western paradigms. In this world of rapid globalization, it has become increasingly difficult to resolve problems within one country. This is why CGS is firmly resolved in its aim to produce innovative research from Asia which we can then disseminate to the rest of the world.
Secondly, to further the above objective, we also aim to promote information exchange and collaborative research through the creation of networks among scholars, activists, research centers, and NGOs in Japan as well as in Asia. There is still little co-ordination or co-operation between the small number of institutes for Women’s Studies or Gender studies at Japanese universities. Although there are related societies such as the Women's Studies Association of Japan, there is no place where scholars of Gender and Sexuality can debate freely and refine their research. We need a means to accumulate and build on the admirable research which continues to be produced here. In order to relativize the 'Western-centered knowledge paradigm', scholars and activists in Japan and in Asia must create networks for dynamic debate.
Our third goal is to serve as a bridge between scholars and activists, theory and practice, in order to prevent Gender and Sexuality Studies from succumbing to the trap of elitism. Learning of the issues faced by real people gives researchers a personal perspective on problems from which point they can then freely exercise their intellectual imaginations . This ultimately enables the creation of more meaningful, profound, theoretical frameworks. Moreover, it is also necessary to test the applicability of theories in actual practice. The CGS journal aims to provide a space for such collaborative work between theory and practice by researchers and activists.
The journal is structured in two parts – the Research Section features empirical research and theoretical studies in Gender and Sexuality; the Fieldwork Section offers information from the field, with case studies by activists and reports on gender-related activities both within and outside Japan. Through this journal we hope to create an active forum which brings together specialists, scholars, and activists from diverse fields.
The CGS journal will also be available online on our website for easy access by anybody, anywhere. For now, the languages of the journal are restricted to Japanese and English, but we hope that ICT will continue to develop so that perhaps one day translation into any language will be a more simple procedure. We look forward to receiving many articles and papers to develop the journal into a dynamic forum for stimulating debate.

Contents

On the Inaugural Issue
Kazuko Tanaka

Research Articles
Representing Sex and Sexuality : Requiem for Mother
Hyangjin Lee

Naming the Unspeakable : Representing Rape in Thai Literature
Chutima Pragatwutisarn

An Overview of Gender Representation in India
Parthasarathy Rajalakshmi

Field Reports
The Politics of Gaze : on the Relationship of Seeing/Being Seen(English Abstract 76)
Junko Fukazawa

Warrior Princesses, How Far will You Go? : Transitions in the Characterization of Female Figures in Japanese ‘Anime’ (English Abstract 89-91)
Hiromi Murase

Gender and Human Security in Asia : Women and Education
Mana Tanaka

Book Reviews
Kawahashi, Noriko and Masako Kuroki
Mixed Blessings: Feminism and Religion in the Postcolonial Age
Etsuko Kato

Activity Reports
International Workshop 2005
Human Security and Gender in Asia: Perspectives from the Humanities
The US-Japan Working Women’s Workshop Project

ICU Center for Gender Studies（CGS）AY 2005 Activity Report

CGS AY 2006 Activity Schedule and Notes