A Comparative Study of the Concept of Diaspora and the Diasporic Communities

我们项目的目的是通过不同学科的不同研究人员进行各种跨学科的调查和研究，来阐述“侨民(S)”的概念。为了实现这一目的，我们从2004年起定期在大阪财经政法大学亚太伙伴关系中心举行侨民研究小组会议，并参加一些相关的研究小组或研讨会。除其他外，我们举办了两个主要研讨会：2006年9月举行的CAPP预研讨会“散居亚洲的人：参照日本的情况”，以及2007年2月举行的CAPP国际研讨会“走向多元文化和保护移民的人权：散居亚洲和非洲的比较研究”。后者的结果已发表为MUSHAKOJI KININDE，Hama Kunihiko和Hayao Takanori(编辑)。《散居与社会转型：与亚洲和非洲移民共存的呼唤》(Kokusai-Shoin，2008)的日文和英文译本。我们的研究集中在：模棱两可、混杂(特别是在亲密领域)、少数族裔的可见性/隐形性、劳动的女性化和种族主义、跨国资本主义和劳动分工、公民身份和国籍的概念等。本研究还有助于组织和联系原本不会见面的各种研究人员。这将是我们对这一领域进展的又一贡献。

The purpose of our project has been to elaborate the concept of “diaspora(s)" through the collaboration of various, trans-disciplinary surveys and researches by different researchers from different disciplines.To fulfill this purpose, we have had regular meetings of Diaspora Study Group at the Centre for Asia Pacific Partnership (CAPP) of Osaka University of Economics and Law from 2004, along with participating some relevant study groups or symposia. Among others, we held two major symposia; the CAPP Pre-symposium “Diasporas in Asia: With Reference to the Japanese Situation" in September 2006, and the CAPP International Symposium “Toward Multiculturalism and Protection of the Human Rights for Migrants: A Comparative Study of Asian Diaspora and African Diaspora" on February 2007. The result of the latter has been published as MUSHAKOJI Kinhide, HAMA Kunihiko and HAYAO Takanori (eds.) Diasporas and the Social Transformation: The Callenges of Coexistence with Asian and African Migrants (Kokusai-Shoin, 2008) in Japanese as well as an English version.Our study focused on: ambiguity, hybridity (especially in the intimate sphere), visibility/invisibility of minorities, feminization and racialization of labor, transnational capitalism and the division of labor, the concept of citizenship, nationality, and so on.This study also served to organizing and networking various researchers who otherwise would not have met. That would be another contribution of our part to the progress of this field.