The 78th SGRA Forum: The Connections Between Gender and Violence in Asia

The 78th SGRA Forum and 5th Asian Cultural Dialogues Session will take place as a hybrid event as per the details below. Please register for the event to attend.

 

Title: The Connections Between Gender and Violence in Asia

 

Date/Time: September 13 (Saturday) / 9:30 to 17:30 

 

How to attend: In person or via Zoom webinar

 

Venue: Okinawa University, Building 3 room 101

 

Language: English and Japanese, with simultaneous interpretation 

 

Registration: Please register via this link

 

Contact: SGRA Office ([email protected])

 

 

About the Forum

In this Asian Cultural Dialogues forum, we seek to consider the past, present and future of the connections between gender and violence, and to take note of the significance of holding it in Okinawa, a place shaped by war, and that continues to be shaken by the sexual assault crimes committed by officers from the US military base.

 

While seeking to provide a forum to “learn, feel, and act,” the Asian Cultural Dialogues also serves to create nuanced understandings of cultural contexts while fostering connections that go beyond national boundaries. “The Connections Between Gender and Violence in Asia” is not limited to military violence, but also to exploring how violence takes root in everyday lives, and to delve into a deeper discussion of the issues from there.

 

This forum does not seek to address “Okinawa’s problem,” but rather, through the participation of activists and academics from across Asia to explore Asian perspectives within the cultural context and space of Okinawa. This year also marks the 80^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and as such marks a significant moment to consider the ramifications of the war in Asia. From Okinawa, we hope to explore the past that must not be forgotten as we head towards the future, and the lessons to take with us as well as the issues that remain and that we must continue to work on.

 

 

Program

9:30

Opening remarks: Junko Imanishi (SGRA), Hiroshi Yamashiro (Dean, Okinawa University)

Introduction to event: Yunshin Hong (Okinawa University)

 

Session 1: Keynote speech

MC: Sonja Pei-Fen Dale (SGRA), Moderator: Yunshin Hong

 

“The Gaze of ‘the Other’ Against Violence,” Ichiro Tomiyama, Doshisha University (JP)

 

Commentators: Harumi Miyashiro (Historian, Okinawan women’s history), Robert Ricketts (Wako University), Lifu Guo (Tsukuba University)

 

11:00

Break

 

11:30

Session 2: Intersectionality

MC: Diana Idzieva (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies)

 

Presentation 1: “The Intersection of Discrimination and Gender,” Suzuyo Takazato, Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence  (JP)

 

Presentation 2: “Waris and Gravediggers: Inheriting Unresolved Gendered Violence in Indonesia,” Intan Paramaditha, Macquarie University (EN)

 

Commentators:

Mya Dwi Rostika (Daito Bunka University), Hyunah Yang (Seoul National University)

 

13:00

Lunch break

 

14:00

Session 3: War and gender

MC: Miki Dezaki (Independent documentary maker)

 

Presentation 1: “Welfare and Women under the Battle of Okinawa and U.S. Military Rule,” Noriko Yamashiro, Okinawa Times freelance journalist (JP)

 

Presentation 2: “The Last Mile of Peace: What Comes After a Long War at the Gendered Frontlines of the Contemporary World’s Rarely Lasting Armistice,” Jose Jowel Canuday, Ateneo de Manila University (EN)

 

Commentators:

Genya Fukunaga (Tokyo University), Asako Masabuchi (Ritsumeikan University)

 

15:30 

Break

 

16:00

Session 4: Towards the future

MC: Yunshin Hong, Sonja Dale

 

Presentation 1: “Okinawa’s Base Violence and Gender: Litigating Sexual Violence to the Commission on the Status of Women (CS)—Focusing on the Movement within Okinawa Prefecture,” Aya Tokuda & Mei Matsuda, Okinawa Christian University (JP)

 

Presentation 2: “The Journey of Young Feminist Movement in Thailand,” Memee Nitchakarn, Thai student activist (EN)

 

Presentation 3: “Youths Listening to the Memories of the Battle of Okinawa: Learning the ‘Inheritance of Memories’ through Interacting with Witnesses,” Seiji Nakatsuka, Okinawa University (JP)

 

Commentators:

Yuko Oyakawa (Okinawa University, Be the Change Okinawa), Sayaka Ueno (Okinawa University, Empowerment Lab Okinawa), Bonni Rambatan (Rainbow Panda)

 

 

17:30

Closing

 

 

Click here to download the program in English, including abstracts for each presentation and profiles for the presenters, commentators and MCs.