Taro
Tsurumi
International & Interdisciplinary Workshop
International Relations Within
Self-Complexity in Ethnic Conflict and Coexistence
March 9-10, 2019
University of Tokyo, Komaba (21 KOMCEE West K303)
If you would join us, please contact me for more details and papers.
For a relevant event, click here.
These days, it is almost an axiom that a homogenous nation does not exist. There are numerous counterexamples against the idea of such homogeneity, such as the existence of ethnic minorities and regional and generational differences in a nation. Similarly, it is well-known that any individual has many faces or personality aspects and that individuals often maintain multiple identities or a certain hybridity.
However, few have discussed how different personality aspects within a multiple self are connected to each other and to external factors, including the individual’s current situation and the movement of ethnic and national groups. Social scientists’ theoretical views divide broadly into two camps: those based on the concept of the individual without interrogating the diversity within the individual, and those such as psychologists and microsociologists who tend to limit their focus to the interior of the individual and the Lebenswelt.
We use as an example a person who allegedly has a dual identity, for instance a Russian Jew living in Imperial Russia. They may act like a Russian in one situation and like a Jew in another. It is not hard to imagine situations in which each identity becomes salient, but we have little information concerning when and how each identity merges or collides with the other. Does the individual’s Russianness reinforce their Jewishness or the other way around, or are these two aspects separate or disconnected? Does this relationship change depending upon the circumstances? What is the relationship between their Russianness and the conditions in Russia as an environment and Russians as fellow citizens? These questions regarding our example lead to other pertinent questions. How do those who have clear multiple identities differ from those who do not? In the end, what are the implications for these individuals pertaining to interethnic and international conflicts and coexistence?
This workshop introduces our exploration into "international relations within," meaning the relationships between the ethnic and national aspects within the self. We will discuss this topic with scholars from the fields of sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and history and refer to several examples, including Turks and Russians in Germany, Greeks and Jews in Russia, Chinese in Indonesia, and Palestinians in Israel.
Program
March 9: Introductory
Goal—introducing works and interests to each other to share basic and background knowledge necessary to understand the presentations on the second day
11:00-11:50 Introduction (Taro Tsurumi)
12:00-12:50 Bernd Simon, “The Social Psychology of Identity: Concepts, Methods, Insights”
Lunch
14:00-14:50 Taro Tsurumi, “Jewish Self-Complexity: A Case in the Russian Empire”
15:00-15:50 Anton Popov, “A Place Called ‘Home’: Property Ownership, Legitimacy and Local Identification of Greek Migrants in Southern Russia”
Break
16:10-17:00 Rhoda Kanaaneh, “Colonized Hybridities: To Be Palestinian inside Israel”
17:10-18:00 Toshio Matsumura, “Chineseness or Chinese Aspects in the Political Context of Indonesia”
18:15-20:15 Reception
March 10: Advanced
Goal—relating each work with focal points—power relationships, reciprocity, and provinciality—and discussing further
9:30-10:20 Bernd Simon, “Identity as a Different Equal: Politicization, Respect, Tolerance”
10:30-11:20 Toshio Matsumura, “Recondisering Binary Understanding of Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia: Based on interviews with Indonesian experts on China and Chinese studies”
11:30-12:20 Rhoda Kanaaneh, “Hybridity on Trial: Cultural Continuity and Discontinuity in Arab Asylum Narratives in the United States”
Lunch
13:40-14:30 Anton Popov, “The Pontic Greek Cultural Revival: A Global Network and Local Concerns”
14:40-15:30 Taro Tsurumi, “The Origin of Jewish Separatism: Extinction of an Aspect or Emergence of a New?”
15:45-17:00 General discussion
Panelists
Rhoda Kanaaneh (Columbia University, USA)
Anthropology, Gender studies, Palestinians in Israel, Palestinian refugees in the US
Kannaneh, Rhoda, 2002, Birthing the Nation: Strategies of Palestinian Women in Israel, University of California.
Kannaneh, Rhoda, 2009, Surrounded: Palestinian Soldiers in the Israeli Military, Stanford University Press.
Kannaneh, Rhoda, and Isis Nusair eds., 2011, Displaced at Home: Ethnicity and Gender Among Palestinians in Israel, State University of New York Press.
Toshio Matsumura (Hosei University, Japan)
Southeast Asian area studies, Migration studies, Chinese in Indonesia
Matsumura, Toshio, 2017, Indonesian State and West Kalimantan Chinese: The Formation of Nationalism from Border Area, Tokyo: Keio University Press [in Japanese].
Matsumura, Toshio, 2018, “Causes of lingering communist movement after Indonesia’s September Thirtieth Movement: the case of border area between Sarawak and West Kalimantan,” Asian Ethnicity 19(2)
Matsumura, Toshio, 2015, “Merantau: Chinese from West Kalimantan Pursuing Success in Pasar Tanah Abang in Jakarta,” in Kurasawa Aiko and William Bradley Horton eds., Consuming Indonesia, Jakarta: Gramedia.
Anton Popov (Aston University, UK)
Political anthropology, Greeks in Russia, Cossacks in Russia
Popov, Anton, 2016, Culture, ethnicity and migration after communism: the Pontic Greeks, Routledge.
Popov, Anton, 2018, “Re-enacting ‘Cossack roots’: embodiment of memory history and tradition among young people in southern Russia,” Nationalities Papers 46(1).
Popov, Anton, 2012, “Re-Making a Frontier Community or Defending Ethnic Boundaries? The Caucasus in Cossack Identity,” Europe-Asia Studies 64(9).
Bernd Simon (Kiel University, Germany)
Social psychology and political psychology, Muslims in Germany, Russians in Germany
Simon, Bernd, and Christoph Daniel Schaefer, 2018, “Muslims’ tolerance towards outgroups: Longitudinal evidence for the role of respect,” British Journal of Social Psychology 57, 240-249.
Simon, Bernd, Frank Reichert, and Olga Grabow, 2013, “When Dual Identity Becomes a Liability: Identity and Political Radicalism among Migrants,” Psychological Science 24(3), 251-257.
Simon, Bernd, and Daniela Ruhs, 2008, “Identity and politicization among Turkish migrants in Germany: The role of dual identification,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95(6).
Taro Tsurumi (The University of Tokyo, Japan), Organizer
Historical Sociology, Ethnicity and Nationalism, History of Russian Jews and Zionism
Taro Tsurumi, 2012, Zion Imagined: Russian Jews at the End of Empire, University of Tokyo Press [in Japanese].
Taro Tsurumi, 2015, “Jewish Liberal, Russian Conservative: Daniel Pasmanik between Zionism and the Anti-Bolshevik White Movement,” Jewish Social Studies 21(1).
Taro Tsurumi, 2010, “‘Neither Angels, Nor Demons, But Humans’: Anti-Essentialism and Its Ideological Moments among the Russian Zionist Intelligentsia,” Nationalities Papers 38(4).
Access
To the University of Tokyo, Komaba I
Get off at Komaba Todaimae Station (IN03) of Keio Inokashira Line (IN), which is two stops away from Shibuya Station. Only local trains (各駅停車) stop at this station (skip express trains). Proceed to Todai Exit, and you will find the gate of the university.
Access map of UTokyo campuses (PDF)
In the Komaba I Campus
KOMCEE West is the smaller building on the left side of KOMCEE East (entrance is different).
*KOMCEE West photo from UTokyo website
Funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) KAKENHI grant #16H05930 "Israel in Russian history" （科研費若手研究Ａ「ロシア史のなかのイスラエル―帝国崩壊と戦時暴力のシオニズムへの影響」）
