We aim to build a sustainable structure where the people who had been forced to leave their home countries can make use of their specialised “knowledge” in Japan.
Challenges
To promote a continuous admission of students and researchers with refugee backgrounds through universities and research institutions
Recently, the admission of students and researchers of refugee backgrounds through Japanese universities has been on the rise. It is important to collaborate with not only universities but various sectors and actors to build trust. We need a place to discuss and learn the diversified programs of the universities(We need gather necessary information, illuminate critical issues across various fields) and establish a platform to discuss how to create sustainable programs to accept them with a vision for their future work and settlement.
What we do
Creating a platform within research and educational institutions to more effectively harness 亡命知 (knowledge in exile).
Through case studies from Japan and abroad, we examine how universities have admitted students and researchers with refugee backgrounds. By conducting interviews and exchanging views, we aim to explore sustainable models for future admissions. At the same time, we seek to reframe refugee inclusion from multiple perspectives—fostering dialogue and collaboration between academia and practitioners to create opportunities for rethinking the foundations of coexistence. We reassess the admission of people with refugee backgrounds from multiple aspects through dialogue and collaboration with academia and practitioners. We create opportunities to think about the foundation of our coexistence.
Laying the groundwork for a sustainable admission system of intellectuals in exile
We investigate the sustainability of admission programs through universities, taking into account domestic and international cases ( especially Scholars at Risk and its member universities and related institutions, who have been active on a global scale), and share information on the possibility of how a sustainable admission system can be constructed.
Historically reviewing the examples of admission practices of people with refugee backgrounds in Japan through dialogue and exchanging opinions with researchers and practitioners
We create a place to discuss issues surrounding refugees in Japan, where researchers, practitioners, and refugees can share their concerns and interests.
Broadcast and share issues and findings through various media reliable and accessible to anyone
We promote collaboration with researchers and practitioners. Through this, we share constructive ideas regarding the coexistence of immigrants and people with refugee backgrounds in Japanese civil society.
Pledge
Building a Transnational Platform for Refugee Engagement and Wisdom Exchange in Japan
Our misson Starting from an academic perspective, we create a transnational platform with refugees for discussion, dialogue, and practical collaboration in order to encourage everyone including refugees to express and leverage their own wisdom. What we do Conduct oral history interviews with refugees To advance collaborative research that focuses on refugees' wisdom and knowledge and contextualizes them historically To present our findings to various fields, including the academic, corporate, governmental, and social sectors, and to invent new activities and mechanisms that inform meaningful participation of refugees and diverse sectors to envision a constructive future Organize symposiums and semi-formal study series on historical and contemporary cases about immigration and refugees To facilitate an exchange of perspectives and ideas among scholars and practitioners, regardless of their origins To contribute to constructive dialogue, resulting in the coexistence (kyo-sei 共生) of people having different backgrounds in civil society in Japan . Create a multilingual media to explore, express, and transfer wisdom with refugees, practitioners, and academia To share their respective questions and intellectual interests, disseminating widely the “wisdom” discovered through collaboration. To create a forum to discuss issues surrounding refugees in Japan To establish a platform not only to highlight the hardships of the refugee experience but also to shed light upon the commonalities shared as human beings. It creates opportunities to contemplate the foundation for living together and thriving collectively. Through these initiatives, we aspire to cultivate and enrich intellectual and cultural soil from Japan, where we have mutual respect for individual expertise and backgrounds, and strive to build solidarity that transcends nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, academic disciplines, and beyond.
