Contact

Prof. Dr. Andrea Germer und Prof. Dr. Annette Schad-Seifert
Heinrich-Heine Universität, Ostasien-Institut / Modernes Japan
Universitätsstr. 1, D-40225 Düsseldorf
Tel.: +49 (0)211 81-14359
Fax: +49 (0)211 81-14714
gender_studies@vsjf.net

The gender workshop, which takes place annually in conjunction with the conference of the Association for Social Science Research on Japan, has provided a forum for the presentation and discussion of gender-related research (on Japan) since its inception in 1992. Together with its founding duo, Michiko Mae (Düsseldorf) and Ilse Lenz (Bochum), the workshop has subsequently connected researchers of all professional levels, promoted the academic exchange regarding issues of Japanese society, history, culture, politics and economics, and pursued questions about methodologies and theories of gender research.

Since its 25th anniversary in 2018, the Gender Workshop has been organized and led by Andrea Germer and Annette Schad-Seifert (both Düsseldorf), although its organization is also open to gender researchers from other universities. For the future, we aim to open up more space for new avenues in gender research that treat gender as an indispensable category of analysis, which should, however, never be regarded solely on its own. It is important to continually re-investigate and make visible the multiple interconnections of gender with other dimensions of difference (nation, culture, ethnicity, class, sexuality, disability, physicality, age, language etc.) through (inter)disciplinary approaches. In this sense we also aim for thematic openings which de-essentialise both “gender” as well as “Japan” by increasingly focusing on intersectional questions and on transcultural and transnational contextualisations of Japan in the Asian and global context.

Programs and reports on the workshops held so far can be found here: