Incubator-Supported Projects

This project helps fulfill the pressing need to construct an international collaborative network for the concerted study of “Zainichi” (“Japanese-resident”) Korean literature and other Zainichi Korean cultural production. Zainichi Korean literature is an inherently transnational and translingual subject that remains understudied both in and outside of Japan. An improved understanding of Zainichi Korean literature is crucial not only for achieving a balanced perspective on the broad scope of modern literature written in Japanese, but also because the Zainichi Korean experience highlights a number of key topics in contemporary literary and cultural studies worldwide, including issues of diaspora, migration, identity, discrimination, and the memory of empire.

With its central location in Osaka, which is home to more Zainichi Korean residents than any other prefecture in Japan, the Global Japanese Studies Education and Research Incubator at Osaka University is an ideal base for a research network bringing together academics and writers working on Zainichi Korean literature in Japanese, Korean, and English in locations across Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. This project serves to connect a community of advanced international researchers already focused on learning from the Zainichi Korean experience to the unique historical resources and rich contemporary community found in Osaka.

The project members are accomplished early-career and established researchers in the field of Zainichi Korean literary studies, and their ongoing collaboration is expected to result in the creation of new analytical frameworks for engaging with Zainichi Korean cultural production. Members of the research network are slated to present their original findings at symposia open to both Osaka University scholars and the surrounding community. With the support of the Incubator and other outside organizations, these results will be refined and collated into volumes of cutting-edge research published in both Japanese and English, serving as a basis for additional advancements.