Course Name: Seminar
Instructor: Dr. Johanna Zulueta
Date of the event: 9-10 December, 2017
Venue of the event: Doshisha University, Kyoto

On 9-10 December, FILA students under the seminar of Dr. Johanna Zulueta (Sociology, Migration Studies), attended the Anthropology of Japan in Japan (AJJ) Fall Meeting at Doshisha University in Kyoto. Yuzuka Ando, a 4th year FILA student presented her thesis, “Kurdish Migrants in Japan: Sense of Belonging and Perception of Home” for the undergraduate session of the AJJ, which comprised of students from Doshisha University and Nanzan University in Nagoya.

Yuzuka did research among the Kurdish migrants based in Warabi City in Saitama Prefecture from 2016 to 2017, and asked the following research questions: 1) where do the Kurdish migrants call their home?, and 2) what are the necessary factors or conditions that make a place “home” for a person? Basing her analyses on interviews and focus group discussions, she compared the first generation Kurdish women with the 1.5 generation (people who migrated when they were children) and analyzed how levels of integration in society could be related to one’s perception of home and belongingness. There are around 1,300 Kurds in Warabi City with a majority of them on “provisional release” as they await recognition on their asylum applications.Yuzuka Ando will be part of the first batch of students to graduate from the Faculty of International Liberal Arts in March 2018.