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Upcoming Meetings and Seminars
University of West Kyushu to host Conference on Human Activity and Environemental Change
University of West Kyushu will host an international conference on human activity and environmental change at its Kanzaki Campus in Saga Prefecture, Japan on November 21, 2009. Research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other organizations is increasingly pointing to “human activity” as a primary causal factor in climate change. The connections between human activities and the environment are being examined by many different disciplines, but so far there has been little common agreement on how we should study this “activity”. Anthropologists focus on “culture”, psychologists on “behavior”, occupational scientists on “occupation”, but how can we integrate these different concepts to build a greater understanding of the positive and negative effects humans have on the environment?
This meeting, titled “NATURE, OCCUPATION AND CULTURE: HUMAN ACTIVITY AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE”, will discuss this problem. Human activity will be examined from a multi-disciplinary perspective, including history, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, and occupational science. Keynote speakers are:
- KAZUO AOYAMA, Professor of Archaeology at Ibaraki University and head of a new MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas project on “Pan-Pacific Environmental Changes and Civilizations”.
- BRUCE BATTEN, Professor of Japanese History and Vice-President for International Relations at J.F. Oberlin University, and author of several books on Japanese history including To the Ends of Japan: Premodern Frontiers, Boundaries and Interactions.
- MOSES IKIUGU, Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Occupational Therapy, University of South Dakota. Ikiugu is a pioneer in the new field of the occupational science of global climate change and has recently published a book titled Occupational Science in the Service of Gaia.
Further information is available from Mark Hudson
PROGRAM
| 10.00 |
Welcome address: Professor Y. Fukumoto, President, University of West Kyushu |
| 10.05 |
Introduction to the Seminar and its Objectives: Mami Aoyama (University of West Kyushu) |
| 10.30 |
Keynote Address (1) “Environment and lifestyles in Japanese history”: Bruce Batten (J.F. Oberlin University) |
| 11.30 |
Coffee break |
| 11.40 |
Keynote Address (2) “Human activity and environmental change as seen from Maya civilization”: Kazuo Aoyama (Ibaraki University) |
| 12.30-13.30 |
Lunch |
| 13.30 |
Keynote Address (3) “Occupation and human survival: Why does it matter what we do from dawn to dusk?”: Moses Ikiugu (University of South Dakota) |
| 15.00 |
Coffee break |
| 15.20 |
Comment 1: Perspectives from sociology: Izuru Sakai (University of West Kyushu) |
| 15.40 |
Comment 2: Perspectives from environmental anthropology: Mark Hudson (University of West Kyushu) |
| 16.00-17.00 |
General Discussion |
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