The Hiroshima Peace Institute (HPI) held its third Public Lecture Series in English at the HCU Satellite Campus. In this program our lecturers presented a series of talks in English, focusing on intriguing topics in their fields of expertise. All lectures were free and open to the public.
Lecture 1
Date & Time: January 26, 2018, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Topic: “Japan at the Crossroads: PM Abe, Security, and the Constitution”
Lecturer: Tatsuya Nishida, Associate Professor, International Studies, Hiroshima City University
Abstract: The Lower House election in 2017 would be the turning point in Japan’s post war history because the revision of the Constitution and Japan’s defense policy was a main issue in the election and also because parties supporting the revision won a landslide victory. Given deteriorating North Korea’s nuclear missile development issues and the results of the recent election in Japan, the talk will discuss and address questions related to where Japan’s Constitution and defense policy may go.
Profile of the lecturer: Nishida teaches international security theories at the university. His research focuses mainly on alliance theories though his research includes Japan’s foreign and defense policy, Japan-US relations, peacebuilding and others.
Lecture 2
Date & Time: February 2, 2018, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Topic: “Recent Developments in Myanmar’s Ethnic Peace Process and the Growing Role of China” Lecturer: Narayanan Ganesan, Professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University
Abstract: Since late 2016 the ethnic peace process in Myanmar has become much more complicated and fragmented. There is now a new Northern Alliance comprising seven groups and headed by the United Wa State Army (UWSA). And the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) that used to represent the non-signatories to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) is much weaker. The Northern Alliance has also led to the growing role of China as a broker to the peace process with attendant implications.
Profile of the lecturer: Ganesan’s teaching and research interests are in Southeast Asian politics and foreign policy with a focus on issues that generate interstate and intrastate tensions.
Lecture 3
Date & Time: February 9, 2018, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Topic: “The Cold War and American Culture: Billy Joel’s Leningrad”
Lecturer: Michael Gorman, Associate Professor, International Studies, Hiroshima City University
Abstract: Nuclearism and the Cold War played an important role in shaping various aspects of American culture during the second half of the Twentieth Century. The Nuclear Age was reflected in activism, art, fashion, fiction, film and television, poetry, and even popular music. After outlining various nuclear motifs, we will consider “Leningrad” (1989), a song written by Billy Joel, for what it reveals about nuclear discourse, Cold War events, and hope after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Profile of the lecturer: Gorman teaches American literature and culture. He is particularly interested in US imperialism and rural American culture.
Lecture 4
Date & Time: February 16, 2018, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Topic: “Discourses of Nuclear Competence and Catastrophe”
Lecturer: Robert Jacobs, Professor, Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University
Abstract: We discuss nuclear technologies with a discourse of catastrophe: if there isn’t a direct nuclear war, and if a nuclear plant doesn’t meltdown, we call that success. This is a very colloquial perspective: if we don’t have a disaster in our own lifetimes, we were successful in managing these technologies. However, by manufacturing these materials, we have entered into a relationship that spans hundreds of thousands of years. From this long view of time, the real damage is already done; we have produced hundreds of thousands of tons of the most toxic substances on Earth, and they will remain dangerous to living creatures and the environment for millennia.
Profile of the lecturer: Jacobs is an American historian of the social and cultural aspects of nuclear technologies. His recent work focuses on a global cross-cultural study of radiation affected communities.
Venue:
Seminar Room 2, Satellite Campus, Hiroshima City University
4-1-1 Otemachi, Nakaku, Hiroshima, 9F Otemachi Heiwa Building
Capacity:
40 people (first-come-first-served basis)