February 6, 2025, Claremont McKenna College

Science, Society and Environment Working Group

Presentation–Sarkis Mazamanian (Caltech)

February 21-22, 2025, Claremont McKenna College

2025 SSRC-JFNY Japan Global Workshop–Harbinger Japan

Why study Japan? Understanding and engaging with Japan remains as important as ever. Japan has been described as a kadai senshinkoku (an advanced country in problem-management), a “harbinger state,” and a “country on the frontlines.” Japan has often faced challenges one step ahead of other countries. Studying Japan can inform both scholars and policymakers about the social and political challenges other countries are likely to confront in the future. Scholarship on Japan offers a critical opportunity to develop theoretical insights, assess early empirical evidence, and offer policy lessons about emerging challenges and the political contestation surrounding them. From demographic challenges and their impacts on labor systems, healthcare, and social security to its economic transformation and its approach to international relations, the study of Japan and of Japan in comparative context can yield theoretical insights and early empirical evidence related to global issues of general interest.

Sponsored by the The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), The Japan Foundation-New York, The Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College and EnviroLab at Claremont McKenna College.

March 6 and 7, 2025, Claremont McKenna College

Archiving for Nonhumans: Knowledge, Innovation, Production, and Preservation

Archiving for Nonhumans” workshop brings together scholars from various disciplines to discuss the importance and challenges of writing about and archiving for nonhumans. Multi-species, natural environment such as rivers, forests, and oceans, and built environment such as dams and infrastructure have become popular and productive topics for historians and humanities scholars. Does it reflect changes in the kind of materials we collect? How do we archive materials that do not fit into traditional archives? What is the politics of archiving for nonhumans? How does our archiving practices shape our understanding of the human-nonhuman relationship? Despite the recent high popularity of such keyword as “nonhuman,” we have not found resources that answer these important questions. The workshop will address these questions and discuss practical, ethical, and legal issues surrounding a posthumous creation of a digital archive with Aaron’s research materials.

Sponsored by EnviroLab, The Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College and Asian Studies Library at Honnold Mudd Library of The Claremont Colleges

April 3, 2025, Claremont McKenna College

Science, Society and Environment Working Group Presentation–Kristy Bowers (University of Missouri)

May 2024, Claremont McKenna College

Workshop for Rural Futures

At the Asian Rural Institute (Nasushiobara, Japan), the Rural Futures Research Cluster for the Sustainable Futures held a workshop where project members presented their ongoing research on subject such as the future of return to rural movements, snail culture in Japan, the future of regenerative farming in Japan and cultural traditions in rural China.

January 25-26, 2024, Claremont McKenna College

Network Space Meeting for Rural Futures

This two-day workshop brings together academics and practitioners to discuss agricultural and rural issues in the United State, Asia and Japan and develop research projects for reimagining and realizing alternative rural futures. The workshop is part of the EnviroLab and Japan Foundation-sponsored project entitled Sustainable Futures—Overcoming Disparities, which explores how to overcome disparities under globalization. The workshop is supported by EnviroLab, The Japan Foundation and the Department of History at Claremont McKenna College. For more information, contact Albert L. Park, Project Director, albert.park@cmc.edu.