Kiyoshi UMEYA - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Kiyoshi UMEYA
Journal of Japanese studies, Mar 29, 2024
The outbreak of COVID-19 caused a massive shock to the higher education sector, dramatically chan... more The outbreak of COVID-19 caused a massive shock to the higher education sector, dramatically changing the lives and plans of international students, which are easily visible from the travel restrictions, social distancing and wearing masks, isolation measures, quarantine, campus closure, border closure, non-availability of part-time jobs, withering away economic supports etc. Japan is one of the top destinations for international students, especially from Bangladesh, who intend to build a career in multinational companies. Every year, many foreign (international) students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate-level education at different universities and training colleges in Japan. A big chunk of Asian students, especially South Asian and Southeast Asian students, dream of studying in Japan. This paper aims to identify the challenges of Bangladeshi students who are now studying in Japan and passing through their hard times in the post-COVID-19 era. Research is designed to thoroughly investigate the Bangladeshi students' activities and lifestyles to assess the challenges and formulate a problem-solving strategy. Multiple apparatuses were employed to triangulate the data. The outcome of this research is significant in identifying and mitigating the problems, and as a result, foreign students' service to higher education institutions could be more efficient and reliable.
Anthropological reflections on citizenship focus on themes such as politics, ethnicity and state ... more Anthropological reflections on citizenship focus on themes such as politics, ethnicity and state management. Present day scholarship on citizenship tends to problematise, unsettle and contest often taken-for- granted conventional connotations and associations of citizenship with imagined culturally bounded political communities of rigidly controlled borders. This book, the result of two years of research conducted by South African and Japanese scholars within the framework of a bilateral project on citizenship in the 21st century, contributes to such ongoing efforts at rethinking citizenship globally, and as informed by experiences in Africa and Japan in particular. Central to the essays in this book is the concept of flexible citizenship, predicated on a recognition of the histories of mobility of people and cultures, and of the shaping and reshaping of places and spaces, and ideas of being and belonging in the process. The book elucidates the contingency of political membership, relationship between everyday practices and political membership, and how citizenship is the mechanism for claiming and denying rights to various political communities. Self requires others to construct itself, a reality that is subject to renegotiation as one continues to encounter others in a world characterised by myriad forms of interconnecting mobilities, both global and local. Citizenship is thus to be understood within a complex of power relationships that include ones formed by laws and economic regimes on a local scale and beyond. Citizenship in Africa, Japan and, indeed, everywhere is best explored productively as lying between the open-ended possibilities and tensions interconnecting the global and local
Langaa RPCIG eBooks, Feb 10, 2022
Anthropology Today
Cameroon's Indomitable Lions (a nickname for the Cameroon national football team) are renowne... more Cameroon's Indomitable Lions (a nickname for the Cameroon national football team) are renowned for their ‘magical football’, a term that embodies their extraordinary performances. This article delves into the intertwining concepts of ‘magical football’ and ‘football magic’, seeking to understand how these elements contribute to the Lions’ success. The study reviews historical instances of the Lions’ participation in the Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA World Cup competitions, analyzing how natural football abilities interweave with supernatural enhancement to influence game outcomes. The findings suggest that talent alone does not guarantee victory, and the uncertainty of elements beyond our rational comprehension can significantly impact the game.
Langaa RPCIG eBooks, Feb 10, 2022
Langaa RPCIG eBooks, Feb 10, 2022
This paper attempts to examine why some people can insist on magical explanations developed by lo... more This paper attempts to examine why some people can insist on magical explanations developed by local communities for incidents with perfectly reasonable justifications, and why an explanatory discourse in local communities has explanatory power. As an example, I will describe the case of famous death from modern Ugandan history under the regime of tyrant Idi Amin. There are various explanations for the cause of the victim' s death, even though the most obvious one is that it was ordered by then-President Idi Amin Dada. 1 According to the estimation by the exile organisation with the help of Amnesty International, during his reign, Amin is said to have killed almost 3,00,000 to 5,00,000 people without reason or sufficient explanation. While the victim discussed in this paper had a good reason to be * This paper was originally presented on 6 August, 2019 in an Anthropology Seminar offerd by the Department of Anthropology within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It was also later shared on 27 August, 2019, as part of a Seminar Series entitled 'Cosmology and Ontology,' which was offerd by the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) at the University of the Free State. The essential argument presented therein was based on the paper which was presented on 19 December, 2015 at the 19th annual lecture of the Institute for Research in Human Informatics at Tohoku Gakuin University (Umeya 2016). I would like to thank my colleagues at the University of Cape Town, the University of the Free State and Tohoku Gakuin University all of whom provided excellent feedback on earlier versions of this essay. 2 killed in a certain political context, people in his hometown of Tororo District in Eastern Uganda circulated many different explanations, including that he was cursed by the dead. II. Political History Gold Scandal and Obote Our protagonist of this paper is Arphaxad Charles Kole Oboth-Ofumbi (1932-1977), who will be hereafter referred to as ACK (Fig. 1). 2 Upon graduating from the prestigious King' s College in Budo, ACK, aspired to study theology at Makerere College, a premier school in East Africa. However, his academic career was brought to an end by his father' s early death. ACK got his first job at the Bukedi Cooperative Union, where he worked under director, James Silas Malilo Ondoa Ochola (1924-1972), was a fellow clansman who belonged to Jopadhola, ACK' s native ethnic group. 3 Ochola features as a prominent character in this narrative, and we will come back to him later. ACK was also famous as the author of the first ethnography of the Adhola people, published with support from superiors who were close friends to his father. After his stint with the union, ACK joined local administration and eventually moved on to the central government. In 1960, ACK was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Acholi and Lango Districts. ACK went on to become Commissioner of Acholi, and it was during this term that he was fortunate enough to meet Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote (1925-2005), who led Uganda through independence. 4 Soon after, ACK was appointed as Secretary to the Prime Minister' s Office and subsequently held the post of Permanent Secretary. The last appointment by Obote' s government was that of Secretary of Defence (Fig. 2). Fig.1 Identity card of A.C.K. Oboth-Ofumbi ©the Ofumbi family 3 A significant political crisis that rocked Uganda was the Gold Scandal of 1966. The Congolese civil war had been intensifying since 1964. Prime Minister Obote, who believed that former Prime Minister Moise Kapenda Thsombe (1919-1969) had been bribed by the Western front, was secretly supporting the rebels. The US-Soviet Cold War was intensifying, and both West and East Africa, whether socialist or liberalist, were heavily involved. The key player in all of this, who was secretly gaining power while supporting the Congolese rebels, was Idi Amin, then a colonel in the Ugandan Army. The accusation was brought forth in the parliament by Daudi Ochieng (1925-1967), an MP and Secretary General of the Kabaka Yekka party. As evidence, Ochieng submitted proof of a fund deposit from Idi Amin' s bank Fig.2 Idi Amin and ACK ©the Ofumbi family 4 account to the Parliament, proving that Amin was smuggling gold, ivory, and coffee from eastern Congo. Ochieng also voiced suspicion that the bribe was being shared among four people, including the Prime Minister. At the time of making the accusation, Obote was not in the country. Soon after his return, however, on 22 nd February 1966, he was arrested along with five cabinet ministers and imprisoned without a trial. On 26 th February, Amin' s designation changed from Colonel to Military Commander. On 3 rd March, the president of Kabaka was forced to resign, and the constitution was suspended. On April 15, Amin led the military in a siege against the National Assembly, forcing all opposition members to withdraw. An interim constitution was imposed, and Obote claimed the Office of the President.
Journal of Japanese studies, Mar 29, 2024
The outbreak of COVID-19 caused a massive shock to the higher education sector, dramatically chan... more The outbreak of COVID-19 caused a massive shock to the higher education sector, dramatically changing the lives and plans of international students, which are easily visible from the travel restrictions, social distancing and wearing masks, isolation measures, quarantine, campus closure, border closure, non-availability of part-time jobs, withering away economic supports etc. Japan is one of the top destinations for international students, especially from Bangladesh, who intend to build a career in multinational companies. Every year, many foreign (international) students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate-level education at different universities and training colleges in Japan. A big chunk of Asian students, especially South Asian and Southeast Asian students, dream of studying in Japan. This paper aims to identify the challenges of Bangladeshi students who are now studying in Japan and passing through their hard times in the post-COVID-19 era. Research is designed to thoroughly investigate the Bangladeshi students' activities and lifestyles to assess the challenges and formulate a problem-solving strategy. Multiple apparatuses were employed to triangulate the data. The outcome of this research is significant in identifying and mitigating the problems, and as a result, foreign students' service to higher education institutions could be more efficient and reliable.
Anthropological reflections on citizenship focus on themes such as politics, ethnicity and state ... more Anthropological reflections on citizenship focus on themes such as politics, ethnicity and state management. Present day scholarship on citizenship tends to problematise, unsettle and contest often taken-for- granted conventional connotations and associations of citizenship with imagined culturally bounded political communities of rigidly controlled borders. This book, the result of two years of research conducted by South African and Japanese scholars within the framework of a bilateral project on citizenship in the 21st century, contributes to such ongoing efforts at rethinking citizenship globally, and as informed by experiences in Africa and Japan in particular. Central to the essays in this book is the concept of flexible citizenship, predicated on a recognition of the histories of mobility of people and cultures, and of the shaping and reshaping of places and spaces, and ideas of being and belonging in the process. The book elucidates the contingency of political membership, relationship between everyday practices and political membership, and how citizenship is the mechanism for claiming and denying rights to various political communities. Self requires others to construct itself, a reality that is subject to renegotiation as one continues to encounter others in a world characterised by myriad forms of interconnecting mobilities, both global and local. Citizenship is thus to be understood within a complex of power relationships that include ones formed by laws and economic regimes on a local scale and beyond. Citizenship in Africa, Japan and, indeed, everywhere is best explored productively as lying between the open-ended possibilities and tensions interconnecting the global and local
Langaa RPCIG eBooks, Feb 10, 2022
Anthropology Today
Cameroon's Indomitable Lions (a nickname for the Cameroon national football team) are renowne... more Cameroon's Indomitable Lions (a nickname for the Cameroon national football team) are renowned for their ‘magical football’, a term that embodies their extraordinary performances. This article delves into the intertwining concepts of ‘magical football’ and ‘football magic’, seeking to understand how these elements contribute to the Lions’ success. The study reviews historical instances of the Lions’ participation in the Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA World Cup competitions, analyzing how natural football abilities interweave with supernatural enhancement to influence game outcomes. The findings suggest that talent alone does not guarantee victory, and the uncertainty of elements beyond our rational comprehension can significantly impact the game.
Langaa RPCIG eBooks, Feb 10, 2022
Langaa RPCIG eBooks, Feb 10, 2022
This paper attempts to examine why some people can insist on magical explanations developed by lo... more This paper attempts to examine why some people can insist on magical explanations developed by local communities for incidents with perfectly reasonable justifications, and why an explanatory discourse in local communities has explanatory power. As an example, I will describe the case of famous death from modern Ugandan history under the regime of tyrant Idi Amin. There are various explanations for the cause of the victim' s death, even though the most obvious one is that it was ordered by then-President Idi Amin Dada. 1 According to the estimation by the exile organisation with the help of Amnesty International, during his reign, Amin is said to have killed almost 3,00,000 to 5,00,000 people without reason or sufficient explanation. While the victim discussed in this paper had a good reason to be * This paper was originally presented on 6 August, 2019 in an Anthropology Seminar offerd by the Department of Anthropology within the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It was also later shared on 27 August, 2019, as part of a Seminar Series entitled 'Cosmology and Ontology,' which was offerd by the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies (CGAS) at the University of the Free State. The essential argument presented therein was based on the paper which was presented on 19 December, 2015 at the 19th annual lecture of the Institute for Research in Human Informatics at Tohoku Gakuin University (Umeya 2016). I would like to thank my colleagues at the University of Cape Town, the University of the Free State and Tohoku Gakuin University all of whom provided excellent feedback on earlier versions of this essay. 2 killed in a certain political context, people in his hometown of Tororo District in Eastern Uganda circulated many different explanations, including that he was cursed by the dead. II. Political History Gold Scandal and Obote Our protagonist of this paper is Arphaxad Charles Kole Oboth-Ofumbi (1932-1977), who will be hereafter referred to as ACK (Fig. 1). 2 Upon graduating from the prestigious King' s College in Budo, ACK, aspired to study theology at Makerere College, a premier school in East Africa. However, his academic career was brought to an end by his father' s early death. ACK got his first job at the Bukedi Cooperative Union, where he worked under director, James Silas Malilo Ondoa Ochola (1924-1972), was a fellow clansman who belonged to Jopadhola, ACK' s native ethnic group. 3 Ochola features as a prominent character in this narrative, and we will come back to him later. ACK was also famous as the author of the first ethnography of the Adhola people, published with support from superiors who were close friends to his father. After his stint with the union, ACK joined local administration and eventually moved on to the central government. In 1960, ACK was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Acholi and Lango Districts. ACK went on to become Commissioner of Acholi, and it was during this term that he was fortunate enough to meet Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote (1925-2005), who led Uganda through independence. 4 Soon after, ACK was appointed as Secretary to the Prime Minister' s Office and subsequently held the post of Permanent Secretary. The last appointment by Obote' s government was that of Secretary of Defence (Fig. 2). Fig.1 Identity card of A.C.K. Oboth-Ofumbi ©the Ofumbi family 3 A significant political crisis that rocked Uganda was the Gold Scandal of 1966. The Congolese civil war had been intensifying since 1964. Prime Minister Obote, who believed that former Prime Minister Moise Kapenda Thsombe (1919-1969) had been bribed by the Western front, was secretly supporting the rebels. The US-Soviet Cold War was intensifying, and both West and East Africa, whether socialist or liberalist, were heavily involved. The key player in all of this, who was secretly gaining power while supporting the Congolese rebels, was Idi Amin, then a colonel in the Ugandan Army. The accusation was brought forth in the parliament by Daudi Ochieng (1925-1967), an MP and Secretary General of the Kabaka Yekka party. As evidence, Ochieng submitted proof of a fund deposit from Idi Amin' s bank Fig.2 Idi Amin and ACK ©the Ofumbi family 4 account to the Parliament, proving that Amin was smuggling gold, ivory, and coffee from eastern Congo. Ochieng also voiced suspicion that the bribe was being shared among four people, including the Prime Minister. At the time of making the accusation, Obote was not in the country. Soon after his return, however, on 22 nd February 1966, he was arrested along with five cabinet ministers and imprisoned without a trial. On 26 th February, Amin' s designation changed from Colonel to Military Commander. On 3 rd March, the president of Kabaka was forced to resign, and the constitution was suspended. On April 15, Amin led the military in a siege against the National Assembly, forcing all opposition members to withdraw. An interim constitution was imposed, and Obote claimed the Office of the President.