Researcher Database

（Last updated : 2025-05-21 22:28:44）　

SONG KICHAN

Department / Course College of Image Arts and Sciences Department of Image Arts and Sciences

Title / Position Professor

Other Affiliations
1.	Graduate School of Image Arts and Sciences
2.	Kinugasa Research Organization Center for Korean Studies
3.	Kinugasa Research Organization Creative Media Research Center
4.	Research Organization of Open Innovation & Collaboration Center for MONODZUKURI Qualitative Research

Academic background
1.	～2009/11	Doctorial Course │ Div. of Behavioral Studies Department of Sociology │ Graduate School of Letters │ Kyoto University │ Completed Ph.D.
2.	～1999/02	Master Course │ Social Anthropology │ Graduate School of Cultural Anthropology │ Hanyang University Graduate School（Korea） │ Completed
3.	～1996/02	Department of Cultural Anthropology │ Faculty of Languages & Cultures │ Hanyang University　（Korea） │ Graduated

Research activities
1.		Kansai Sociological Association
2.		Korean Society for Cultural Anthropology
3.		International Society for Korean Studies (ISKS)
4.		Central and Eastern European Society of Koreanology (CEESOK)
5.		Japan Sociological Society
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Subject of research
1.	Anthropological Understanding Relating to Practice of Ethnic Education of Koreans Residing in Japan
2.	Anthropological understanding on "vision
3.	Formation of Video Archive Regarding Ethnic Education of Koreans Residing in Japan
4.	Identity politics of body
5.	Life and Human Rights of Foreign Residents in Japan

Research summary
A social anthropological and cine-anthropological research on race education of Koreans living in Japan and ethnicity The research on Koreans living in Japan so far can be separated into the viewpoint that regards the concept of "Race" as being essentialised and the viewpoint focusing on more flexible and floating identity that exposes the suppression structure such as discrimination against women hiding in the essentialised "Race". I attempted overcome the limitation that these 2 viewpoints have, find a new direction of the ethnicity and identity that the Koreans living in Japan in the 21st century are practicing from the space, Korean school, evaluate and elucidate it. The research that I have performed so far can be separated into the following 3 pillars: 1. Practice of race education for Koreans living in Japan in Japanese public schools and the significance of the race education: As more than 80% of the Korean children living in Japan attend Japanese schools, I took notice of the national education of Japan in the Japanese public schools and the race education as identity politics of Koreans living in Japan (mainly with a focus on the education called "Minzoku Gakkyu (Race Class)") and perform an empirical research on the Minzoku Gakkyu in the Japanese public primary schools. As a result of the research, I found that Koreans living in Japan attempted to affirm their own lives and recover their pride by setting up and emphasizing the "difference" from Japanese to correspond with obstacles and difficulties that they often receive from the Japanese society due to the practice like the Minzoku Gakkyu, but the discrimination and elimination against the minorities are further strengthened, because the differentiation and the strengthening of the cooperation within the group called "Koreans living in Japan" created by the differentiation strengthen the cooperation within the category of the host society. 2. A historical sociological research on separatist space called "Korean School": By advancing this research I could understand the structure of subsumption and elimination for Koreans in the Japanese society from the pre-war period to the current period and recapture the Koreans living in Japan as a postcolonial existence. Through historical understanding of the establishment process of the General Association of Korean Residents and Korean Schools, I could understand how the special education space called Korean School connects and does not connect with the polity called North Korea. 3. An understanding of the significance of Korean School and the identity management ability read from the linguistic practice of students: The Korean Schools have been one-sidedly symbolized and criticized so far because they implant a uniform and essentialised view of race and perform personality cult and ideology education. However, I presented a view that the Korean School is a "Practice Community" concerning "Race" through the long-time participant observation of the Korean School, because the linguistic practice there is very "theatrically" performed and embodied as "acting". By reading this theatricality, I found a possibility of the identity management in the sense in which they play, appreciate and manipulate the role of this identity.

Present specialized field
Cultural anthropology, Sociology, Sociology of education (Keyword：ethnicity, minority, identity, Koreans in Japan, race education, social anthropology, cine-anthropology, Japan–Korea relations)

Books
1.	2023/12/31	Korean Diaspora in Japan and Glocalism Vol.5: Education
2.	2004	Minority in Korea: past and future │ ,pp.198‐238

Papers
1.	2025/03/21	The Use of Video Recordings in Minority Studies and Challenges: Focusing on the Ethnic education Movement of Koreans in Japan │ The Proceedings of the 38th International Abashiri Symposium [Visuals and Northern Indigenous Culture] │ ,pp.1-6
2.	2022/05/31	The history of people that bloomed in the history of betrayal │ peace and unification │ 1 (1),pp.163-172
3.	2020/03	Identity Embodied: A Study on the ‘Korean Ethnic Dance’ of Korean Ethnic Schools in Japan │ International Journal of Korean Studies │ (18),pp.509-544
4.	2019/02	An Excuse for the "Eizou": An Essay towards the Image Studies of the AI Era │ Journal of College of Image Arts and Sciences │ (11),pp.29-43
5.	2018/11	From Identity Politics to Identity Management: The Ethnic Education of the Chosˇon Hakkyo and the Identities of Zainichi–Koreans │ Korean Cultural Antropology │ 51 (3),pp.207-278
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Academic conference presentation
1.	2023/10/28	Chosun School and Transnational Subject
2.	2019/09/18	Possibilities of Anthropology in the Age of Confrontation：Anthropologists' Participation and Reflective Anthropology
3.	2019/08/20	Identity Embodied: A Study on the ‘Korean Ethnic Dance’ of Korean Ethnic Schools in Japan
4.	2018/09/22	Beyond Identity Politics: The Identity Matter of Zainichi-Koreans and Ethnic Education of Korean Ethnic School in Japan
5.	2016/10/14	Thinking Reconciliation Between Korea and Japan - bones, postcoloniality, and citizen of East Asia
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Other research achievements
1.	2018/03/01 ～ 2018/04/15	Another Home (SeMA : SEOUL MUSEUM OF ART 2018. 3.1 - 2018. 4.15)
2.	2010/07/31 ～ 2010/08/06	HISTORY AND COMMEMORATION: LEGACIES OF THE PACIFIC WAR NEH LANDMARKS WORKSHOP August 1-6, 2010 (University of Hawaii Manoa)