Researcher Database

（Last updated : 2025-04-07 14:11:00）　

TORIYAMA Junko

Department / Course College of International Relations Department of International Relations

Title / Position Professor

Other Affiliations
1.	Graduate School of International Relations
2.	Kinugasa Research Organization Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
3.	Kinugasa Research Organization Institute of International Relations and Area Studies

Academic background
1.	2015/03 Degree Acquisition	│ Ochanomizu University Ph.D (Anthrpology, Gender Studies)
2.	2004/06 Degree Acquisition	│ American University in Cairo M.A
3.	～2014/03	Doctoral Program (2nd Semester) │ Interdisciplinary Gender Studies │ Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences │ Ochanomizu University │ Accomplished credits for doctoral program
4.	～2004/05	Master Course │ Sociology-Anthropology │ Graduate School of Humanities and Social Science │ American University in Cairo │ Completed
5.	～1998/03	Social Science │ Liberal Arts │ International Christian University │ Graduated

Business career
1.	2018/04/01	Associate Professor │ College of International Relations │ Ritsumeikan University ,
2.	2015/04/01 ～ 2018/03/31	Research Fellow (PD) │ │ Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ,
3.	2014/04/01 ～ 2015/03/31	Junior Fellow │ Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa │ Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
4.	2014/04/01 ～ 2015/03/31	Project Research Fellow │ Department of West Asia, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia │ The University of Tokyo

Committee and society
1.	2016/05 ～ 2018/03	Institute of Developing Economies (IDE-JETRO)

Research activities
1.		International Society for Gender Studies
2.		Japan Association for Middle East Studies
3.		The Japanese Society for Cultural Anthropology

Subject of research
1.	Families in Egypt in the era of reproductive technology
2.	Production of inequalities and self-fashioning in the international schools in the Middle East
3.	The implication of the female labor participation in Egypt

Research summary
Issues of inequalities in the Middle East: its process of production, reproduction, and (re)presentation 　In the previous research, I have discussed about the happiness and suffering/ pains of women experienced in their everyday lives in urban settings in Egypt and Lebanon. I particularly focused on the struggle of women trying to make balance between the work and family, their attempts to make one selves better, or their practices to create the ideal family sometimes with some help of medical services or local beliefs. I have already talked those in my previous publications, but I intend to continue working on those subjects. 　I have given special importance on analyzing data that are collected through sharing everyday lives in the context of everyday-life circumstances. In order to do that, I have been publishing my articles in literature review and ethnography in two separate forms so that I can write about their life away from the conventional frameworks. In literature review, I have focused on tracing the issues and difficulties researcher faced in discussing women’s lives in the Middle East and means that they deploy to overcome such difficulties. I keep large interest in feminism theory as some works challenges to re-read the various issues from everyday-life women’s logics. In writing ethnography, I have focused on writing about people’s lives through accumulation of everyday life knowledge away from the frameworks proposed in the previous studies. It has been only possible through intense participant observation that I kept conducting since 1998 in Egypt, and annual visits to Lebanon since 2015. Not only that I argue based on the field data, but I argue the topic of people’s interest in the field. 　For instance, school education and reproductive technologies are two well discussed topics for women living in the urban settings of Egypt and Lebanon. In the society where marriage and baring kids are considered two most important tasks for women, having child has enjoyed big attention of women. School education is also a topic talked about much among women in the fields. The Middle East observed a massive arrival of private schooling culture in last two decades. Schools that children go are now considered to be the markers of their social status as well as the means to hold onto the particular social positions. The reasons for forming a discussion from the field data are, I give the biggest importance on writing and discussing people’s lives in their everyday-life context. Only through that, I believe that we can reach people’s happiness and pain in a meaningful ways.

Present specialized field
Gender, Cultural anthropology, Sociology of education (Keyword：Gender in the Middle East, Ethnography, School Education, Female labor participation, Study of Interaction, Egypt, Lebanon)

Books
1.	2022/03/30	An ethnography of ”self-fashioning": Inequality, Desire and Women in Contemporary Cairo

Papers
1.	2021/04/28	The Secret behind "El sit Ghalia"'s and Mahragan's Popularity: Growing Diversity and Dynamics within Egyptian Popular Culture │ Senri Ethnological Reports │ 152,pp.141-156
2.	2012/09	Make-up as an Arena for Inter-generation Conflict in Contemporary Cairo: A Case Study on Consuming Make-up and the Transformation of the Body Norm │ 20,pp.148-151
3.	2010/03	Perspectives on Female Bodies in Middle Eastern Studies: A Critical Review from the viewpoint of "Negotiation │ 12
4.	2008/03	Reexamining 'the local' gender norm: Thinking about better use of Islam and Family in Development with a case of the Mehram norm in Contemporary Cairo │ Beyond the Difference: Repositioning Gender and Development in Asian and the Pacific Context (F-GENS Publication Series 32) │ ,pp.169-179
5.	2006/09	Traveling without Stigma: Relationship between Egyptian Female Teachers in Saudi Arabia and Their Male Chaperons │ Frontiers of Gender Studies │ 6,pp.95-102

Academic conference presentation
1.	2023/02/14	The Purpose of the Workshop: How can we discuss the taste of knowledge?
2.	2022/11/29	Sofia, Observing Gender in Film
3.	2022/08/30	People Again: Towards a benevolent discussion of knowledge-making
4.	2021/02/25	De-politicizing Islam, Re-politicizing Islam: An Inter-Asian Attempt
5.	2020/09/16	The challenge between Heritage and Peace
Display All（11）

Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research -KAKENHI-
1.	2016/04 ～ 2020/03	Basic Synthetic Research for the Construction of Islam & Gender Studies