Keiko SAKAI Professor

Keiko SAKAI
Professor

Researchmap

• Chiba University Institute for Advanced Academic Research / Graduate School of Social Sciences

• Keywords

  Iraq, Middle East, International politics, Area studies, Knowledge production, Conflict, Social movements

• Professional Memberships

  International Studies Association, Middle East Studies Association, International Political Science Association

Research Theme

Studies on Modern Politics in the Middle East, Critical Reconstruction of IR and Area Studies

Abstract

My research criticizes the essentialist perspective that regards various political and social conflicts in the contemporary Middle East as being caused by attributes between local social groups, and aims to construct a Relational Study on the Global Crises (RSGC) that sees intra-regional political relations and international politics as being reflected in the dynamics of local communities.

Specifically, while taking into account recent critical trends on the West-originated International Relations (IR), such as Global IR, and utilizing the accumulation of area studies developed in Japan and the perspective of contemporary critical area studies, I aim to develop an RSGC that sees areas without boundaries, generated by global relations, as embodying the dynamics of international politics, and promote the theoretical development of RSGC.

For this purpose, I will strive to understand social consciousness in Arab societies, particularly in Iraq. Instead of quantitative data surveys, I will be directly involved in the process of knowledge production in local societies through academic exchange meetings with Iraqi educational and research institutions, and through face-to-face research exchanges, I will capture the generation gap in social consciousness and the reflection and memories of conflicts, protest movements, experiences in the civil wars.