特集「国際文化」によせて : 国際文化学とは何か

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The purpose of publishing university research bulletins is to present an academic identity for the university's faculties and departments, and at the same time to offer opportunities for individual faculty members to publish their works. By 1995, Poole Gakuin College had published 35 volumes of its research bulletins, which showed the research interests of the faculty members in the Departments of English Literature and Secretarial Studies. In 1996, the college became a university with a newly formed Faculty of Intercultural Studies and the Department of Secretarial Studies in the junior college. Journal of PookGakuin College was renamed as Journal of PookGakuin University. It is expected to play the same role as its forerunners-presenting a research identity for the new faculty as well as the junior college faculty. This is why the present volume takes up intercultural studies as a topic of the special issue. This introductory paper to the special issue intends to discuss some concepts of intercultural studies. Having been only recently introduced to the Japanese higher education, this compound word has not yet been firmly accepted as an academic term, and it is necessary to clarify its meaning and also the meaning of its Japanese equivalent, international cultural studies, which is an ambiguous term worthy of re-examination. The paper, referring to the ways three component words can be combined, first discusses the concept of international 'cultural studies', which may imply international aspects in, or approaches to, cultural studies. While culture in English and French is interchangeable in meaning with civilization which is a universal concept, the German word of Kultur historically bears strong nationalist connotations, and the Japanese equivalent bunka, when combined with the word 'Japanese', i. e. nihon bunka, has similar nationalist tones. In order to avoid such a narrow interpretation of cultural studies, it is useful, at least in Japanese, to use the term, international cultural studies, indicating an emphasis on international approaches to cultural studies. This argument still leaves the question if the word, international, is sufficient enough to explain cultural phenomena observed in the current society, whlch can be described as multicultural on one hand and as global on the other hand. In either case, 'international' is not appropriate, and should be replaced by intercultural, which implies cultural interaction in a multicultural society. With regards to the global nature of society, the paper in discussing the second combination of the three component words, 'international culture' studies, suggests the use of a 'global culture', instead of an international culture'. By definition global culture can be either transnational or intercultural, but should be better understood by the latter, since the concept of culture encompasses more than nations and also emphasizes the process of cultural development which takes place in interaction among cultures.
プール学院大学の論文
1998-12-31

特集「国際文化」によせて : 国際文化学とは何か

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プール学院大学 | 論文

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