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About Staff: FY2006

MIYANISHI, Kaori

  • JSPS Fellow
  • Division of Socio-Cultural Dynamics
  • M.Phil. (Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University), 2003
    Ph.D. Candidate at the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, 2006

Current Research Interests

  1. U.S. military
  2. Cross-cultural marriages

U.S. Marines participating in local dragon boat racing in Okinawa

I am currently doing research on the multifaceted relationship between U.S. militaries and local society in Okinawa from the point of view of gender. There are U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps bases in Okinawa. I focus on the U.S. Marine Corps to explore the following topics: 1) dating and marriage; 2) base employment; and 3) “Base Town.” I will compare my findings in Okinawan base towns with base towns in mainland Japan, Korea, and Puerto Rico. In addition, I hope to modify the simplistic view of “local women as victims” and thus contribute to gender studies. I pay attention to how women who are related to U.S. military bases are perceived in contemporary Okinawa and how Okinawan views of them have changed historically. Previous studies have studied relationships between Okinawan women and military bases in the framework of “militaries and women” with women depicted as victims, but I would like to approach the lives of Okinawan women with attention to their agency.