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Paul Kowert, "National Identity: Construction and Change in a Global Context"
The experimental course on "National Identity: Construction and Change in a Global Context," conducted on February 9-10 and March 18-19 was intended to introduce students at Ochanomizu University to the most prominent theories of national identity and, at the same time, to give them some "hands-on" experience conducting social science research. After listening to a condensed, two-day series of lectures on the origins of national identity, students conducted their own research experiment to understand Japanese national identity better. They developed an "adjective checklist" (a method often used in personality research) describing the characteristics of citizens, and then asked 48 subjects to describe Japanese citizens, and also to describe the Japanese state, using these adjectives. Although many of the descriptions were similar, in certain respects the image of Japanese citizens differs from that of the Japanese state. The course concluded in March with a report from students on their research and a series of lectures on the relevance of national identity.
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