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Ms. SHIGAKI Yoshiko
Full-time Lecture, Department of Clinical Social Services
Faculty of Social Welfare, Iwate Prefectual University, Japan
email: shigaki@iwate-pu.ac.jp

Education
-1983 University of Tsukuba, Japan, College attended: Third Cluster of Colleges, College of Socio-Economic Planning, Bachelor of Social Science
1987-1989 University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Transfer Student in the Faculty of Social Science
1992-1994 Kyoto University of Foreign Studies Graduate Course, Major in Hispanic Studies master of literaly

Labor Experience:
1998- the present  Full-time Lecture, Department of Clinical Social Services, Faculty of Social Welfare, Iwate Prefectural University, Japan
1996- the present   Part -time Professor in the Tohoku University
1994-1996 Part -time Professor in the University of the Islands Ryukyu in Okinawa, Japan
1996-1997 Part -time Professor in the College of Medical Technology of the Tohoku University, Japan
1995-1996 Part -time Professor in the International University of Okinawa, Japan

Publications

Books

1) (in Japanese) “The Society and People of Puerto Rico”, Eds. Nakagawa Fumio and Mita Chiyoko, The Society and People of Latin America, Tokyo, Shinhyoron, 1995, pp.107-126.
2) (in Japanese) "A Modern Historical Perspective of Puerto Rican Women ", Ed. KUNIMOTO Iyo, The New Society and Women of Latin America, Tokyo, Shinhyoron, 2000, pp.325-344.

Articles

1) (in Japanese) “The Life and work of Julia de Burgos”, Studies in Comparative Culture, No. 19, Japan Association of Comparative Culture, Tokyo, 1992, pp.59-73.

　

2) (in Japanese) “Angeles Mastretta, Arrancame la vida: Humor ingenuo y rebeldia de Catalina”, Revista de estudios hispanicos de Kioto, Num.1, Association of the College for Graduates Students of Department of Hispanic Studies of University of the Foreign Language of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, 1992, pp.113-123.

　

3) (in Spanish) “Julia de Burgos y Yosano Akiko: Comparacion de dos poetas precursoras de la liberacion de la mujer en Puerto Rico y Japon: un estudio preliminar”, Actas del Congreso Internacional Julia de Burgos, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ateneo Puertorriqueno, 1993, pp.359-367.

　

4) (in Japanese) “The influence of the United States on the Puerto Rican feminism”, Revista de estudios hispanicos de Kioto, No.2, Kyoto, Japan, 1994, pp.47-54.

　

5) (in Japanese) “Julia de Burgos en lo politico y literario”, Revista de estudios hispanicos de Kioto, No.3, Kyoto, Japan, 1995, pp.69-78.

　

6) (in Japanese) “Julia de Burgos and New York”, Studies of Latin America and Caribbean, No.3, Association of investigators of Latin America and Caribbean of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, 1996, pp.79-84.

　

7) (in Spanish) “El ser y el erotismo en el contexto del feminismo en la literatura femenina moderna: Julia de Burgos y Yosano Akiko, la comparacion de dos poetas precursoras de la liberacion de la mujer en Puerto Rico y Japon”, Homines, Vol. 19, Num. 2, Vol. 20, Num. 1, febrero-diciembre de 1996, Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, San Juan de Puerto Rico, pp.287-310.

　

8)  (in Japanese) “Teaching Method about the society and the culture of Latin America and Caribbean, and materials audiovisual: effect and problem to use the materials audiovisual for the Japanese students”, Studies of Latin America and Caribbean, No.4, Association of investigators of Latin America and Caribbean of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, 1997, pp.81-86.

　

9)．(in Spanish) "Julia de Burgos en lo politico y literario" , Revista del Ateneo Puertorriqueno, Ano IV, Num.10-11-12, Enero-Diciembre de 1994 （ published in 1997） , San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ateneo Puertorriqueno, pp. 270-280.　

　

10) With others, (in Japanese) "Evaluation on Communicative Skill Using Digital Pictures and Feedback to the Students", Education and Media, the Research Group of Education and Media, No. 1, October 2002, pp.25-33.

　

11)．(in Japanese) "Establishment of law for women and feminism : Politics for Women and feminism in Puerto Rico after the 1970s", Language and Culture, No.2, Center for Language and Culture Education and Research, 2000, pp.61-74.

　

１2) (in Japanese) "Feminism and Domestic Violence in Puerto Rico", Bulletin of the Faculty of Social Welfare, Vol. 2, No. 2, March, 2000, Iwate Prefectual University, pp.13-21.

　 (summary) Since the 1970s, the Puerto Rican feminism has become active, and in the 1980s it had a lively movement against domestic violence. This is because in Puerto Rican society domestic violence is one of the most serious problems that are violence.
They are of great urgency. At the same time, violence against women is a reflection of the deep structures of sexal and economic inequality in society. The society expects men to carry out their patriarchal role in their domestic sphere. And the abuse toward women can be seen as a representation of male power. So the domestic violence has become a big issue of feminism.

　

13) (in Japanese) "Global Women's Movement and Feminism: the case of Japanese government's policy for women"Bulletin of the Faculty of Social Welfare, Vol. 3, No. 1, September, 2000, Iwate Prefectual University, pp.21-29.

　(summary) In this paper I will discuss why domestic violence became a main concern of the Japanese government's policy for women all of a sudden in the late 1990s. In the United States and Europe domestic violence had been recognized as one of the most serious problems based on sexual discrimination since 1970s, however, the Japanexe government did not pay attention to this issue. I would like to emphasize the fact that the United Nations took up this problem in the early
1990s and that the UN Forth World Conference on Women in 1995 focused on it. These organizational efforts caused the Japanese government's policy change.

　

14) (in Japanese) "The History of Puerto Rican Community in the United States and Identity", Bulletin of the Faculty of Social Welfare, Vol. 3, No. 2, March, 2001, Iwate Prefectual University, pp.23-32.

(summary) In this paper I would like to discuss the identity of Puerto Rican People in the United States. Since 1898 Puerto Rico has been a US territory and since 1917 Puerto Ricans have had US citizenship. This fact has caused many Puerto Ricans to emigrate to the mainland. Now Puerto Rican emigrants’ population on the mainland is on a level with the homeland, Puerto Rico.

With the growth of Puerto Rican emigrants to the US, the image of being Puerto Rican has been changing. Now, not all Puerto Ricans speak Spanish and love the Puerto Rican dishes. We can say that Puerto Rican identity has been changing as society has changed.

　

15. (in Japanese) "Julia de Burgos’ English Poem: Why did Julia de Burgos Write Poem in English?", Language and Culture, No.3, Center for Language and Culture Education and Research, 2001, 2, pp.51-60.


(summary) The purpose of this study is to investigate why Julia de Burgos wrote poems in English at the last stage of her life in New York..

Julia de Burgos is the most popular poet of Puerto Rico. She expressed her pride about being a Puerto Rican woman in her poetry. But she wrote some poems in English at the last stage of her life in New York in order to express the agony of her life in New York City. To express her feelings about New York City, she chose not to write poems in Spanish but in English. In this way she makes an impression on us with her suffering: “her cry into the world, her farewell to Welfare Island and farewell to the world”.


１6．(in Japanese) "Music as Symbol of Ethinic Culture: New York and Hispanic", Bulletin of the Faculty of Social Welfare, Vol. 4, No. 1, September, 2001, Iwate Prefectual University, pp.11-18.


In this paper I discuss why Latin peoples' music exploded in the US at the end of the 20th century.
I point out, in addition to the increase in the Hispanic population in US, that a new Hispanic generation whose identity differs from their parents, is
now growing up in American society. This young generation created a new music wave according to their lifestyle that blends their original Hispanic
culture and America's. The Latin Pop explosion was born connecting Latin rythm with Ameircan entertainment industries. The rythm had originated
in Latin culture and has evolved from the original music.


１7．(in Spanish) "Julia de Burgos y el amor que da razon de si", Language and Culture, No.4, Center for Language and Culture Education and Research, 2002, pp.47-54.

Resumen
Cuando se habla del afan de justicia social de Julia, muchas veces se refiere a los poemas del primer poemario o a las obras mas agitadoras publicadas en la prensa. Entonces, ?no eran politicas las obras del mundo amoroso? Hasta ahora se ha afirmado que los poemas amorosos no eran tan simples, sino que hablan de la agonia del amor, la busqueda de si misma, declara su identidad firme, etc. Con todo, creemos que los poemas amorosos de Julia no solo mostraron lo profundo del amor y la vida sino que alzaron la voz contra la discriminacion femenina. En este sentido tienen una tendencia mas politica.
Es cierto que el amor supremo no se asegura una solucion que determine la situacion de la mujer. Al final de sus poemas la poeta misma se encontraba desesperada, pues su ideal no fue captado por el hombre, ni por el mundo actual. Sin embargo podemos evaluar en muchas de sus obras liricas como un punto de partida del alzamiento femenino. Nos damos cuenta de que Julia buscaba la esencia de su existencia en el amor y eso conduce a liberarse a una atada a la sociedad convencional. Y lleva hasta la idea de la liberacion del sexo que surgio como una lema del movimiento feminismo de los anos setenta considerando la determinacion del cuerpo de la mujer. La tarea de renovarlo es trabajo de nosotras las mujeres.


１8) (in Japanese) "Emigrants, Politics and Women: Puerto Rican Women Migrants in the US", Bulletin of the Faculty of Social Welfare, Vol. 4, No. 2, March, 2002, Iwate Prefectual University, pp.9-18..


In this paper I would like to discuss how female Puerto Rican migrants have played an important role in the Puerto Rican community in the US. With the growth of the Puerto Rican emigrant population in the US, their community has become well established.
Female Puerto Rican worked to survive in this society by working and fighting in their daily lives. Their political influence is not visible on the national political scene but their influence is felt in grass roots movements and in "women of color" movements.
We can say their activity penetrates minority movements and through this they are changing US society.



　

19. (in Spanish) "Las migrantes puertorriquenas en la politica de Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico", the JCAS Symposium Series、Emigracion Latinoamericana: Comparacion Interregional entre America del Norte, Euripa y Japon, The Japan Center for Area Studies, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan, 11-13 de diciembre de 2001,

Summary Puerto Rican Women Migrants in the US and Puerto Rican Politics, SHIGAKI, Yoshiko (Iwate Prefectural University)

The purpose of this study is to investigate how female Puerto Rican migrants affect the politics of the US and Puerto Rico.
Female Puerto Rican migrants have played an important role in the Puerto Rican community in the US. Women have supported their families by working in the textile and tobacco industries, as well as struggling for welfare benefits and the right to bilingual education. What kind of political effect have these women had in the US and in Puerto Rico?
Until now, their influence has not been large in US politics on the national stage or in Puerto Rican politics. However, the influence of Puerto Rican women is felt in grass roots movements and in women of color movements. They have also added their latina perspective to the mainly white middle class American feminist movement just as women from other parts of the developing world have.
We feel that more in-depth study of Puerto Rican women in the US should be done and in future research would like to investigate Puerto Rican feminist activities further. In particular, we would like to compare the activities of Puerto Rican women with those of other Latin women in the US.


Research Note

１．“Colaboraci?n de las feministas puertorrique?as en el problema de la violencia dom?stica”tudies of Latin America and Caribbean, No.9, Association of investigators of Latin America and Caribbean of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan, 2002, pp.50-64.

Book Review

1) “Angeles Mastretta, Arrancame la vida: La reberdia inconsciente del protagonista Catalina”, Exegesis, Ano 7, Num. 21, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Humacao, Pueerto Rico, 1995, pp.63-66.

　

Research theme Puerto Rican Contemporary Feminism and National Identity

(this research received a fund of the Japanese governmental foundation for research for three years, 2001.April-2004.March)

1) What and how far will we get with this research?

In Puerto Rico in the 1980s, women's organizations cooperated and took action to establish a law against domestic violence, making it a criminal offence. During this process of struggle, various women's groups of differing interests and opinions came together and cooperated to achieve this special goal. This process made it clear that the established political parties' policies were not responding to women's issues. This tendency is still continuing. For example, feminists have criticized the movement against the US military base in Vieques, saying that the political parties and intellectuals are analyzing the US colonialism issue without including women and thus they have little understanding of the different viewpoints of women.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how the main political issue of Puerto Rico's colonial status affects feminism in Puerto Rico and among Puerto Ricans in New York, as well as how feminism has changed with that influence. Also I would like to show how Puerto Rican contemporary feminism affects the political structure of established parties and national identity.

In particular, I would like to examine how national identity has been treated in the discussion of feminism after the 1980s. At this time, criticism against the status quo had spread and the notion of a Puerto Rican "nation" was being considered as just one of various opinions. Thus this research will contribute to the examination of relationship between gender and nationalism.

2) academic originality, expected conclusion and significance of this research

The colonial issue of Puerto Rico, where people have their original culture and language being US citizens, is the main political issue - commonwealth, statehood or independence. This research is a case study about feminism in a society where there is "unfinished" de-colonization, and it would contribute to form a theory about the relationship between gender and nationalism. It especially has a possibility to propose a different theory not falling into the theory of developed Western countries versus developing countries, because Puerto Ricans have a special condition of being US citizens.

3) the importance of this research

This research focuses on feminism that is growing rapidly in the minority’s group of a sovereign nation or on feminism at the outskirts of a sovereign nation. This kind of research is lacking for Japanese gender and feminist investigations. And this research differs from former studies because it has the possibility to propose differed viewpoints from studies about women of developing countries, researched by investigators of developed Western countries.

This research contributes to evolving gender theory in the globalizing world, offering one viewpoint based on objective research and analysis taking advantage of being a Japanese researcher who is relatively free from the political conflict of Puerto Rico.

research schedule

2001.

to examine how national identity has been treated in the discussion of feminism after the 1980s I'll research by interviewing investigators of womens studies and women activists in the Northeastern US where many Puerto Ricans are living.

2002.

I'll investigate in Puerto Rico. In 1998 I was researching there about women's movements. This time I'll focus on the relationship between women's movements and colonial domination concerning the movement protesting US military trainig in Vieques that caused the death of one citizen.

2003

this year I'll draw conclusions from the research

Presentation and publications schedule

Obligation

2004.March

to submit a report of the research to the Japanese Government Academic Progress Foundation --- this report will be put into the National Diet Library in Tokyo

others

2002.6 to present this research at the Conference of Japanese American Studies Association
2003.3 to present this research at the Conference of Latin American Studies Association
2003.6 to present this research at the Conference of Japanese Women's Studies Association

publications

To publish in the Iwate Prefectual University's journals that circulate among researchers (these jounals are not so public, they circle almost exclusively inside the university )

to publish in some academic journals in Japan and the US (conditional on acceptance)

The purpose of this research is to investigate what kind of political effect Puerto Rican women have in the US and how national identity has been treated in the discussion of Puerto Rican feminist living in US.

Female Puerto Rican migrants have played an important role in the Puerto Rican community in the US. Women have supported their families by working, as well as struggling for welfare benefits and the right to bilingual education etc. Until now, their influence has not been large in US politics on the national stage. However, the influence of Puerto Rican women is felt in grass roots movements and in women of color movements. They have also added their latina perspective to the mainly white middle class American feminist movement, just as women from other parts of the developing world have. They consider the reality of women from various countries and various ethnicities. Therefore they have contributed a new paradigm to US feminism. At the same time they are affected by US society. In this research I would also like to investigate how their identity is changing.

This research is a case study about feminism in a society where there is "unfinished" de-colonization, and it would contribute to form a theory about the relationship between gender, politics and nationalism. It especially has the possibility of proposing a different theory, not falling into the theory of developed Western countries versus developing countries, because Puerto Ricans have the special status of being US citizens.

Contemporary Puerto Rican Feminism and National Identity
    The purpose of this research is to investigate (through personal interviews) what kind of political effect Puerto Rican women have in the US and how national identity has been treated in the discussion of Puerto Rican feminists living in US.

a) What is the problem to be addressed, its background, and particularly its importance beyond the immediate interests of the specific field of study.

   The purpose of this research is to investigate what kind of political effect Puerto Rican women have in the US and how national identity has been treated in the discussion of Puerto Rican feminists living in US.
   The Puerto Ricans migration to the US mainland started in the second half of the 19th century. In 1917 Puerto Ricans were given US civil rights by the Jones Act. After that Puerto Rican migrants to the US mainland increased rapidly. Now 3 million Puerto Ricans live on the mainland and 3 and a half million people live on the island Puerto Rico. These two societies and the US society are affecting each other. However evaluation concerning their influence on the political stage is not clear. They are just be coming visible in the US society along with the empowerment of Hispanics. Hispanic members and women empowerment is an important and particular factor in understanding US society.
   Female Puerto Rican migrants have played an important role in the Puerto Rican community. Women have supported their families by working in the textile and tobacco industries, as well as struggling for welfare benefits and the right to bilingual education etc. This research focuses on feminism that is growing rapidly in the minority’s group of a sovereign nation or on feminism at the outskirts of a sovereign nation. Are Puerto Rican women changing US society with other Hispanic people and minorities? Struggling to survive, Puerto Rican women have their experience. Do they contribute it to the US politics and also to the Puerto Rican politics? What kind of influence does their experience have on politics and their national identity?
    The colonial issue of Puerto Rico, where people have their original culture and language while also being US citizens, is the main political issue - commonwealth, statehood or independence. Does Puerto Rican women's experience influence it or their national identity? This research is a case study about feminism in a society where there is "unfinished" de-colonization, and it would contribute to form a theory about the relationship between gender and nationalism. It especially has a possibility to propose a different theory not falling into the theory of developed Western countries versus developing countries, because Puerto Ricans have a special condition of being US citizens.

b) What are your basic ideas and hypotheses concerning the problem

   Until now, Puerto Rican women's influence has not been large in US politics on the national stage. However, the influence of Puerto Rican women is felt in grass roots movements and in women of color movements. They have also added their latina perspective to the mainly white middle class American feminist movement, just as women from other parts of the developing world have. They consider the reality of women from various countries and various ethnicities. Therefore they have contributed a new paradigm to US feminism.
   At the same time they are affected by US society regarding their natinal identity. Living in the US mainland as US civilians their experience caused diversity of their identity and it is affecting the politics of the island and their community's politics. Some Puerto Ricans don't view the political status of the island as the most important factor in political discussions. I suspect that women have this tendency more than men, because women are often excluded from political power.

c) What are methods of approaches and timetable

   Before leaving Japan I will use my contacts in the Puerto Rican community to develop a list of interview subjects in the US. These will include female politicians and activists mainly living in the Northeastern US. The primary method of my research will be oral interviews. As well I will visit University Women's Studies departments and other facilities with relevant materials. When I return to Japan I will summarize and publish findings.

d) What materials will you use

interviews, oral histories, papers, books, articles, newspapers

e) Expected contributions to the field or profession

   This kind of research that deals with minorities is lacking in Japanese gender and feminist investigations. And this research would contribute to form a theory about the relationship between gender, politics and nationalism.
   This research contributes to evolving gender theory in the globalizing world. I can offer a viewpoint based on objective research and analysis taking advantage of being a Japanese researcher who is uninvolved in the political conflict of Puerto Rico. Especially concerning politics or national identity, the conflict is so serious that it would difficult to interview a person who has a different idea. However it is easy to collect different ideas for Japanese interviewers who are considered outside of the political conflict.
   Also this research will contribute to more deeply understanding US society and how it is changing due to the increasing number of Hispanic members. It will also show a glimpse of women empowerment that is an important and particular factor in US society.