Tohoku Gakuin University

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  5. Learning Together: Faculty Introduction
  6. KUROSAKA, Ai Professor

Faculty of Economics Department of Co-existing Society Studies

Recruitment stopped in April 2023

For all students enrolled in faculties and departments that will cease accepting new students, we will ensure that they maintain their affiliation with their chosen department and the educational environment there until graduation. We, the faculty and staff, will also fulfill our responsibility to provide support for their student life, career paths, and job placement.

Faculty Introduction

KUROSAKA, Ai Professor

Specialized fields
  • Sociology (Research on discrimination issues, life story interviews)
Research Keywords
  • Qualitative research methods (interviews and participant observation), the leprosy issue, and issues surrounding nuclear disaster evacuation.
Courses taught
  • Contemporary Social Issues, Contemporary Society and Discrimination, Fundamentals of Fieldwork, Fieldwork IIc, Basic Seminar, Seminars I, II, and III
Representative works
  • Fighting Prejudice in Japan: The Families of Hansen's Disease Patients Speak Out, Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2019
  • Edited by the Nagadoro Records Editorial Committee, "Nagadoro: A Hometown We Can't Return To—Memories of the Difficult-to-Return Zone in Iitate Village," Fuyo Shobo Publishing, 2016 (responsible for the interview portion).
  • "Stories of Families of Leprosy Patients," Seori Shobo, 2015.
Message from the teacher

My research has focused on social and discrimination issues in Japan, particularly the leprosy issue and the Buraku discrimination issue. Specifically, I employ methods such as "participant observation," where I visit "the field" and work alongside people in social minority positions, keeping daily records, and "life story research," where I listen to their stories about their life journeys.

The narratives of minority individuals offer us profound insights. They reveal the existence of social oppression and exclusion, often invisible from the daily lives of those in the social majority. They showcase the rich lives of those who have survived these circumstances. They reveal the diverse ways in which individuals exist... In this lecture, I want to cherish the opportunity to "encounter" the lives of those directly affected.

I hope that students will cultivate a rich sensitivity to diversity and the ability to think about social issues in relation to themselves.

Faculty website (off-campus)

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