Early-Career Scholar Forum

“Workplace-making” for inclusion of social minorities in farm settings: findings from Canada and Japan

Date
Friday, 17 June 2022 | 12:15 - 13:00 (JST)
Venue
Zoom Meeting
Language
English
Speakers
  • Akane Bessho Assistant professor in the Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo
Moderator
  • Sawako Shirahase TCJS Director
Event Description

In recent years, community gardens and farms are implemented in cities as means for promoting education, social interaction, and employment for diverse community members, including various social minorities. In Canada, immigrants have been playing key roles in the community garden movement. In Japan, there has been a nationwide movement called noufuku-renkei, a program which aims to promote work inclusion of persons with disabilities in the agricultural sector. What characterizes these programs is that the social minorities, who are often stigmatized as “recipients” of welfare in the society, are presented as significant members who have capabilities to take active roles by demonstrating their aptitudes and skills needed to support agricultural production and businesses. By taking community-based agricultural organizations in Canada and Japan, this presentation explores key management characteristics of agricultural activities that promote social minorities’ “role quest” and discusses implications for realizing an inclusive society through the lens of “workplace-making.”

About the Speaker

Akane Bessho is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo. Her research interests include landscape planning, particularly in the field of urban agriculture, inclusive cities, and non-profit organization management that connects the two. She received a Master’s in sustainability science from the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science – Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI), Environmental Studies Graduate School of Frontier Sciences in 2018, and a Ph.D in Engineering from the Department of Urban Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo in 2022.