Institute of Global Concern
The Institute of Global Concern (IGC) was established in April 2010 with a
mission to conduct research from a global perspective, on a range of issues that
threaten the dignity and solidarity of humans to provide opportunities for the
conscientization of students and the public through its research output, and to
engage in activities with an aim to realize another, better world. We thus hope
to renew and build on the traditions of“the Sophia school”that grapples with
the real problems of poverty and violence –“with Others”— in difference to the
naively“objectivist”and conformist tendencies of mainstream social science
today.
The IGC was built through the reorganization of the Institute for the Study of
Social Justice, which was originally founded in April 1981 and actively engaged
in refugee relief efforts.
Principal Activities
- Research on issues related to poverty, violence, and discrimination in the globalizing world.
- Conscientization activities through symposia, public seminars, study groups, and book fairs.
- Coordinate a variery of programs collaborating with students, such as study group on the Great East Japan Earthquake and the recovery in Tohoku area.
- Collaboration with other institutes and groups to strengthen the social dimension of the university.
- Dissemination of research output and information through the internet and publications.
- Creation of an online archive that brought together the requests to the government that were issued by various civil society groups that engage with the vulnerable population during the COVID-19 pandemic.