The study of cultural resources, from which this course takes its name, is a new area of academic inquiry that has been the subject of systematic research since the beginning of the 21st century. The term “cultural asset” generally tends to be thought of in terms of archaeological and historic sites and famous works of art, including items of cultural heritage typified by national treasures and important cultural properties. Other graduate schools with similarly named courses do indeed tend to focus their education and research activities on approaches to documenting and preserving these kinds of cultural assets. In contrast, Cultural Resources at OCU finds value in resources in a much wider range of cultural assets, providing students with the opportunity to consider theory and practice for the purpose of actively utilizing cultural assets in society.
This Cultural Resources course takes a wide range of cultural resources as objects of study. In addition to cultural heritage and other historical and artistic assets as mentioned above, within the scope of our inquiry we include the most recent cultural products that are in the process of being created in the present. Students will not only study cultural phenomena in terms of tangible objects that are within the scope of art history (i.e., paintings, sculptures, and architecture) and within the scope of geography and urban planning (i.e., historical cityscapes) but also intangible cultural phenomena such as theatrical performance in Asia and the West, drama performances, art projects, workshops, and sightseeing guided tours. Specifically, students will progress with their research with a focus on cultural resources related to the arts (especially fine art, music, and theater) and tourism (tourism and regional development), as well as the planning and practice needed for leveraging these kinds of cultural assets within communities.
An outline of the main modules offered in this course is provided below. Cultural Management Studies C is a joint module with the Department of Cultural Management, which provides master’s students with fundamental knowledge in the research fields and methods of the course. There are also lectures and seminar modules in specialist areas of the course, such as International Cultural Resource Studies, Art and Cultural Resource Studies, Tourism and Cultural Resource Studies, and Social and Practical Cultural Resource Studies. These specialist modules will provide students with a wide range of knowledge regarding approaches to cultural resources and their utilization and guidance in methods for handling cultural resources. Doctoral students will receive support with their research activities as they work toward writing a doctoral thesis, primarily through the modules Specialized Study of Cultural Resources and Supervision of Doctoral Thesis in Cultural Resource Study.
Our faculty staff have expertise in a range of specialist fields, including theater studies, representational culture theory, art history, museum studies, tourism, sociology, art therapy, and art management. Graduate students in the course have similarly diverse backgrounds and research interests, and many of them are mature students. A main feature of the course is that it provides an educational and research environment with a focus on interdisciplinarity and information exchange centered on cultural resources as a unifying theme, while also having a solid grounding in traditional fields of academic inquiry.
Staff
| Professor Akihiro Odanaka | Professor Akihiro Odanaka deals with research focusing on theories of representational culture, especially comparative historical research of French and Western theater, and exploring the characteristics of theatrical expression. He teaches modules including International Cultural Resource Studies. |
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| Professor Mayumi Sugawara | Professor Mayumi Sugawara deals with research focusing on Japanese art history, especially early modern and modern ukiyo-e prints, cultural resource theory, and museology. Before joining the faculty staff, she worked as a museum curator. She teaches modules including Art and Cultural Resource Studies. |
| Associate Professor Keita Amano | Associate Professor Keita Amano deals with research focusing on the study of tourism, especially urban tourism, new styles of tourism, and the relationship between the media and tourism-related activity from a sociological and cultural perspective. He also teaches modules including Tourism and Cultural Resource Studies. |
| Associate Professor Rii Numata | Associate Professor Rii Numata deals with research on clinical musicology, especially the possibilities of music therapy and improvisational music. She plans and practices music-themed workshops such as Otoasobi Kobo, mainly in Kobe. She teaches modules including Social and Practical Cultural Resource Studies. |