Details of the Initiative

Global environmental problems are not merely natural phenomena. They arose from human thought and concepts of values. Humans are responsible in the first place, whether it is marine pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, or environmental pollution caused by radioactive materials.

Therefore, at a time when addressing global environmental issues is an urgent issue, it is extremely important and even inevitable for us to consider the fundamental questions regarding human thought, that is, the meaning, value, responsibility, and purpose of humans. Traditionally, these questions have been studied in various fields of the humanities. However, in the 21st century, when the situation has become so tense that “the limits of the earth” were indicated, a movement called “environmental humanities” has become active to reconsider humans, the environment, society, and the earth, from a fundamental and interdisciplinary perspective.

Meiji University Graduate School of Science and Technology’s Course in Places, Arts and Consciousness of the Architecture and Urbanism Program established a credit transfer program under the theme of “environmental humanities” in collaboration with Aoyama Gakuin University’s Department of English and American Literature of the Graduate School of Literature, and Rikkyo University’s Department of Intercultural Communication of the Graduate School of Intercultural Communication. The program launched in academic year 2024. This is a modest initiative, but I hope that it will produce leaders of the next generation who will create new knowledge and put it into practice to solve problems.

There are currently five teachers in Meiji University Graduate School’s Course in Places, Arts and Consciousness of the Architecture and Urbanism Program.
Felix Guattari, “The Three Ecologies” (Heibonsha Library, 2008) It was originally a lecture given in 1989. Guattari identified the next generation’s challenge as the creation of ecosophy, a new form of knowledge that links three ecologies: environmental, social, and mental ecology. Environmental humanities are certainly a response to that challenge.
Tadami-gawa River in winter (2022, Onuma-gun, Fukushima) As the Japanese archipelago has diverse natural features, “environmental knowledge” containing unique regional characteristics has been cultivated in each region. Reconsidering such themes is one of the tasks of the environmental humanities.
KURATA Takashi, “Mingei no Inthimashi – ‘Itooshisa’ wo Dezain Suru” (The Intimacy of Mingei: Designing “Fond Feeling”), Meiji University Press, 2015 As a pioneering example of the environmental humanities, the author reexamines the creation of the concept “Mingei,” which dates back 100 years.