Profile:
Yoshihiro Nakano (YOB: 1977; POB: Yamaguchi Pref., Japan).
The areas of specialisation are social philosophy and critical development studies, especially history of ideas of development discourses and grassroots alternatives. Dr. Nakano’s research consists of two parts: (1) intellectual and social history of global development and (2) global intellectual history of anti-productivist social theories and epistemologies of the south.
The first research area examines unsustainable nature of global capitalism in late modernity with a particular focus on the history of development and globalisation. It critically assesses historical development of the globalised consumerist society and its impact on economic, social, political and ecological sustainability. For this purpose, the research draws on Karly Polanyi, Ivan Illich and related social theories (e.g. Serge Latouche; Gilbert Rist; Alain Caillé; Arturo Escobar; Stefano Bartolini etc), investigating a complex form of neoliberal governmentality and its multiple effects (i.e. entropic process) such as commodification of social life, growth of inequality and precarity, decline of happiness and relational well-being, rise of post-democracy and reactionary nationalism and populism, and great acceleration of ecological crisis.
The second area explores systemic alternatives to economic globalisation, investigating diverse grassroots social innovations. Dr. Nakano is particularly interested in the evolution of anti-productivist social theories in the Global North and the Global South, especially the diversity of their cultural roots and the process of dissemination, reception and translation among different cultural and linguistic universes. His research covers postdevelopment, degrowth, social and solidarity economies, the Gandhian economics, feminist economics (especially an ethics of care), the economics of happiness, community-based economies, commons and municipalism. Recently his research examines the evolution of Japanese theory of postdevelopment and degrowth in the context of global intellectual history, especially its pertinence to epistemologies of the south.
Dr. Nakano is an instigator of degrowth and convivialism in Japan and publishes the Japanese translation of French, Spanish, Italian and English literature in the related field. The past collaborators include Serge Latouche, Jean-Louis Laville, Alain Caillé, Marc Humbert, Stefano Bartolini, Florance Jany-Catrice, José Luis Coraggio, Arturo Escobar, Ernesto Laclau and others.
Other Research Areas concerned:
Philosophy and ethics; philosophy of social science; philosophy of science and technology; history of economic thought; political theory (especially post-structuralism); ideology and discourse analysis in politics; alternative economics; postcolonialism; decolonial thought; literary criticism; anthropology of development and modernity; urban science; human geography; community studies; community design; social movement.
Educational Background:
- DPhil in Development Studies (Sussex)
- MA in Ideology and Discourse Analysis (Essex)
- BA in Economics (Waseda)
Current Position:
- Specially Appointed Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Design Studies, Rikkyo University (Tokyo, Japan) (from April 2022 to date).
Other Affiliations:
- Research Fellow at International Peace Research Institute (PRIME), Meiji Gakuin University (Tokyo, Japan).
- Visiting Fellow at Institute for Global Concern (IGC), Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan).
Teaching Experience:
History of Global Development / Doctrines of Economic Development/ Development Ethics/ North-South Relations/ Global Political Economy/ Development Education/ Peace Studies / Social Innovation/
For detail, see Researchmap
Social Activities:
- Coordinator of New Economics Study Group at The NPO Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC) (Tokyo, Japan)
- Member of Advisory Committee of The NPO Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC) (Tokyo, Japan)
- To organize public lectures and workshops in various local areas in Japan.
- To join localization movement, especially degrowth and the economics of happiness.
- To compose music with the environmental sound of various local places. For detail, see The CommunitySoundscape Murozumi.
Keywords of Research / Major Work / Publications / Photos & Topos / Contact