“Wandering in-between: Gender, Culture, and Politics”/ YOMU: Literary Exchange and Dialogue
Ogawa Kimiyo, Intan Paramaditha, and Kristen Alfaro
The Japan Foundation（JF) held a talk session titled “Wandering in-between: Gender, Culture, and Politics,” on Friday, December 8, 2023, featuring Indonesian Author Intan Paramaditha; Kristen Alfaro, Publisher of Tilted Axis Press in the UK; and OGAWA Kimiyo, Professor at Sophia University. The session was organized under the YOMU project, which aims to promote understanding of diverse cultures and values through literary dialogue, together with the forming and expanding of networks of those concerned.
We are living in a world of overlapping systems of privilege and oppression that arise from nationality, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and other factors. Stories and narratives that reach us are often determined by these conditions, which have cast a shadow over the diversity of literary spaces and knowledge production. This may also be closely related to the question of how we understand the "others." In this dialogue, Intan Paramaditha, a feminist author who questions the unequal distribution of power and knowledge, Kristen Alfaro, a publisher who brings diverse voices through translations of Asian literature, and Ogawa Kimiyo, who has extensively written on “ethics of care” and literature, all delve into various issues that emerge at the intersection of gender, culture, and politics.How do literature and publishing address and respond to those issues? What wisdom can they offer in listening to diverse voices and the imaging of otherness?
Photos:
The Japan Foundation dinner
David Karashima, Kirsten Vida Alfaro, Intan Paramaditha, Shibasaki Tomoka, Ogawa Kimiyo, Kanako Nishi, Sawanishi Yuten