Sorry for the late notice, but some of you might be interested in this month's session of the social science dissertation workshop. This time features a change of pace after several political science sessions, to environmental history from a science and technology angle. On December 9,* we will hear from Colin Tyner, PhD candidate in history at UC Santa Cruz, who is currently at Todai and is about to start writing his dissertation.

His project, "The Nature of Labor in the Ogasawara Islands," examines the environmental history of a group of subtropical islands located approximately 1000 km from central Tokyo. He says that it "could be described as an unofficial biography of the islands . .
. based on how settlers, sojourners and scientists experienced the nature of the islands." He argues that "settlement on the islands not only brought changes to the kind of labor that people did but also to the relationships that they had with the natural world they encountered." He is eager to try out this approach and get your reactions.

I'd appreciate hearing from you about whether you will be coming to this session or not, although advance notice is not necessary. And I'll send you more information on the workshop if you are interested.

John Campbell

*Our meetings start at noon; the ISS provides coffee and tea and you are welcome to bring an obentou. The location is a seminar room on the 5th floor in the
Akamon General Research (Sougou Kenkyuu) Building. It
is to the right after you come through Akamon. For a
map, go to:

http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/campusmap/cam01_08_02_e.html