Leiden University Student Repository

Meens, Bram Indalo (2024)

“This Dormitory is not a toy!”: How Kyoto University’s Yoshida Dormitory unifies activism with civic service provision

Master thesis | Asian Studies (120 EC) (MA)

This research focuses on the relationship between political activism and civic service provision for Kyoto University’s Yoshida Dormitory. It does this by analyzing the impact of the civil lawsuit that Kyoto University has filed against Yoshida Dormitory. In summary, the Dormitory shows that we can no longer maintain the black-and-white distinction between the underground left-wing activist and the passive, non-political CSOs. Instead, the Dormitory is both: dynamic in pursuing multiple goals simultaneously and effective as a welfare-oriented group because it engages in advocacy. This is not a contradiction: the Dormitory’s inherent illegitimacy, the rebelliousness as a relic of the radical past, is vital to the welfare functions.

Civic service, civil society, student protests, activism

Author

Meens, Bram Indalo

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Japan

Supervisors

Jentzsch, Hanno

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en