Environmental Change Workshop Series
The Environmental Change Workshop (ECW) is a hub/arena for discussing on-campus issues related to environmental change that transcends university courses. It is designed to engage graduate students, researchers, professors, experts, and individuals passionate about driving ecological change.
Why do we exist?
Purpose
Our goal is to gather independent people interested in social-ecological relations. We aim to better equip them, exchange ideas, and engage them in discussions that can lead to tangible social change, particularly through our platform for discussions on political ecology and public debate in Japan.
Format
ECW workshop series on climate mitigation, agrarian and environmental change, agriculture and food, and sustainability topics is held twice a semester. KASA Sustainability organizes and hosts a two-session event that consists of a reading workshop and a speaker, which encourages participants to learn and share their knowledge.
Gatherings
The ECW Reading Workshop is a casual gathering of like-minded people who discuss the theme of the ECW Speaker Workshop. The speaker selects and recommends the readings, and the participants are encouraged to read the following works to gain a richer understanding of the speaker workshop.
Collaboration
With support from the Sophia University Graduate Program in Global Studies and as part of the Political Ecology Network, we aim to create a conducive space for researchers and students to exchange ideas, discuss and promote research; expand graduate student access to resources to collaborate, support and publish about climate change mitigation and food research.
GSGS Workshop + KASA Writeshop
ECW｜Fall 2026
Politics of Knowledge Production
Important discussions are emerging on the need to rethink development policies and practices, including the worldviews and values embodied within them. The participants in this writeshop recognize that this need has never been felt more strongly than in the context of the polycrisis—the complex, nonlinear interactions of simultaneous social-ecological crises—around the world. To tackle wicked problems, it is imperative to shift our worldviews and values toward pluriversal ones by democratizing our knowledge systems. Democratizing knowledge systems means recognizing diverse values—freeing progress from control, centralization, and standardization. Crucially, the politics of knowledge production is intimately related to ways of knowing—that is, the ways we conceptualize the world—which in turn structure how we respond politically through policies and governance. Drawing on interdisciplinary approaches, this writeshop contributes to these important discussions by examining various ways of knowing.
Program
SCHEDULE
SESSION 1: GSGS WORKSHOP
The Various Ways of Knowing: Transdisciplinary
Dialogues on Knowledge, Land, and People
Discussants: Yoshihiro Nakano, Saturnino Jun M. Borras.
Chairperson: Takeshi Ito.
13:30 – 13:40 Opening Remarks
Welcome remarks with the Dean of the Graduate School of Global Studies; Agenda overview, workshop structure, and house rules; A brief introduction of participants – presenters and commentators.
13:40 – 14:25 Presenters 1 & 2
Paper 1: Samuel Amorim
Paper 2: Hanna Yogar
Comments
Q&A
14:25 – 14:35 Break
14:35 – 15:15 Presenters 3 & 4
Paper 3: Beatrice Melo
Paper 4: Sinwa Naw
Comments
Q&A
15:15 - 15:25 Closing Remarks
Wrap up the afternoon presentations, thank the invited commentator, and invite guests and participants to the writeshop.
15:25 – 15:35 Break
SESSION 2: KASA WRITESHOP
The Politics of Knowledge Production
15:35 – 15:40 Introductory Setup
Brief overview of the writeshop format and introduction of Jun Borras.
15:40 – 16:05 Talk
Jun Borras talk framing this session.
16:05 – 16:55 Paper Feedback
Paper 5: Presentation Shoko Yamada
Paper 6: Presentation Camille Kate Ancheta
Peer & commentator feedback on Shoko Yamada & Camille Kate Ancheta Papers.
16:55 – 17:05 Break
17:05 – 17:35 Paper Feedback
Peer & commentator feedback on Samuel Amorim & Hanna Yogar Papers.
17:35 – 17:45 Break
17:45 – 18:15 Paper Feedback
Peer & commentator feedback on Beatrice Melo & Sinwa Naw Papers.
18:15 – 18:25 Session 2 Closing Remarks