Volume 6 Issue No.

April-June 2015

IFSSO 22ND GENERAL CONFERENCE A SUCCESS

The International Federation of
Social Science Organizations (IFSSO)
had a successful 22nd General
Conference at Seijo University in
Tokyo, Japan last May 29-31, 2015.
The theme of the conference was
Glocalization: A Social Scientific
Approach towards Social Design for
the Creation of a Multicultural Society.
Paper presenters and participants
to the Conference came from 25
countries, namely: Algeria, Australia,
Canada, China, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel,

Conference Chairman Dr. Kazuhisa Nishihara speaking in front of the

conference participants.

Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden,
Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States. This is bigger than the 19 countries
represented during the 21st General Conference in Istanbul, Turkey in 2013.

see back page...

Dr. Nestor Castro is re-elected as IFSSO President

Dr. Nestor Castro, representing the National
Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) and
the University of the Philippines (UP), was re-elected
as IFSSO President during the Federations General
Assembly last May 31, 2015 at Seijo University in
Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Castro ran unopposed as IFSSO
President.
Also elected to the IFSSO Executive Board were:
Dr. Kazuhisa Nishihara (representing the Science
Council of Japan) as First Vice President; Dr. I Ketut
Ardhana (of Udayana University, Indonesia) as
Second Vice President; Mr. Hakan Gulerce (Istanbul
University, Turkey) as Secretary General; Dr.
Mourad Moulai Hadj (University of Oran, Algeria)
Dr. Nestor Castro (left) posing with
two traditional Japanese performers.

see back page...

IFSSO 22ND GENERAL CONFERENCE A SUCCESS

cont...
Professor Anthony Elliot of the Hawke Research Institute and Professor Laurence RoulleauBerger of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) gave the keynote speeches.
Professor Elliot talked about Experimentalism in an Age of Globalization: Mobilities, Digital
World and Posthumanism while Professor Roulleau-Berger focused on Post-Western Social
Science and Glocalized Knowledge: From Asia to Europe. During the Conference, there were
two symposiums, one special lecture, two special sessions, and six parallel sessions.
51 papers were presented during the Conference aside from the two keynote speeches. This
is more than double the number of papers presented during the Istanbul Conference. Dr. Michael
Kuhn, President of the World Social Sciences and Humanities Network (World SSH Net) gave
a lecture on The Many Traps of Spatiological Theorizing: Why the Global Spatial Opposition
against Western Social Sciences is not an Opposition, but a Variation of What it Believes to
Oppose. Dr. Nestor Castro, IFSSO President, presented a paper on Syncretism, Indigenization,
Glocalization: Is there any Difference? (An Anthropological Examination of the Concept of
Glocalization.
The 22nd IFSSO General Conference was co-organized together with Seijo University,
the Faculty of Social Innovation of Seijo University, the Center for Glocal Studies also of Seijo
University, and the Science Council of Japan. The Japan Society for Asian Studies and the Institute
for Sociology in Tokyo also co-sponsored the activity.
The 23rd IFSSO General Conference is planned to be held in Oran, Algeria sometime in
2017. The theme of the conference is still to be finalized.
Dr. Nestor Castro is re-elected as IFSSO President
cont...
as Treasurer; Dr. Yekti Maunati (Indonesian Institute of Sciences) and Ms. Reda Mikalauskaite (SMK
University of Applied Social Sciences, Lithuania) as Members.
This is the third term of Dr. Castro as IFSSO President. He was first elected as President during the
IFSSO General Assembly in Batangas City, Philippines in 2011 and re-elected during the General Assembly
in Istanbul, Turkey in 2013. Prior to his election as IFSSO President in 2011, Dr. Castro served as the
Federations General Secretary. Dr. Castro is also currently the Vice Chairman of NRCPs Social Sciences
Division and the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs of UP Diliman.
The newly-elected IFSSO Executive Board members met last June 1 to finalize the venue of the next
IFSSO General Conference and General Assembly. Also attending the Executive Board meeting as Observers
were Ms. Mari Shiba ( Japan Organizing Committee of the 22nd
IFSSO General Conference), Dr. Zinaida Ilatov (IFSSO Focal
Person for Israel), and Mr. Joseph Lalo (IFSSO Focal Person for
the Philippines). The body agreed that the 23rd IFSSO General
Conference will be convened in Oran, Algeria in 2017 with the
University of Oran as the host university. Dr. Mourad Moulai
Hadj will act as the Conference Chairman. The Executive Board
also agreed to organize an International Seminar in Istanbul
sometime in 2016 and also hold the next Executive Board
meeting there.