This planned research aims to study both the relationship between social identity and the state, which supports a broad expansion and contraction of networks based on social bonds in small areas, and changes in the normative consciousness that supports nations and social movements. Then, we will clarify points such as how the identity of communities, which is affiliated to traditional social ties (ethnicity, a sense of shared territory, family relations, religion, sects, tribes, etc.), are transformed and mobilized within the national network, or whether it functions by transcending or dividing the national network.

In recent years in international society there has been a noticeable chauvinism, an exclusion against others, which can also be called hate. Frequently, the traditional social identity is emphasized in an authentic way, and national claims and religious legitimacy are given to exclusionary acts. This shows the modern significance of identity research.

The purpose of this research project is to clarify the connections between the transformation of national and sub-national identities, political change, and social movements using interdisciplinary analysis combining political science, historical studies, cultural anthropology, and literature, etc. Above all, in the process of the political mobilization of identity, there is a large role played by symbols in arousing identity and mobilization, and we will perform our analysis with particular attention to this point.

In particular, we will cover cases from Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa, and analyze (1) the coexistence and inconsistency between the formation of nationalism and sub-national identity, (2) the relationship and alteration of identity and social networks highlighted through non-verbal symbols such as pictures, music, and video; (3) the relationship between socio-economic transformation and conflict, and conflict-based identity change.

Characteristic features of this research are the recognition of the limitations of institutional approaches, rational choice approaches, which have been the mainstream in social science in recent years, regarding exclusionary trends among diverse identities and exclusiveness in conflicts and their political and social movements. Our research dares to focus on non-institutional subjects and emphasize the approach of literature and cultural anthropology. Yamamoto examines the new identity generated by the 2011 street protest movements in Arab countries, especially in Egypt, and the influence it has had on political and social movements from the perspective of literary research. Using historical studies, Obiya discusses the issue of the women's liberation movement and veil abandonment in relation to modernization and Islamic identity. From the perspective of historical politics, Fukuda analyzes the role of symbol manipulation in maintaining an authoritarian regime regarding the relationship between identities and social networks that are highlighted through non-verbal symbols, taking as an example Eastern European countries in the 1960s.

Similarly, we have had Nambu join us as our research collaborator to perform symbol analysis in Palestine under Israeli occupation. Regarding the relationship between conflict and identity, Sakai, the project leader, analyzes the radicalization of religious identity under conflict in places such as Iraq from the framework of political science, and Sagawa analyzes the relation between conflict and African herders' sense of belonging to the land from the perspective of cultural anthropology.