Research Projects

• Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 01 Apr. 2022 - 31 Mar. 2025, 22K00379, Women's Place and Occupations in Crime Fiction, 中川 千帆, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Nara Women's University, 2080000, 1600000, 480000, kaken

  対象リソースIRI
• Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 01 Apr. 2017 - 31 Mar. 2022, 17K02546, House and Self: the Gothic and Crime Fiction, Nakagawa Chiho, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Nara Women's University, 2210000, 1700000, 510000, The research project "Self and House" explores the connections and disjunctions between gothic novels and crime fiction, focusing on the theme of house and home. Analyzing both English and American crime fiction, from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, this research explores how the thematic of house illuminates the concept of the modern self. Another focus is how gender affects the relationship between the house and the self;that of the victim or that of the culprit, as the thematic of the house in the Gothic differs between genders. This research also is noted for discussing several female writers who were previously mostly ignored., kaken

  対象リソースIRI
• Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 28 Apr. 2011 - 31 Mar. 2015, 23720139, Illness and Healing at the Turn of the 20th Century America, NAKAGAWA Chiho, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Nara Women's University, 3510000, 2700000, 810000, This study explores the discourse in 19th and early 20th American fiction concerning the female body, in particular, how women’s health and illness are
  addressed. The novels of the writers I discuss--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wiiliam Dean Howells, Hamlin Garland, Edith Wharton, and others--reflect a wide range of 'turn of the century' views related to medicine: the etiology of physical and psychological diseases, spiritualism, materialism, New Thought cults, the role of doctors, and the newly establish profession of nursing. One of my interests is "neurasthenia," which was considered at the time to have been born out of rapid industrialization and urbanization, yet the study reveals that the novels represent the condition as arising out of unarticulated anxieties and complaints that resist uniform interpretations. My research argues that the women’s spirituality, which offered women wider social access, leads them―paradoxically―to be defined physically and materially., kaken

  対象リソースIRI
• Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 2009 - 2010, 21720093, A Study of New England Regionalists' Representations of Vampires, NAKAGAWA Chiho, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), Nara Women's University, 1300000, 1000000, 300000, This research investigates the gender politics seen in the representations of vampires, focusing primarily on the ones by New England regionalists at around the turn of the 20th century, and on the popular vampire romances today written by and targeted at women., kaken

  対象リソースIRI
• Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 2006 - 2007, 18520425, Establishment of a learner environment which promotes autonomous language study at the university level, YUKIKO USHIE; NISHIO Michiko; E.J. Schaefer; MATSUFUJI Shigeko; NAKAGAWA Chiho, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Ochanomizu University, 3810000, 3600000, 210000, To attain a high level of proficiency in communication in English, effective learning over a long period of time is absolutely necessary. With a limited number of English classes at our university, the role of self-study has become greater. Also with the reduction of the number of compulsory English classes per week in secondary education, there have been greater differences in levels of proficiency observed among the students entering universities. Given the above two conditions, this project has aimed at the construction of a prototype autonomous study program for the purpose of aiding students to carry out effective self-study.
  Two major achievements of the project are as follows :
  1. The teachers working in conjunction with this project, after making surveys/ questionnaires asking students about such items as motivation for self-study, the time they can spare for that purpose, and the media they can comfortably use, incorporated into their lessons various assistance devices and tips for students' self-study, e.g., in the form of assignments and in encouraging students to exchange/share information about the study materials they have used among friends. This greatly enhanced the motivation of the students to study English on their own.
  2. Because it has been found that there is great variation in the needs of individual students concerning the materials, the project came up with a systematized list of teaching materials students can use, depending on their levels, the skills they want to improve, and the media they can use. This list contains not only the materials available but also the comments of students upon using the materials. It has proved helpful for the students.
  The above achievements have been clearly reflected in the increase in the number of students who continue the process of self-study even after having finished taking required English classes., kaken

  対象リソースIRI