Temple University, Japan Campus hosts the inaugural Mosse Lecture in Tokyo, launching a globally respected public lecture series that brings leading scholars into conversation around major social and political issues. This first Japan-based lecture examines human migration in the 21st century with a focus on elite mobility, offering a fresh perspective on citizenship, inequality and global movement.

The Mosse Lectures have been held at universities around the world since the late 1990s and are known for encouraging open intellectual exchange beyond academic audiences. The Tokyo lecture is free and open to the public and will be delivered in English, welcoming students, researchers and members of the wider community interested in global affairs and social change.

Speaker

The lecture is delivered by Kristin Surak, Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the London School of Economics. Her research spans migration, nationalism and Japanese politics and draws on extensive fieldwork conducted across more than 20 countries.

For this lecture, she explores how elite mobility, including citizenship by investment, is reshaping traditional understandings of migration and globalization. The talk challenges conventional migration frameworks and highlights how these shifts reflect broader economic and social transformations. The session includes moderation and commentary by scholars based in Tokyo, followed by audience discussion.