A Peace Education: Military Philanthropy and Feminine Friendship With a Sense of Social Distance

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 4:55 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Weaving Global and Local Perspectives Through Critical Peace Education (Table 4)

Abstract

This paper theoretically explores the idea of morally valuable social distance, a finely-balanced point at which people can get along without fighting, even in the context of political disagreements. In order to explore the idea of a good social distance and its educational meanings, the paper applies some theoretical aspects of philosophy as translation onto a specific and tough situation: interactions between locals and American military associates in Okinawa, Japan, where fundamental political disagreements have been held over the existence of American military facilities, and where the term ‘friendship’ is often used to manage the conflict. What is a good social distance? How do we maintain a social distance that prevent conflicts? What are the educational factors involved?

Author

• Kanako w Ide, Soka University