Addressing Trauma and Enhancing Well-Being Through Environmental and Creative Projects From Japan and Cambodia

• In Event: International Perspectives on Cultivating Justice and Hope Through Well-Being Promotion in Educational Settings

Abstract

Turning to perspectives from Cambodia and Japan, this comparative study highlights some of the holistic education methods being utilized after natural disaster (in the case of Japan) and genocide and violent conflict (in the case of Cambodia.) Through intentional processes in both cases, educators integrate arts and environmental experiential education to engage with students both inside the classroom and within the local communities. With the Cambodian context, the influence of Theravada Buddhism is explored within the Phare Ponleu Selpak Performing Arts School in Battambang. The paper will highlight the arts-based educational initiatives taking place that are designed to foster cross generational healing in the wake of collective trauma caused by decades of violent civil wars and the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge genocide. In the Omose Elementary School of Japan, the influence of Shinto and Buddhism are explored as helping guide holistic and experiential learning to reestablish a loving relationship with the natural world. Repeated natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes and specifically to the remembering of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (which also led to serious fires and the nuclear plant meltdown in Fukushima.) In both cases, educators are working hard to build cultures and environments of wellbeing for themselves, their colleagues and their students.

The research bridges peace studies and memory studies while looking specifically into education environments. The work is grounded in Galtung (1996) Positive Peace Theory which posits that peace is not merely an absence of violent conflict (negative peace) and is instead the presence of peace through a system that promotes harmony and non-violent means of resolving conflict. In addition, Danesh (2006) and Danesh (2017) provide useful concepts that tie Galtung’s theory to environmental environments and practices.

This paper draws from relationships made and maintained over years, remote in-depth interviews of participants in Cambodia and Japan and a short period of field research in Japan in 2018 which included a site visit to Omose Elementary. In addition, the paper draws from extensive document and media analysis. The methodological framework used is narrative inquiry as outlined by Kim (2015.)

Reviewing the interviews, documentation, and media is in progress. Initial analysis is showing that educators find value in educational initiatives that are holistic and integrate creativity and spirituality through the arts and through relationship with nature.

The research is helping to connect ideas in the Cambodian and Japanese contexts to show what is effectively promoting educator and student wellbeing post-natural disaster and post-conflict. The specific examples add richness to the landscape of understanding how attention to our creative and spiritual spirits can foster healing and a more caring community.

Author

• Annie Rappeport, University of Virginia and University of Maryland