Teaching the Asia-Pacific War and Its Legacies: Critical Pedagogy in an Era of Revisionism

Session Submission Type: Workshop

Abstract

How do we maintain a commitment to inclusive teaching and critical pedagogy while still demonstrating fidelity to evidence-based historical inquiry? How should we react when students maintain that their rights are violated when they are exposed to historical accounts of mass violence contrary to their training and background? Teaching about wartime atrocities and human rights abuses by the Imperial Japanese military (including the Nanjing massacre and the “comfort women” system) takes on special challenges at the present moment, as revisionists in Japan adopt the language of academic freedom, pluralism, and diversity to argue that their “perspectives” are as valid as any other. Those who deny or minimize wartime atrocities often appropriate claims to minority status, arguing that they have been been “marginalized” by the “academic left,” and seek only “fair and balanced” opportunities to present their viewpoint in the marketplace of ideas. Some claim that Americans who critically discuss those events are reprising imperialism.

Since university administrators are often unprepared for this pressure, we must develop skills to help them understand the stakes in this politicized struggle. We must also learn to engage respectfully and thoughtfully with students who, in a variety of ways, see specific events of eight decades ago as central to their individual identities. This workshop helps participants develop capabilities to instill in our students the capacities to assess critically primary evidence, to develop on their own cogent interpretations of complex historical processes, and to argue civilly and productively with those with whom they disagree.

Area of Study

• Japan

Session Organizer

• Mark J. Auslander, Central Washington University

Chair

• Mark J. Auslander, Central Washington University

Presenters

• Ryuko Kubota, University of British Columbia

• Laura Hein, Northwestern University

• Eunah Lee, Independent Scholar

• Ellen Schattschneider, Brandeis University

• Chong Eun Ahn, Central Washington University