Pre-Conference Seminar: Soka Studies in the Possibilities and Necessities of Non-Western, International, and Comparative Curriculum Inquiry (Day 1 of 2)

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This seminar engages participants in examining the possibilities and necessities of
non-Western, international, and comparative curriculum studies at a time of increasing
nationalism in the U.S. and a public education system in free fall. How can and does
curriculum studies in international contexts inform curriculum theorizing in the West?
How does curriculum studies in the West positively and negatively inform education in
international contexts? What are the possibilities and necessities of non-Western
research methods, philosophies, texts, and perspectives that can shape curriculum
inquiry in the West? Taking the worldwide phenomena of Soka studies in education as a
focal point of inquiry, facilitators and participants of this session will wrestle with these
questions in the context of their own research agendas and interests. Especial focus
will be placed on the the “modes of thinking” in the textual, cultural, and discursive
curriculum of Soka, as well as on the Soka heritage’s dialogic engagement with
curriculum in the East-West ecology of thought.
Literally “value-creating,” s ō ka is a Japanese approach to curriculum that emerged in
1930s Japan in response to an increasingly militaristic educational system focused on
creating subjects of the state rather than contributive citizens of local and global
communities. Stressing academic achievement, moral development, interdependence,
global citizenship, dialogue, and profound student-teacher relationships for social
self-actualization and a meaningful life through the taught and untaught curriculum,
s ō ka approaches undergird 15 Soka kindergartens, primary and secondary schools,
women’s college, and universities in seven countries across Asia and the Americas.
They inform public and private schools and universities in various countries and are
practiced by thousands of educators and school leaders in diverse multicultural,
multiethnic and multilingual contexts.
Taking geopolitical power, global citizenship, and public/private schooling as nodal
points, the facilitators of this session will share examples from their research into
biographical and textual analysis of international thinkers, and a situated analysis of
their relevance for contemporary education. Together with the participants, the
facilitators will consider aims, issues, and research strategies that are mindful of the
particularities of language, culture, agency, and place for education. Participants are
invited to contribute by bringing in their own diverse perspectives in conceptualizing
curriculum that is non-centric so that knowledge within the curriculum is representative
of all groups. This seminar will place special emphasis on participants’ current and
future research projects, dissertation proposals, dissertation manuscripts, and
publication interests. It will be dialogic, collaborative and participatory.
Participants
This seminar is envisioned for doctoral students and new/junior faculty.
Structure
Day 1 includes facilitator and participant introductions, introductions of participants’
work, and facilitators’ presentation of the seminar themes, guiding questions, suggested
materials, and schedule. This is followed by extended dialogue among participants, in
pairs or triads, about their own thematic and scholarly concerns that brought them to
the session. They will then report these back to large group. We will then unpack these
through the lens of the guiding questions and themes of the session, examining how the
example of Soka studies addresses—or could address—these concerns.
Day 2 focuses more directly on the participants’ research and particular ways of
examining and engaging non-Western, international and comparative curriculum studies
in this work. Day 2 toggles among dialogue in pairs, triads, and whole group discussion
moderated by the facilitators. Time will be spent on issues related to publishing and
joining on-going scholarly discourses on themes related to participants’ work.
Suggested Readings for Participants
Goulah, J., & Ito, T. (2012). Daisaku Ikeda’s curriculum of Soka education: Creating value
through dialogue, global citizenship, and “human education” in the
mentor-disciple relationship. Curriculum Inquiry, 42 (1), 56-79.
Ikeda, D. ([2001] 2010). John Dewey and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: Confluences of
thought and action. In Soka education: For the happiness of the individual (pp.
1-32). Santa Monica, CA: Middleway Press.
Ikeda, D. (1996). Thoughts on education for global citizenship .
http://www.daisakuikeda.org/sub/resources/works/lect/lect-08.html .
McKee, A. (2003). Textual analysis: A beginner’s guide . London: Sage [chapter one].
Merryfield, M. M. (2002). Rethinking our framework for understanding the world. Theory
and Research in Social Education , 30(1), 148-151.
Facilitators
Jason Goulah is Associate Professor of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and Director of
the Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education at DePaul University, USA. He is also
Director of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and World Languages Education in the College
of Education at DePaul University and Executive Advisor at the Ikeda Center for Peace,
Learning and Dialogue in Cambridge, MA. He is a former high school teacher of
Japanese, ESL, and Russian as foreign and heritage languages. He has served as a
research fellow at the Center for Latino Research; Soka University, Tokyo; and the Baldy
Center for Law and Social Policy, University at Buffalo Law School. His research
interests include transformative language learning; Makiguchi and Ikeda studies in
education; bilingualism-biculturalism-biliteracy; and language, culture, identity and new
literacies. His scholarship has appeared in multiple scholarly journals and edited
volumes. His books include Makiguchi Tsunesaburo in the Context of Language, Identity
and Education (Routledge, 2017); Makiguchi Tsunesaburo (1871-1944): Educational
Philosophy in Context (with Andrew Gebert; Routledge, 2013); and Daisaku Ikeda,
Language and Education (Routledge, 2015), which received the 2015 Critics Choice Book
Award from the American Educational Studies Association. He received the 2009
Stephen A. Freeman Award for best language education research article of the year.
Namrata Sharma is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Education, State University of
New York at Oswego; a Visiting Researcher at Soka University, Tokyo; and an Academic
Advisor with Alpha Plus educational consultancy, United Kingdom. She is also a board
member of The Ikeda Centre for Value Creation, Trivandrum, India. Dr. Sharma has a
bachelor’s degree from Delhi University, Masters in Education from Soka University,
Tokyo, and PhD and Post-doctorate from the UCL Institute of Education, London. Her
research areas include international and comparative education, with a special focus on
India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Her scholarship has appeared
in multiple journals and books. She is the author of Makiguchi and Gandhi: Their
Educational Relevance for the 21 st Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008) and Value
Creators in Education: Japanese Educator Makiguchi and Mahatma Gandhi and Their
Relevance for Indian Education (Regency, 2002).

Where to Send Applications:
Jason Goulah ( jgoulah@depaul.edu ) DePaul University

Sub Unit

• Division B - Curriculum Studies

Participants

• Jason Goulah, DePaul University

• Namrata Sharma, State University of New York