Risk Society and Education in Post-Disaster Fukushima (Routledge Critical Studies in Asian Education)

Description

In response to the explosion of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in March 2011, this book examines how the concept of a risk society was handled in the various education programs implemented in post-disaster Fukushima. The explosion and subsequent radiation contamination that affected the biosphere of the Fukushima region and beyond, revealed that we live in a risk society. Despite this revelation, official discourses in Fukushima have been geared strictly toward the future, with the aim of restoring communities and resuming development projects. Based on the ethnographic data the author collected in Fukushima between 2013 and 2016, various contested emotions emerged in those education spaces as students and teachers remembered their romanticized and difficult past and dealt with the challenges presented by the risk society in their present lives. The emotionally-charged interactions between past and present also shaped their vision of their future community and of the actions they might take. The dialogues and actions that took places in these education spaces encourage readers to examine the meaning of development and question the basic assumptions and methods of education as society shifts to a risk society. A valuable resource for scholars and students in the fields of globalization and education, curriculum studies, sociology of education, and Japanese studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of illustrations Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction Background Nuclear disaster in Fukushima Development and education in Japan: before and after the disaster Problems and questions Conceptual frameworks Nature of emotions Human and non-human actors Risk society Methodology Data collection Data analysis Chapter summaries Notes References Chapter 2: History of modern Japan and nuclear energy Before WWII: self-driven Westernization Desire to become the West End of animism: disconnection to nature History of nuclear energy After the explosion: anti-nuclear discourse History of Tohoku and Fukushima Before the construction of Genpatsu (Nuclear Power Plant) 3 Construction of Genpatsu Neo-colonial relationship with TEPCO Modern history of education in Japan Education as a tool for development Education reform for the twenty-first century Fukushima schools before and after the explosion Conclusion Notes References Chapter 3: Becoming insider and outsider in Fukushima 1 Native researchers and the decolonization of ethnography Researchers’ positionality and Fukushima’s past and present Contested memories of home Nostalgia and IRB Memories of Hiroshima and skepticism toward researchers/outsiders Trauma: unspeakable memories of catastrophe Encountering trauma Being drawn to the trauma community Being supported by insiders in the trauma community Synthesis and discussion Multiple communities and fluid boundaries New agencies and decolonizing research Implications: accepting skepticism and moving on Researchers as co-witnesses to traumatic events Conclusion Notes References Chapter 4: Contested definitions of risk in Fukushima Introduction Nuclear energy as safe energy: a scientific explanation and silence Atomic bombs and nuclear power: two discourses of nuclear energy Waku Waku : exciting feelings about nuclear power Problems of risk communication Delayed announcement about radiation risks Contested models of radiation risk Reducing fear with the ALARA model Legitimizing fear with the LNT model Caught in the middle Becoming scientists Conclusion Notes References Chapter 5: Reconstruction and creating spaces for healing Introduction Schools under pressure for normalization College entrance examination pressure Pressure for national academic achievement test Between love and fear Kizuna (mandatory love) Fear Contested feelings in classrooms: love and fear Trauma and developing empathy at school Developing empathy with evacuee students Expressing trauma through art Sharing pain in public Conclusion Notes References Chapter 6: Discrimination against hibakusha and developing global networks Introduction: radiation contamination and disgust History of discrimination against hibakusha Disgust and discrimination against Fukushima An essential question: are people in Fukushima hibakusha? Two high-school programs in Fukushima High School Peace Seminar (HPS) Background Recognizing common pain as hibakusha Empathy and forming alliances with global hibakusha Cosmopolitanization: expansion of network Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) History of ESD ESD in Adachi High School Fuhyo (groundless rumors) and discrimination Glocal issues and cosmopolitan empathy Responsibility: a forgotten issue Conclusion Notes References Chapter 7: The OECD Tohoku School Introduction Education reform in Japan from the 1990s to 2011 Cultural gap between public schools and TS Tohoku Change Model vs hierarchical model Fund raising: an education activity? Enforcing a new model of education Students’ agencies in TS Students breaking taboos Transforming TS into a space of mourning Contributing to economic reconstruction by eliminating fuhyo Conclusion Notes References Chapter 8: Love for genpatsu 1, and forming new relationships The community’s memories of genpatsu and TEPCO Agents for change: AFW and RefLab Reflective nostalgia Yoshikawa’s memory of genpatsu Kimura’s memories of genpatsu Genpatsu money Mourning for dying genpatsu Reconfiguring relationships surrounding genpatsu Reconfiguring relationships with TEPCO Getting close to genpatsu and workers Citizen scientists Citizens becoming scientists Scientists becoming citizens Conclusion Notes References Chapter 9: Conclusion Emotions as productive entity Swirling emotions in Fukushima Material agency and emotion Manifestation of risk society in Fukushima Reflection on modernization in Japan and its consequences Curriculum and teaching in post-disaster Fukushima Incessant drive for development Forming new connections through listening and seeing Implications for society New animism and endogenous development for healing Glocalization and cosmopolitanization Education implications Endogenous development and education Reconnecting ourselves to ancestral knowledge Locally grounded student-led curriculum Making global connections through education Decentering language in the curriculum Integrating emotions into the curriculum Bringing science into community life Conclusion Notes References Index