Hamish Smith, Lecturer (Morioka Junior College

Principle 10:

Promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, and the“unlearning” of intolerance, through educatio

While the elimination of intolerance and promotion of intercultural understanding is at the heart ofmany teachers’ efforts in their classes at Morioka Junior College this report will detail some aspects of
two classes in particular. Both classes are the culmination of collaboration among teachers, and aim toprovide the kind of meaningful learning experiences that aid students in developing a fertile mindset for
cultural understanding.
Class Example 1: Seminar in Understanding Foreign Culture
Principle 10 of the Academic Impact played a major part in the learning
experience of students in the class “Seminar in Understanding
Foreign Culture”, students were given the task to investigate
and introduce a state in the United States to their peers.
Students looked at a number of state characteristics including
basic descriptive information, surface cultural aspects such as
local food and entertainment, as well as deeper elements suchas sociocultural demographics, political ideals, and points of con ict, allwith an emphasis on nding ways to discern residents’ values andattitudes from a diverse and sometimes novel array of resources andinformation. With teachers from America, Australia and Japan, theclass offers chances for student to consider culture from both insider
and outsider perspectives with ample opportunity for comparison,nding correlations, and the sharing of different viewpoints in general.
Alongside the uncovering of a multitude of diversity across different
states that challenge any blanket conceptions of Americans and“Americanness” that the students may have had, the projectand resultant discussions provided a valuable forum for students tocollaboratively explore the affective factors that shape culture andcultural identity in general. Far from being con ned to discussions of
the United States, the course provided a chance for students to build
skills and critical thinking to apply in the future when confronted with an“other” culture and foster a mindset that approaches culture and culturaldifferences from a holistic, self-re ective, and empathetic perspective asprotection from the potential manifestation of prejudice

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 	16fifi“			7Efforts to promote a self-re ective and empathetic conceptionof cultural understanding at Morioka Junior CollegeClass Example 2: Seminar in Understanding Foreign Cultur
Another way in which Principle 10 becomes an integrated part of the students’ studies at MoriokaJunior College is in the class “Understanding the West” which is offered to rst year students. The
course introduces and applies a number of different perspectives or scopes through which to view
cultural behaviors that may seem foreign, baf ing or the more dismissive “strange” or “wrong”.
Throughout the course, students are given opportunities to explore both “Western” and Japanesecultures through the lenses of “Tight” and “Loose” cultures, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, a numberof socio-historical factors, different conceptions of politeness and social norms within different
cultures, ideas of patriotism and nationalism, and the varying levels of identities that people adopt ascultural beings. As a major assignment within the course, students were encouraged to choose acultural behavior that they had deemed as “strange” and endeavor to try to understand and empathizewith it by investigating it through a selection of the above perspectives or, in the cases in which they
were not applicable, to nd their own perspective of analysis. These explorations formed the basis forstudent-produced video projects and plenary class discussions
Alongside the rich and diverse array of classes at Morioka Junior College that aim to promoteintercultural dialogue, these classes are intended to promote looking at cultural behaviors as not being
inherently “right” or “wrong” or “normal” and “strange”, but to develop a more nuanced and informed
approach to differences in opinions and behavior and to develop empathy for others. This in turn will
hopefully give students an experience that they can apply in intercultural settings in the future .

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