“Inhabiting Survival: Reading Asian American Women Writers” explores three works by Asian American women writers—The Ocean in the Closet by Japanese American writer Yuko Taniguchi, Comfort Woman by Korean American writer Nora Okja Keller and The Song Poet by Hmong American writer Kao Kalia Yang. Analyzing how each writer makes use of two narrators, the paper describes the teaching of these works within the Liberal Arts curriculum, particularly within the high impact practice of Global Learning. Making use of the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ “Global Learning VALUE Rubric,” with the strong emphasis it places on identity “within a global context,” the essay shows the ways in which identity formation is mutually- constitutive among characters as well as students in a multicultural classroom.

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This essay explores how the Akita-based prewar pedagogy movement, the Northern Education movement (Hoppo Kyoiku, hereafter, NEM) could have relevance to the educational mission of Akita International University (hereafter, AIU). Specifically, this study will compare and contrast NEM’s “life guidance” with the similarly holistic, communication-centered “international liberal arts” of the University. NEM’s emphasis on communal engagement, grass-roots practitioner collaboration and reflective practice, and students’ critical thinking and self-mastery all could serve as useful touchstones for how AIU might reshape its education program moving forward. This essay is not necessarily suggesting that AIU abandon the original “global human resource” vision of its founding president. However, it is suggesting that through a more active engagement with the pedagogical tradition of NEM, AIU might further enhance and legitimize recent trends towards a more multi-dimensional, Akita-based educational model.

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