This chapter is an autobiographical journey that maps the developments in fields that are related to the dual aspirations of this book reflected in its title. The first aim is to contribute to the discourse on education for global citizenship , more specifically, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) led Global Citizenship Education agenda and the Western-dominated paradigm within the field of global citizenship education. For example, scholars, such as Dill (2013: 136) has challenged the “dominant mode of Enlightenment liberalism” and questions whether “the advocates of global citizenship education could do more critical and constructive thinking about the particularities of their universal ambitions.”
Further discussions, it must be argued, also need to be centered on how and what must be particularized in schooling for global citizenship within multicultural societies. In addition, the engagement with particularities must be attempted not from the sidelines but through reimagining alternative paradigms, perspectives, and possibilities within global citizenship education. 1 As an illustration, in this book soka or value creation is studied with the intent to develop global citizenship education as value-creating education . The second aim of this book is to contribute to the study of soka education .
Literally “value-creating,” soka 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, character development, interdependence, global citizenship, dialogue , and profound student–teacher relationships for social-self actualization and a meaningful life through the taught and untaught curriculum, soka 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 and multilingual contexts. 2
The progenitors of soka are the Japanese educators, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871–1944), Josei Toda (1900–1958), and Daisaku Ikeda (b. 1928). Makiguchi and his Indian contemporary, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi alias Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) shared similar notions of truth and value . Although Makiguchi, Ikeda, and Gandhi had never met, Ikeda has extensively spoken and written about Makiguchi and Gandhi (examples include, Ikeda 1996, 2008a, b, 2010: 123–133).
In the 1990s, when I first became interested in these thinkers and started research into their broader educational relevance , there was scarcely any academic work available in the Anglophone literature. Within soka/Makiguchi studies Alfred Birnbaum’s translated and Bethel’s (1989) edited excerpts from Makiguchi’s pedagogical work Soka kyoikugaku taikei (The System of Value-Creating Pedagogy; 1930–1934) continues to largely be the prevailing text within the Anglophone literature with translations in several other languages. More recently and arguably more substantive translation studies have started to emerge with particular relevance to language and literacy education, international perspectives in education, and curriculum theorizing (see Goulah and Gebert 2009; Goulah 2017). Here it is relevant to reference recent studies on terms such as soka and Soka (Goulah and Gebert 2009; Goulah and Ito 2012), and the alternative translations for the Japanese term ningen kyoiku that is frequently rendered as “humanistic education” in soka /Ikeda studies (Goulah 2010; Goulah and Gebert 2009). These are important contributions in terms of standardizing the use of key terms developed through research studies within the emerging discourse in this field, for example, as described in the following two excerpts.
The word ‘ soka ’ is a neologism Makiguchi coined, based on Toda’s suggestion, for the creation (sozo) of value (kachi). ‘Soka ’ constitutes the name of the schools Ikeda founded based on his application of Makiguchi’s value-creating pedagogy. While the former can point to practices both in and outside the Soka schools , ‘Soka education ’ (sometimes also written as ‘Soka Education ’) is often the English translation of the term (soka kyoiku, literally ‘value-creating education’) that Ikeda uses to characterize the educational approach passed down from Makiguchi and Toda and practiced in the Soka schools he founded (e.g., Ikeda 2010). Thus, for distinction’s sake, we use Soka education to refer specifically to Ikeda’s developed philosophy, practice, and curriculum of value-creating education.(Goulah and Ito 2012: 60–61)
Ikeda has used the formula ningen kyoiku to describe the educational philosophy and practice that has developed on the basis of Makiguchi’s pedagogy (Ikeda 1968, 2006). Literally ‘human education,’ this phrase could be translated as humanistic, humane, or human/people-centered education; it probably indicates all these aspects.(Goulah and Gebert 2009: 126)
My academic inquiry into Makiguchi’s educational work started during my master’s studies at Soka University , Japan (1995–1998) supervised by two leading scholars in this field, Professors Kazunori Kumagai and Shoji Saito. Both scholars are among others in the twentieth century who have written extensively on Makiguchi and his educational ideas in Japanese with some articles in English (examples include, Kumagai 2000; Saito 2010). Further, my experience of and work on the ethos of soka has extended from being a student at Soka University ; in the interactions with the founder, Ikeda; and through the several visits and observational studies conducted over the years in the Soka Schools in Japan (1995–2005). This time period also overlapped with parallel research studies on Gandhi and his educational ideas that were often guided through discussions with Dr. Radhakrishnan, the former head of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti in New Delhi, India. My ensuing work with Dr. Dayle Bethel in Kyoto and Hawaii, and my doctoral studies in London initiated the inquiry on the relevance of all three thinkers, Gandhi, Makiguchi, and Ikeda from an intercultural perspective under the guidance of (late) Professor Jagdish Gundara, UNESCO chair for intercultural education , and Mr. Robert Ferguson, faculty and course leader on the Master’s in Media Culture and Communication at the Institute of Education, University of London. Further, my work as a research assistant at the Development Education Research Center (DERC), University College London-Institute of Education (2006–2008) provided the opportunity to work with Professor Douglas Bourn on global education projects and issues concerning youth across the higher education sector. Overall these interactions contributed to developing my work on soka and Gandhi studies as contributions to the discourse on global citizenship education.
Reflecting back, I realize that it was unusual for a young woman from India to study Japanese and do a master’s degree in education in Japan in the 1990s. Also, it has been less common for Ph.D. candidates to research the educational ideas and relevance of Asian thinkers in academic institutions such as the University of London. However, these decisions were guided by the intent to bring such l...