The Young Ecologist: Lesson Plans for Building Earth Democracy. A New Book by Vandana Shiva, Kevin Kester, and Shreya Jani

So I've got to introduce you to this new exciting book, sure to be a no. 1 bestseller and a definite new member of Oprah's Book Club in 2008. Extreme. Laughs. Hope you enjoy the preview.

Back in October, Shreya and I wrote a teaching manual on Water for Building Earth Democracy. I received my copies of the publication this week and have posted pics of the book below. The manual includes a framework for writing and integrating water issues into classroom curriculum as well as completed lesson plans that educators can immediately use in their teaching practice. The manual is divided into 4 sections (discussed below): Introduction to the Manual and its Purpose, Background on Water Issues in India, Framework for Cooperative Education and Water Curriculum, and Lessons Plans for the Water Conscious Classroom.

















The manual was published in November by Navdanya/RFSTE (Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology). In her foreward to the manual (pictured above), Dr. Shiva writes: "The Young Ecologist Initiative is a program focused on Education for Earth Democracy, through which we wish to help provide professional development courses for teachers as well as study tours and workshops for students in schools and colleges in India...For too long children have been used as tokenism and symbolism in public discourses, but this must change for they are as much part of building the future as adults are . We hope that through the Young Ecologist Initiative we will be able to create a platform for them to have a voice in envisioning the future that they inherit...Water cannot be protected as a commodity. It can be exploited, abused, traded as a commodity. To protect water, we need to share in our responsibility to conserve every drop. Shared responsibility creates 'commons.' Private greed creates 'commodities.' We hope that with the help of this manual, our young ecologist can learn from water, about water."

The book opens with this statement from the UN: "The primary goal of the 'Water for Life' Decade is to promote efforts to fulfill international commitments made on water and water-related issues by 2015...These commitments include the Millennium Development Goals to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015 and to stop unsustainable exploitation of water resources" (UN International Decade for Action 'Water for Life', 2005-2015).

In our Introduction chapter, we write: "The Young Ecologist Water Manual is designed as an education tool directly addressing the urgent issue of water access, water rights, pollution, and privatization of the commons. (The commons refers to those resources and supplies belonging equally to an entire community or culture, especially a common water supply system.) This manual is intended to assist educators working in various spheres to address water issues through the lens of education. We especially aim this manual to educators teaching young people, because it is the young who are the inheritors of this beautiful planet.

"We recognize that water is present daily in everyone's life and is possibly the most obvious evidence of our human interconnectivity--connecting people of all ages, races, caste, class, religion and creeds. Respectively, youth under the age of 25 across our globe now represent nearly half the global population, according to UNFPA, and it is their future at stake in which education demands to have students active in the preparation of a common future. As such, The Young Ecologist aims to assist educators teaching elementary, middle, and high schools, and in other organizations similarly aimed at raising awareness, skills, and active participation among youth.

"The framework and lesson plans in this manual express our belief that ecology is deeply linked to social justice and environmental care. The discourse often centers on the mismanagement and privatization of water, yet this single issue has numerous consequences including the health of communities, degradation of the environment, and increased poverty of the disadvantaged, with women and children experiencing the brunt of the consequences. It is clear that the resolution of these concerns will need a comprehensive and cooperative approach. The Sardar Sarovar dam in Narmada is one example of the link between the management of water and its effect on communities and the environment.

"As we explore water as a commons, we also explore that other common that links us all, within our famillies, our communities, our nations, our regions, and across the globe: that other common is our common humanity. And this is reflected in the sharing of the commons. The recognition of our common humanity is necessary to protect and realize water rights...."

In Chapter 2, we continue with background information on water and ecology-related issues in India. "The signers [of the Constitution of India] recognized, as do the educators of The Young Ecologist, that water is a natural resource around which life thrives and communities are constructed: the Nile Delta in Egypt, the Ganges and Indus rivers in India, the Mississippi in the United States, and the Amazon in Brasil. Water is often not articulated as such but is perhaps the most urgent need and right to life. Water is indiscriminate and speaks a simple language of creativity, freedom, consciousness, empowerment and interconnectivity for young and old alike. As a human necessity water is then potential for conflict and cooperation. The conflict sometimes becomes so great that it erupts into acts of violence, violence around controlling, distributing, and ensuring access to waters. Interestingly, in most cases where water erupts into conflict it is intrastate and regional conflict rather than international. Hence our schools need to educate youth for cooperation among water divisions. The water basins, rivers, and reservoirs may be used to negotiate a shared commons.

"The privatization of water is one of the foremost threats to water access and rights. When the essence of life or a common becomes a commodity then a democracy is disenfranchised. Privatizing water by putting the control of water distribution and supply in the hands of private companies or relying on bottled water for drinking is one manifestation of this phenomenon. Water belongs to all and the lack or inability of the state to provide it to its citizens does not mean that the problem is one for the private sector to handle but rather is an indication that communities have to be empowered by the government. Water is calling us to recognize our interconnectivity and work together to ensure a just and equitable future for all. In order to do this The Young Ecologist has resolved to education for peacebuilding and cooperation.

"...In this way, as students and teachers we can consider how water, in terms of health, pollution, and gender and domestic arenas, could be used as a topic of discussion in our classrooms, and how it relates to other issues in our lives, such as politics, globalization, and economies. What is our dependence on water? What does water do for us? How do we share this resource? What other analogies do we take from these discussions? How is water a metaphor for the interconnection of global economies, religions, states, and privileges? Where does water connect us? Internationally, waterways are also theatres for conflict and violence concerning those who control the waterways, such as the Panama and Suez Canals, certain Straights between nations, and piracy in the seas. But water is also an arena for cooperation.

"One innovative approach to the drying of groundwater and the onslaught of droughts in India that has been conceived and utilized in recent years is rainwater harvesting. This technique embodies the philosophy of The Young Ecologist and cooperative education. It is participatory, creative, equitable, and seeks to concern everyone about water. The process works by using the source of water: rain, and the times that rain falls in India: monsoon season. To leverage the great amount of rainfall that passes quickly, basins are constructed to catch and store the water for the dry seasons. To read more about the concept, read http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/."

Chapter 3 discusses the Conceptual Framework of the Water Cooperative Education Manual: "Of the values of cooperation, respect, empathy, and love previously discussed, The Young Ecologist emphasizes the following eight objectives for education on water scarcity and conflicts. An education for democratic participation and cooperation seeks to give students knowledge, values, skills, and capacities to actively problem-solve issues of concern. Consequently, at the end of education on water empowerment, students will be able to: 1) promote care for the community of life with understanding, compassion and love, 2) build democratic societies that are just and participatory, 3) conscientize the young about the importance of water and all the values associated with it, 4) raise awareness of the multiple perspectives of peace and water conflicts, 5) discuss the role of gender, class, caste, and other minorities in water conflicts, 6) consider national constitutional rights and human rights instruments to better understand the role of law in protecting water rights and facilitating justice, 7) grapple with the notion of diversity and empathy for others, and 8) reflect on universal responsibility and individual responsibility within the commons.

"The manual organizes knowledge content and lesson plans within a comprehensive framework around the core of cooperative education with the ultimate goal of creating nonviolent, creative solutions to water conflicts. The cooperative education framework is organized around four pillars: actors, content, resources, and objectives. The actors encompass those involved at the local and national level, including students, parents, schoolteachers, NGOs, and government. These actors network with each other and work with the resources available to educate aobut water, waste management, the environment, diversity, etc., for the objectives of fostering attitudes and behaviors consistent with peacebuilding around water resources. The attitudes of respect, love, and empathy are reflected in behaviors of cooperation, nonviolence, open dialogue, and reflective practice. The institutions involved in the educative process must also exhibit these characteristics."

Finally, chapter 4 displays 12 water lessons for schoolteachers and nonformal centers. It states: "The 12 lessons following are organized in a lesson plan template constructed within the previously discussed framework, and are based on the notion that education should be cooperative, democratic and exploratory inquiry into social issues....

"The Young Ecologist posits participatory education is the most effective means of preparing students for active participation in social change processes. To this measure the classes should be conducted through active means, including storytelling, brainstorming, group work, jigsaw, dialogue, and theatre to facilitate learning for social transformation...We finally posit that critical education necessitates active reflection for the learners and the educators. The ending section of each lesson has a reflective wrap-up and a reflective box for educators to consider the class' response to the lessons and adapt necessary parts."

The Water Manual is part of a 4 book series of lesson plans for teachers. Still to come--Earth: Soil, Seeds and Food Politics; Air: Climate Change and Energy; Living: Consumerism and Sustainability. For more information and contributions to the upcoming manuals please contact youngecologists@gmail.com. For sample lessons from the Manual, check below.

_________________________

SAMPLE (2) LESSON PLANS FOR THE WATER CONSCIOUS CLASSROOM

THE YOUNG ECOLOGIST Social Sciences Lesson

Introduction: Are we responsible for the health and wellbeing of others? Is money and material compensation the measure of success? This lesson explores the connection between language, gender, and power. Through a simulation on access to resources and privileges students will role-play their positions to cooperate or compete with others for money. A discussion will follow the simulation.

Level: Middle School/High School

Supporting Documentation/Materials: Currency, water

Objectives:
Students will do the following by the end of the lesson:
➢ Promote empathy, compassion and love
➢ Build democratic societies that are just and participatory
➢ Conscientize the young about the importance of water and all the values associated with it
➢ Discuss the role of gender in the water conflicts
➢ Reflect on personal responsibility toward others and care of the commons

Procedures Followed

Activity
Introduce the role-play.
Stages of role-play:
Step 1: Divide the class into groups of students representing the following Indian regions:
1. East and North-east India
2. North India
3. South India
4. West India

Put the majority of male students automatically in the water abundant regions. Put all female students in groups at random (i.e. alphabetically, flipping a coin) for discussion on gender, health, and water.

Step 2: Have each group elect a leader. This is important for later discussions of decision-making. The leader of each group receives immunity from “death.”

Step 3: Allot each group a portion of currency according to its current access and control of water resources. Thus the wealthier and more water-rich regions will obtain more currency.

Step 4: Each group will purchase water with the currency allotted each region. Preference should be given to the leading regions by giving them the first choice enabling them to choose the best goods. This will cause the students to realize that some violations of human rights and gender inequalities are structured and institutionalized, not necessarily a tribute to the best and most deserving people.

Step 5: Groups should distribute goods to each member of the group. If there is not enough water for each member, the members without water exit the simulation, “die.” After the initial “deaths” due to poverty and the lack of water, other regions can elect to help by offering their excess water. The leaders discuss with their group members on whether or not they would like to offer water to other groups. If so, the leader consults with other group leaders to finalize the transaction of goods. The simulation ends when everyone has received water or has died as a consequence of not receiving water. (As the instructor ensure that when the game begins there is not enough water for everyone, in order to foster critical thinking and problem-solving, and you may also wish to include different degrees of water: safe water, contaminated water, dirty water, etc.

Step 6: Discussion
Post-simulation topics to discuss (could also be distributed as a worksheet):
I. Gender discrimination in power roles (leading nations). Why were the men automatically given the role of leading regions thereby receiving the power and wealth? Why were men elected as the leaders of the groups? (If this discussion point is too controversial focus on the global conditions rather than local.)
II. How do institutions harbor gender discrimination?
III. Is there preferential treatment of men in terms of access to water? Who does the work collecting the water and who benefits from it?
IV. Certain regions have an enormous amount of wealth yet other regions have very little. Is this structural inequality or fairness due to capitalism?
V. How does the Human Rights violation of gender equality lead toward further community/national insecurity?
VI. Who ‘died’ first?
VII. What did the groups choose to do with the water? Did they share, if they had the ability to do so?
VIII. How did the groups problem-solve?

Pedagogy of Change:
After discussing the negative aspects of the simulation, enable students to creatively problem solve through the pedagogy of empowerment thereby working actively to change the process of the simulation for the next class period. Outline the pedagogy of empowerment and engagement for the students and challenge them to think and prepare for the next meeting:
(a) Students should envision a preferred future
(b) Students should design the values and description of their
preferred future
(c) Students simulate their preferred future
(d) Students strategize and practice the preferred future

Step 7: Repeat the simulation with the changes suggested by the students. At the end of the simulation start a dialogue about the similarities and differences in each of the simulations and whether the students believe their alterations to the activity made a difference in the outcomes or their feelings during the simulation.

Step 8: Empowerment and engagement:
Making a difference occurs at all levels of society, governments, corporations, and organizations. The motor of change is civil society. The United Nations and NGOs are working steadfastly toward improving gender and human rights relations in its Member States.

Discussion: Describe to students how others are involved and challenge them to become active as well. Encourage students to join and organize clubs in school to make changes, one example being student leadership bodies such as Student Council. Also, challenge the students to become involved outside of school: 1.) Watch news programs and keep abreast of issues, 2.) Join organizations for community action such as youth clubs, volunteer programs, or local NGOs. Even if the students do not become involved immediately they now know the channel exist if they wish to become involved in the future.

Instructor’s reflection:
What worked

What didn’t

Suggestions for next time

_________________________

THE YOUNG ECOLOGIST English Lesson

Introduction: We have discussed violence and conflict in our lives and around the world concerning water resources. Violence, in the form of dammed access to water, is an affront to our human dignity and a violation of our human rights. Water is the source to life and a fundamental human right. Using international documents concerning rights to water, students will assess what national and international documents say concerning the right to water and assurance of health and livelihoods.

Level/Context: High School

Supporting Documentation/Materials: Constitution of India, UN Declaration on the Right to Development, Earth Charter, and Hague Appeal for Peace

A culture of peace will be achieved when citizens of the world understand global problems; have the skills to resolve conflict constructively; know and live by international standards of human rights, gender and racial equality; appreciate cultural diversity; and respect the integrity of the Earth. –Global Campaign for Peace Education

We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. –Earth Charter Preamble

Objectives:
Students will do the following by the end of the lesson:
➢ Promote care for the community of life with understanding, compassion and love
➢ Build democratic societies that are just and participatory
➢ Raise awareness of the multiple perspectives of peace and water conflicts
➢ Consider national constitutional rights and human rights instruments to better understand the role of law in protecting water rights and facilitating justice
➢ Grapple with the notion of diversity and empathy for others

Procedures Followed

Warm-up Activity
Choose a quote about water from a famous source (i.e. Gandhi, Einstein, Varuna, etc.). Write the quote on the board and ask students what this elicits for them. What does it mean? Who said it? Why did he/she say it? How do we feel/relate to it?

Activity 1
Have participants collectively create a Charter that outlines how they believe water conflicts should be handled. The participants will first prepare a rough proposal in groups of 3-4, and then come together to share their proposals (each proposal should have 3-4 principles). Finally, all of the participants will decide which principles are included in the Charter and, if needed, propose additional principles. The Charter should be displayed on the wall(s) of the classroom during the water modules.

Guiding Questions:
• What principles should guide our interaction in daily life concerning water conflicts?
• Can we group/categorize the principles based on similarities?
• Are the principles equal in importance?
• How do we list the principles? By priority?
• What should we do with the principles?
• How do they relate to life beyond this class? In schools? In businesses? In NGOs? In governments?

Activity 2
Mapping violations of International Documents: In groups, look at excerpts from the Constitution of India, UN Declaration on the Right to Development, Earth Charter, and Hague Appeal for Peace, and decide which human rights are violated in discussions of human dignity, violence, rights to water, etc. On paper, illustrate the act(s) of violence and the human right(s) being violated. Have students share their thoughts. Following the assessment of international documents, the students may go back to their Charter and make amendments if so chosen.

Reflection wrap-up
Any final thoughts on the opening quotation? What should we do with the Charter we created together? What do the Constitution of India, UN instruments, and other international documents mean to us? What is our next step in exploring water issues together?

Instructor’s reflection:
What worked

What didn’t

Suggestions for next time

_________________________
Thanks once again to Mary Nunn and Javon Carter for their contributions to the Manual.

Linking Gender and Race in Peace Education

"That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt." --Immanuel Kant


I became what I am today in process, a constellation of indivisible experiences past, now, and hereafter. Illuminating moments, I remember them precisely as they enveloped me—when I was six playing in Hispanic ghettoes, when I was nine dwelling in cars under the umbrella of homelessness, when I was twelve apperceiving racial nescience in the vocalization of a retired police officer: “I’d rather shoot a nigger than a squirrel.” That was a long time ago, but the experience, barring conflation with theory, recapitulating, composes my personal existential epistemology. Looking back now, I appreciate my experience, and the environment I grew up in, as substantial learning.

Maria Mies (1983) writes about personal experience, feminist research, and complementary means to an end:

The contradictory existential and ideological condition of women scholars must become the starting point for a new methodological approach. The postulate of truth itself makes it necessary that those areas of female existence which so far were repressed and socially ‘invisible’ be brought into the full daylight of scientific analysis. In order to make this possible, feminist women must deliberately and courageously integrate their repressed, unconscious female subjectivity, i.e., their own experience of oppression and discrimination in the research process… (p. 121).

This sentiment resonates loudly with the author, who grew up homeless in Kentucky, personally encountered racism and vicarious gender discrimination while living and teaching in Japan, and witnessed the oppression of indigenous peoples in travels and studies throughout Latin America and Asia. These experiences have led to the conclusion that the firsthand accounts of educators with oppression must be taught in the classroom in order to reveal inconsistencies in our humane rhetoric. Consequently, I chose via these former experiences to study Kentucky and Japanese classrooms to gauge the effects of homogeneous communities on fostering students’ attitudes toward women and Other. As an International Peace Educator, I posit epistemic education, the process of sharing and creating knowledge together is integral to a philosophy and pedagogy of education for international understanding and cooperation. Peace Education is a dynamic process of teaching and learning in which the subjective is valued and contextual conditions paramount to conflict diagnoses and peacebuilding. To avoid empiricism is indeed to deny the worth of experience, to anesthetize education, to comply with domination. Mies (ibid) continues, au fait:

This extra quality consists mainly in the fact that women and other oppressed groups, out of their subjective experience, are better sensitized toward psychological mechanisms of dominance. As objects of oppression they are forced out of self-preservation to know the motives of their oppressors (p. 121).

From patriarchy to racism, Richard Allen (2001, p. 537) similarly claims, “Black men, who well know the lash of White male violence, have a special responsibility to stand with black women and children against all forms of violence…we do not elevate ourselves by belittling, dominating or attacking other members of our family.” Analogously, hooks (2001, p. 530) declares, “men are not exploited or oppressed by sexism, but there are ways in which they suffer as a result of it…the pain men experience can serve as a catalyst calling attention to the need for change.”

Our interpretation of race and gender is based on our personal experiences. Sleeter (1996) writes that by the time we become adults, each of us holds beliefs about society and human nature based on our lived experiences and the ideologies we’ve been taught to interpret those experiences. Teachers, in consequence, bring into the classroom an experiential framework and organize the classroom agenda around the morals and normative values that emanate from this basis. Each classroom and teacher is to a degree an autonomous actor within the larger structure of education. The teacher’s experiences therefore heavily influence students’ education. By making the value of experience explicit, the teacher subverts hegemonic claims of neutral, apolitical, areligious education, by legitimizing the lives, knowledge base, conditions, and social positions of students in their world, not in relation to the Center. Education for social change, living education seeks to illuminate knowledge from within rather than impose truth from without, and appreciates contexts as influential in the educative process.

This paper postulates that gender discrimination and racism pervade monocultural societies that lack exposure to diverse peoples, and likewise are interconnected forms of oppression. The beliefs of such societies, dictated by ruling classes, regurgitated over time, in schools, without challenge from other groups, amplifies dispositions of superiority and entitlement among those whom define the status quo. The expressions of gender bias and racism in Kentucky and Japanese schools are perpetuated by dominant populations who deny the presence of discrimination. The majority of Whites/Japanese lack critical awareness to recognize prejudice, having undeveloped empathy and care, having scarcely as the dominant group experienced oppression themselves. To the contrary, privileged groups enjoy the benefits of asymmetric relations, and comply with status quo structures; hence, teachers may act as social preservers or social activists.

Teachers who spend their formative years in the towns in which they teach, and go to university in the same hegemonic regions, may not truly empathize with the marginalized and therefore do not educate across such lines. The continuance of insidious discrimination, abetted by ignorance, consequently goes on. This paper concludes that all societies, nevertheless—homogeneous or pluralistic—have representations of a myriad of gender and race identities. It is how teachers recognize and approach this diversity in the classroom that affects students’ cognitive understanding and sensitivity toward the Other. Recent social research in the US underscores this argument, suggesting that individuals can learn to overcome their tendencies for biased responses through practice and self-reflection (Czopp and Monteith, 2003).

Peace Educators promote interpersonal and global cooperation. If young boys and girls can't learn to work together in Japanese and Kentucky schools—when the greatest presence of diversity in their lives is the opposite sex—how shall men and women work cooperatively in society later in life? And how will people react when confronted with greater diversity? The unchallenged presence of gender inequalities and racial prejudice in schools acts as a catalyst for growing other forms of intolerance and discrimination. Kentucky and Japan were the selected research centers because of their supposed homogeneous composition, though there actually are varied levels of what is considered homogenous. What may perpetuate the problems is the lack of recognition of heterogeneity rather than an actual voidance of diversity.

Intriguingly, throughout the literature review process, insufficient research was found addressing homogeneous schools and discrimination, which is not to conclude that such research is entirely absent but that it isn’t abundant and readily available. The voidance of literature on homogeneous schooling highlights the urgency for the study completed within this essay, findings that corroborate a correlation between schooling in homogeneous contexts and the perpetuation of racism and sexism. Where the literature seemingly lacks scope on issues of homogeneous schooling, it has considerable numbers concerning diversity and multiculturalism, addressing issues such as racial consciousness, power, White privilege, racial apartheid, and gender (Sleeter, 1996). However, the research considers diversity within a heterogeneous setting; few, if any, consider the effects of homogeneous schooling on fostering certain perspectives and life values. These perspectives, such as racial and gender ignorance, bigotry, ‘color-blind’ policies, and imprudent acceptance of White power and privilege, in return are destructive toward establishing and maintaining a culture of peace. Peace Education conversely is a force for challenging discriminatory and violent socialization, and in exploring contemporary social issues and creative possibilities together, conscientizes and liberates minds to greater understanding, respect, and international cooperation.

Addressing bias in schools is a form of intervention in the society. It is this premise that surmises education is a tool for social transformation. Education as intervention radically defends human interests above those of particular groups. It recognizes that we are subject to a host of conditioning factors, including genetics, culture, economics, language, environment, and our interaction with these elements is the basis of our understanding (Freire, 1998). Peace Education expressly, as living education, shall lead to more just and peaceful societies when such education is conducted in a manner conducive to peace. It is critical, raging, hopeful, and recognizes the possibility of education to reinforce dominant ideologies as well as unmask them. In parallel response, educators in Kentucky and Japan declared that not recognizing diversity perpetuates sexist and racist attitudes in the classroom, in effort undermining multiculturalism through uncritical acceptance of hegemonic values. They asserted:

• Yes, I think [homogeneity] does perpetuate racist attitudes because students in this school are not exposed to a diverse population. I think one of the reasons students exhibit these racist tendencies is because they are not exposed to other cultures or populations.
• Yes, absolutely, these attitudes all exist in symbiosis. I know there is a counter-argument about placing excessive emphasis on diversity, not least in Japan because it always seems an imported and artificial construct. But we have to start somewhere; if there is no recognition or discussion of the issues, no consciousness can be raised. Perhaps in Japan the equation needs to be skewed towards dealing with sexism and racism on the road towards respecting diversity.
• Yes, I strongly feel that discrimination is taught. People are not born with negative thoughts about others. Those thoughts are brought about through the teaching and experiences of adults. Unfortunately, younger students are more apt to believe what they see and hear and not look beyond those elements. I feel if schools and parents would talk openly and positively about other genders and races that we would not encounter sexist or racist attitudes.
• I believe that under what circumstances he/she is brought up plays a big role.
• Yes, Diversity should be an issue—we should address and celebrate differences. Diversity is not something to be shunned. If people do not accept diversity or do not acknowledge it, then racism is allowed to take root in the society.

Similarly, Garcia (2001), in discussing diversity within the US, says:

This population identifier, "culturally diverse", is a relatively new educationally related term. Of course it has little appreciation for the diversity among such identified U.S. populations. That is, it is quite evident that such identified populations (African Americans, Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Chicanos, Latinos, Southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders, Filipino, Chinese, etc.) are quite heterogeneous linguistically and culturally both within and between such identified categories (p. 2).

In a study on homogeneous schools discourse on the presence of diversity in communities that are largely considered uniform is critical, because in reality the notion of monoculturalism is exaggerated. For example, the 2007 US Census Bureau defined Whites as persons “having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.” It includes people “such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish,” and even “Latinos.” This subgroup of peoples is astoundingly diverse, and such a grouping cloaks multiformity.
Diene (2006) writes statistically of the composition of Japan:

Japan has a population of 127.7 million, out of which 98.45% are Japanese nationals. The Japanese population includes one indigenous population, the Ainu, estimated at between 30,000 and 50,000 people: they live predominantly in the island of Hokkaido. Amongst the foreigners who do not represent more than 1.55 percent of the population, Koreans are the largest minority (607, 419 in 2004), followed by the Chinese, Brazilians and Filipinos (p. 5).

The heterogeneity may look small compared to other more explicit multiethnic societies, but the number is, in fact, larger than this. There are increasing numbers of non-registered non-Japanese citizens in general, and some cities are more diverse than the national average. Hamamatsu-city, for example, has a registered foreign population of 4%, which mostly consists of Brazilian-Japanese employed in automobile factories (HICE, 2006). The conflict in Japanese society, as in other perceived homogeneous nations, lies in this very fact that the cultural and ethnic diversity is not recognized. Some Korean-Japanese in Japan have been so deeply assimilated that it is virtually impossible to identify them. It could be postulated that what made them choose to be naturalized or change their names to Japanese monikers is the force of discrimination against Koreans they suffer. The notion of homogeneity minimizes the existence of other Asian minorities.

In congruence with the deconstruction of the notion of homogeneity and race, such must also be done with gender. Social constructs rigidly define male and female, boy and girl, and masculine and feminine; yet, the reality is that these hegemonic groupings are not nearly as consonant as psycho-cultural lexicon suggest. Take, for instance, the construct of men and masculinity. Middleton asserts, as quoted in Hearn and Collinson (1994, p. 108), “There is no uniformity about men. The heterogeneity must be recognized, across age, class, race, religion, and world view.” The differences within and among men are as great as the differences between men and women. Likewise, the differences within and among races are as different as between them.

Awareness of gender in our lives may raise our consciousness toward other forms of diversity and consequent injustices. Sleeter (1996) concludes gender is a mediator for racial consciousness and other forms of discrimination. As is apparent, yet rarely articulated, gender pervades our daily lives. Each living person interacts with the opposite sex, as well as various other gendered identities, throughout our lives, day in and day out. In fact, many of our identities are formed in relation to biological appearance, social constructs, and the nexus of the two. In contrast, other identities such as race, ethnicity, class, etc., do not necessarily confront each of us in the course of our lives. There are some who live their lives entirely without being exposed to these Others (though this number is dwindling today), and having never had dialogue with a member of these differing groups, lives in ignorance of extraordinary diversity. Thus cognizance of gender, gender sensitivity, and gender mainstreaming, as it influences us daily, is a prerequisite to negotiating peaceful coexistence with other individuals and communities.

Three noted Peace Educators, Betty Reardon, Elise Boulding, and Birgit Brock-Utne, work within the women’s movements and complement their Peace Education practice with gender analysis and mainstreaming. These educators link a feminist perspective to the field of Peace Education, and they charge that the continued oppression of women remains a serious obstacle to realizing global peace. In the landmark UN Resolution 1325 (2000), the Security Council reaffirmed “the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts,” and urged “Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional, and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.” Peace Educators ask: “how can women help men achieve peace when they are so oppressed themselves, when they have little education and the education they get is not of the holistic kind enabling them really to understand peace issues and teaching them to cooperate?” (Brock-Utne, 2000, p. 10). On the micro-macro connection, “war reinforces gender stereotypes and encourages violence against women…A culture of peace requires an authentic partnership between men and women” (Reardon, 2001, pp. 20-21). Gender fairness is essential for successful peace processes and to abate other transgressions of human dignity.

Furthermore, critical pedagogue bell hooks (1990) writes:

If we are to live in a less violent and more just society, then we must engage in anti-sexist and anti-racist work. We desperately need to explore and understand the connections between racism and sexism. And we need to teach everyone about those connections so that they can be critically aware and socially active (p. 63).

Additionally, Czopp and Monteith (2003) state:

Research on stereotyping and prejudice often focuses either on prejudice toward women or Blacks but rarely address sexism and racism simultaneously so that they can be compared and contrasted…. Most gender stereotypes tend to be more prescriptive in nature than most racial stereotypes. That is, people tend to believe that women should conform to common stereotypes about women to a greater extent than people believe Blacks should behave in correspondingly stereotypic ways. Thus, social norms may be such that taboos against racially prejudiced behaviors are much stronger than similarly egregious behaviors against women (p. 533).

Thus, in addition to teaching behaviors consistent with peace and constructing mechanisms to resolve conflict peacefully in our schools and communities, each of us must be actively engaged in work to subvert gender stereotypes and racial discrimination. To this end, educators committed to building just societies must be critically aware of race and gender identities, open to frank dialogue on these identities, and knowledgeable of the power structures that frame such discourse. Educators in Japan and Kentucky expressed their recognition of gender discrimination and racism as ‘a culture of discrimination,’ and as systemic power relations between racism and patriarchy.

• In an environment where there is racism, so follows gender discrimination—a ‘culture’ of discrimination. (Kentucky)
• There are links with regards to lack or available opportunities. For example, a young black woman will have less opportunity in the business arena than a young black male (depending on the arena). (Kentucky)
• Judging people about their sex usually means that the person will make similar judgments about their race as well. (Japan)
• Filipino women who apply for EFL jobs in Japan have a double hurdle to jump, their racial background and the fact that most (well-paying, high status) EFL jobs in Japan are held by White men. (Japan)
• In U.S. history men wanted power over women, just as whites wanted power and control over African Americans. I believe that the two issues are separate in many ways but that the greed for power within humans is a fundamental connection. (Kentucky)
• Some old connections between “keep the woman down” and white “supremacy” exist, mostly related to (mis)interpretation of Bible. It’s stereotypical, but real; however, it’s dying fast thanks for satellite TV and spread of mainstream culture. (Kentucky)
• They [patriarchy and racism] are all forms of maintaining the cycle of fear and control by the power majority. Where there is one, you will inevitably find the other. (Japan)
• Foreign women [faculty] are treated much more rudely than foreign men at my school. (Japan)
• It is my opinion that those who are taught racial discrimination will also have a sexual discrimination tendency, because of the behavior they witness in the environment where they learn racial discrimination. (Kentucky)

The realization that gender pervades our lives and acts as a mediator against other forms of oppression helps students grapple with injustices by bringing sundry amoralities to face. In a classroom, participants may be elicited, with consideration and care, to share personal experiences with sexism and racism. This activity will abet students in linking manifestations of discrimination.

As argued in the introduction, experiences with poverty and class oppression in my youth, later encounters with racism in Japan, and vicarious experiences of gender oppression developed my awareness of oppression and empathy toward discriminated groups. The aim of this essay has explored relationships between sexism, racism, and the impact of learning in monocultural schools. In conclusion, a postulate throughout has been that schooling in homogeneous classrooms perpetuates notions of entitlement, sexist perspectives, uncritical race awareness, and indiscriminate acceptance of the status quo. The discrimination is sustained in part because of hyperbolic notions of homogeneity and multiculturalism, both of which are facades, illusions cloaking the actual life differences present. The recognition of this diversity paradoxically antecedes the deconstruction of the homogeneity that buttresses discrimination. Educators in Kentucky and Japan have expressed their belief that homogeneous contexts do have an impact on the development and nurturance of discriminatory attitudes and behaviors, and that sexism and racism are linked forms of discrimination. However, a cautionary finality: the research and its conclusion does not suggest that by merely living and growing up in homogeneous communities an individual will be destined to possess racist and/or sexist behaviors. It does indicate however that homogeneity, or moreover the lack of recognition of diversity that exists, may correlate with the subsistence of racist and sexist biases. Homogeneity is not a fatalistic force—it does not necessarily cause racist and sexist beliefs and actions—but may assist in the breeding and endurance of prejudice.

REFERENCES
Boulding, Elise (1988). Building a Global Civic Culture: Education for an Interdependent World. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.
Brock-Utne, Birgit. An analysis of peace and development studies as well as peace education from a feminist perspective. Paper presented at a joint session between the Peace Education Commission and the Women and Peace Commission at the 18th General IPRA Conference in Tampere, Finland, August 5-9, 2000.
Czopp, Alexander M., and Monteith, Margo J (2003). Confronting Prejudice (Literally): Reactions to Confrontations of Racial and Gender Bias. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky.
Diene, Doudou (2006). Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and All Forms of Discrimination: Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, and related forms of intolerance. United Nations: Economic and Social Council.
Freire, Paulo (1998). Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield.
Garcia, Eugene E (2001). Rethinking school reform in the context of cultural and linguistic diversity: creating a responsive learning community. California: University of California Berkeley.
Hearn, Jeff and Collinson, David L (1994). “Theorizing Unities and Differences Between Men and Between Masculinities. in H. Brod and Michael Kaufman (eds.), Theorizing Masculinities. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
HICE (2006). “A move toward an interdependent relationship with foreign residents.” Online at http://www.city.hamamatsu.shizuoka.jp/hamaEng/kouhou/htm_0603/special.html. Accessed 5 June 2007.
hooks, bell (2001). “Men: Comrades in Struggle.” in Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner (eds.), Men’s Lives. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
hooks, bell (1990). Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.
Mies, Maria (1983). “Towards a methodology for feminist research.” in G. Bowles and R. Duelli Klein (eds.), Theories of Women’s Studies. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa (1998). Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation. New York: M.E. Sharpe.
Reardon, Betty (2001). Education for a culture of peace in a gender perspective. Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
Sleeter, Christine (1996). Multicultural Education as Social Activism. Albany, NY: State University of New York.
United Nations (2000). Security Council Resolution 1325. Downloaded from
www.un.org. Public Domain.
U.S. Census Bureau (2007). Online at http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/21000.html.

Absinthe-minded: On Christmas, New Years, and Books

It's been a while since I've written. And since that time, absinthe has become legal again in the US. Who'd have thunk? I've been up to the usual: trying to save the world. Wrote a teaching manual with Shreya in October, gave a few presentations on Peace Education, and applied to grad school again, this time in Canada.

I spent Christmas in Seoul for 5 days, shopping around the Itaewon district and sending Xmas presents home to family. New Year's was celebrated back in Daegu, where I had a bit much too drink but one hell of a night. By the end, I was wandering the labrinth-inspired streets in Blair-witch-style circles. I'm back up in Seoul now for a few more days, visiting the Indian embassy, and meeting a few UPeace friends. Will be good to reminisce on another year and alma mater past.

Books I've been reading of late: "Love in the Time of Cholera" (Marquez), "The Kite Runner" (Khaled Hosseini), "Slaughterhouse 5" (Vonnegut--who passed away this past year 2007), "By the River Piedra I Sat and Wept" (Coelho), and "True Love" (Thich Nhan Haht). Beginning with the Winter Vacation I went on a roll, finally finishing "Love in the Time of Cholera" and laying down a few more.

I far prefer Marquez' "100 Years of Solitude", which I read in September, but "Love" is certainly a fun ride of a story with a few unforeseen and sickening moments (meant to be read for their literary structure I suppose rather than at face value).

"Slaugtherhouse 5" was a bizarre one, but full of laughs. The most moving moment for me was when Vonnegut opened up in the final chapter with commentary on life in the time that he was writing, on the death of Robert Kennedy, MLK Jr, and his disdain for armaments. One interesting aspect of this book though, and something mostly of the past at this point, is that it's pretty clear the book was written on a typewriter rather than a computer. This gives it a bit of a raw grasp, fresh and dynamic, rather than computer doctored. I like it.

Coelho's "By the River Piedra" could be skipped over, really not much of a point, not quite a story, more meditations on life and love, but hardly insightful. And the "Kite Runner" is by far the better work of the group, a gut-wrenching story that makes you lock your jaw, turn your head from the images, and squeeze the cushions on your seat, disgustingly real I fear.

Now I am beginning "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (Kundera). Here's hoping for a great and profound 2008!