Sep 13 – 14, 2025
Hitotsubashi University
Asia/Tokyo timezone

Teaching Multiperspectivity: Ainu Textbooks, "Iwakan", and Neuroscience

Sep 13, 2025, 3:35 PM
25m
Main Building 2nd floor (Hitotsubashi University)

Main Building 2nd floor

Hitotsubashi University

2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo 186-8601, Japan
25-minute presentation Peace as a Global Language - Related Saturday 4 Room 26

Speaker

Jennifer Teeter (Kyoto Seika University)

Description

Amid rising polarization, instruction that fosters the holding of multiple truths is critical. Drawing on classroom-tested activities from university courses, this practical session introduces a repeatable protocol for teaching multiperspectivity, using Ainu representation in Japanese textbooks as an illustrative case. Activities were developed and used in second- through fourth-year Japanese university courses. After examining how state‑centered narratives shape public understanding, strategies are modelled that surface absent voices. Anchored in James R. Doty’s neuroscience on attention, intention, compassion, and “survival‑mode” habits, the approach blends metacognitive "iwakan" check‑ins with reflective questioning, power‑mapping, and audience‑aware rewriting.

Author

Jennifer Teeter (Kyoto Seika University)

Presentation materials