http://www.isc.kyushuu.ac.jp/JTW/study/framepage_study.htm (1st semester, Gender and Contemporary Japan);

http://www.isc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/JTW/study/right_descrip10-2.htm (2nd semester, Gender in a Comparative Perspective)

What is Gender? (the philosophical basis of the syllabuses)

Both syllabuses are presented in detail on the websites and are fairly self-explanatory. Both cover a broad perspective of 'gender' in Japan (historical, political, social, individual) because I base them on Scott's (1999) definition of gender:

"...gender is the social organisation of sexual difference. But this does not mean that gender reflects or implements fixed and natural physical differences between women and men; rather gender is the knowledge that establishes meaning for bodily differences. These meanings vary across cultures, social groups, and time since nothing about the body, including women's reproductive organs, determines univocally how social divisions will be shaped.... Sexual difference is not, then, the originary cause from which social organisation ultimately can be derived. It is instead a variable social organisation that itself must be explained. (Scott, 1999, p. 2).

This is closely related to the question of "What is Identity?". Butler (1990) defines woman (and here I read 'human') as the state of permanent openness and resignifiability. This is woman's constructed internal substance re-produced through corporeal signs. It seems to have much in common with Kondo's (1997) discursive definition which maintains the boundaries as flexible and suggests possibilities of shifts meaning of self through power variation shifts. Kondo says that identity is a location in a field of shifting power relations, "opening out the inner spaces of true gender identity to cultural and historical forces" (p. 43). Therefore, identity is neither "an essential inner truth, or external biological equipment" (p. 43) but complex ambiguities, different cultural possibilities, blurred boundaries, and rearrangements of power (p. 44).

Therefore, if gender-constructs are 'variable social organizations' as Scott notes, the inclusion of 1) both mainstream and marginal constructs of gender, and 2) the connection of gender to students' lives is necessary to 'see' society through many lenses toward a goal of deconstructing stereotypes.

Gender is Human Rights: Connecting Study to Life

Teaching gender is not always pleasurable. Gender is pervasive throughout our experiences and, as such, can be an emotionally volatile topic to broach in a classroom. To bring a balanced approach to gender education, I include the following four elements:

1. Class interaction is based on feminist organizing principles (see Week 1, Course Overview);
2. The Gender Knot (Johnson, 1997): recognize patriarchy as a system;
3. Weekly email submission of a 'gender-related experience

   This concept is based on critical incidents in intercultural communication defined as an event you saw or experienced that created an emotional reaction for you. Students are encouraged to use critical thinking skills to reflexively examine the meaning of their gender perspective in the incident or event.

4. Student-produced texts as discussion material'

I compiled a short cut-and-paste handout of their email responses and questions to readings/textbook and used these for in-class, small group discussions.

Heikinen 1998) offers a practical approach based in theory that includes the 'mainstream' in gender studies classes with strategies (such as the 'student-produced texts) for opportunity for them to 'hear' and respond to each others' biases.

In addition to these two courses on gender, gender-related independent study projects (ISP) I either supervise or provide assistance for include NGOs and community work, "comfort women", women in corporate level Japan and "office ladies", gay Japan, the myth of motherhood and the declining birthrate. I use an ethnographical approach to research requiring students to participate directly with an organization or community group taking fieldnotes of observations and interviews.

Student Feedback

The following is a composite of feedback from students. Although all students gave me permission to use their responses and their names.

What Went Well (What I learned and found helpful)

1. Sharing weekly "gender experiences" was helpful in realizing not only how I was feeling internally, but how my peers felt in different situations.
2. I loved the small group discussions in which I could hear voices of friends from various societies.
3. I have learned how to think about my everyday life and what happens to me in a gender perspective. This means that I am more aware of the place I occupy in the society and the system, and I can think about my behavior and others' behaviors within the theoretical frame that I discovered.
4. Culture remains as an important factor as we have been raised in different social norms, (family) education Š that it is especially crucial when we discuss certain topics.
5. We learn that gender studies are not just about females but also males. The study will be hopeless if we can only hear voices of victims! We need to know how the co-creators feel (all people).
6. The readings "Nightwork" and "Queer Japan" were not just theory but something experienced by the writers, something unique in Japan, and not easily accessible to foreigners.
7. I learned that it is possible to conform to the ways of patriarchy, even as a woman, and live as a patriarch, without questioning the system that discriminates against women.
8. In most classes that I have had so far in my college experience, there have been written reading things, but in this class, the information was compiled nicely and it really felt like I was doing the assignment for a reason; like I was helping the class, on an individual level. That was a nice feeling.

1. More small group discussion to share the 'comparative' perspectives of our peers.
2. Use more multimedia resources: videos, films, magazines, powerpoint, etc.
3. The written reading assignments could be staggered so that some students do them one week and the next week others do them. Then in the small group discussions the onus falls on those who didn't "have" to do the assignment. People will feel compelled to add to the written responses, verbally since there will less compiled material and, therefore, more 'space' for discussion.

"I am very glad that The Gender Knot makes me aware that we do not have to obsess with the (fake) patriarchal tradition and solutions (having more power and control) and there exists alternative ways of thinking and solutions. Once I also thought women should have the same or more power and authority to break down the gender inequality and could not think other ideas because it was all I had seen, heard and learned about problem solving strategies from my patriarchal society." (Seon Jeong, Korea)

Tamah's Reflection

I have always thought of gender as a "continuum of being" which is both external and internal. Externally it is manifested in the way we dress, behave, speak. The 'internal continuum' is how we feel in relation to the external projection of our gendered being. Therefore every human being has both male and female elements inherently. My thinking has been expanded through discussion with the students in this class toward the idea that the concept of a 'continuum of gender' is part of the patriarchal dichotomizing of people into smaller parts of their whole selves, in a positivist mode of organizing the world. I am now beginning to clear my own internalized patriarchy and realize that people are "ungendered human beings" who have been assigned gender.

Further, in my analysis our class has reached Freire's first stage of conscientization ­ awareness that is also an action stage. Freire (1970) emphasizes that "action and reflection are not a dichotomy but occur simultaneously, and further, when action is inappropriate, critical reflection is action" (p. 135). To facilitate learning beyond the cognitive I introduce non-rational ways of knowing from Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed and others. The students are encouraged to include non-rational (artistic, kinesthetic, etc.) methods for their final presentations on an issue of gender of interest to them. These forms of reflection access deeply held socialized beliefs which discussion and written work make cognitive. It is this cycle of taking the emotional, kinesthetic knowledge and making it cognitive, that makes our 'felt' knowledge available to the world. This cycle of 'knowing' offers empowerment for human beings.

Note on the textbook: I found I needed to supplement the Tree of Patriarchy in Chapter 1 with the Cycle of Socialization Diagram (Adams, Bell & Griffin, 1997, p. 80, Appendix 5C) to more clearly represent the influences of socialization on our lives, as well as offer an illustration of a place in the cycle where we have an option to make choices not to perpetuate the cycle.

About Tamah

Tamah L. Nakamura, an M.Ed. in second language education and an M.A. in Human Development, is a university teacher in the areas of intercultural communication and comparative gender studies. An American permanent resident of Japan, she has also taught in Korea, Singapore, and the United States. Her workshops in the community include gender issues discussion groups for Japanese and non-Japanese women as well as "Movement for Refreshment of the Heart" workshops. She is a doctoral candidate in Human and Organizational Systems at Fielding Graduate Institute with an emphasis on social identity and community re-creation of the social body through somatic movement. She is currently training as a Registered Movement Educator (RME) and Therapist (RMT) with ISMETA (International Somatic Movement Education and Therapy) faculty, Professor Sondra Fraleigh www.brockport.edu/~dance/somatics). She is a member of Butoh Seiryukai Dance Group.

I invite feedback, critique, and questions which will help me to further the process and applications of teaching gender in future courses.

Acknowledgment to Colleagues

I am grateful to Dr. Beverley Yamamoto, University of Sheffield, School of East Asian Studies, for her many supportive phone conversations, and sharing of materials and knowledge on gender, some of which are reflected in these syllabuses and the newsletter article.

Also, Cathy Collins' recommendation of The Gender Knot was perfect as was the related gender game in Week 5 of the syllabus. She co-facilitated it at the Healing Racism Institute, Little Rock, Arkansas. Cathy is presently completing her doctoral work in Human and Organizational Systems at the Fielding Graduate Institute.

References

Adams, M., Bell, L. & Griffin, P. (1997). Teaching for diversity and social justice. New York: Routledge.

Butler, J. (1990). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. In S. Case (Ed.) Performing feminisms, (270-282). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum

Heikinen, D. (1998). From Freire to Bakhtin: The Role of Carnival in the Composition Classroom. http://www.wmc.edu/academics/library/pub/jcp/issueI-2/heikinen.html

Johnson, A. (1997). The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Kondo, D. (1997). M. butterfly: Orientalism, gender, and a critique of essentialist identity. In D. Kondo, About face (pp. 31-54). New York: Routledge.

Scott, J. (1999). Gender and the politics of history. New York: Columbia University Press.

Author contact details:
Email: tamah@gol.com