Learning comes in many forms. You can read about a defining historical event in a textbook, listen to a lecture explaining its significance, or you could travel across the world to behold those lessons coming to life before your very eyes.
For students serving as research assistants (RAs) for the University of Guelph-Humber’s (U of GH) Soka Education Research Centre on Global Citizenship (SERC-GC), lessons about nuclear disarmament and world peace – topics their research focuses on – took on a whole new life during their winter visit to Japan. Their journey brought them to Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima with SERC-GC Director/retired CSS Community Social Services (CSS) Chair Dr. Paul Sherman and CSS Chair Dr. Olivia Boukydis.
“I believe in cultural exchange and learning from somewhere else because it's not the same when you're behind a screen or behind a book page,” fourth-year psychology student and RA Deborah Gonzalez Bello said, who was on the trip with five other RAs.
There are several reasons why each cohort of SERC-GC RAs travel to Japan. With their research being centred on peace education and global citizenship, students get a first-hand look at a nation that experienced devastating atomic bomb drops in 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, learning about the history from a real survivor – an experience many of this year’s RAs found incredibly moving and emotional. And apart from the culturally enriching experience, the SERC-GC RAs get the opportunity to meet the high school students in person that they’ve been working with virtually throughout the school year at Osaka-based Kansai Soka High School for their research work – the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
“Experiencing these discussions in person made the issue [of nuclear conflict] feel more tangible, emphasizing the importance of education and collective action in creating a nuclear-free future,” fourth-year Kinesiology student and RA Beatrice Abiog said.
Dr. Sherman explained that throughout the academic year, SERC-GC RAs glean important insights about nuclear disarmament and global peace through monthly virtual exchanges with the Kansai Soka students, but also meet bi-weekly with each other on campus as they develop their research on these topics. The RAs even had the opportunity to present their work this past fall in Winnipeg at the Youth Nuclear Peace Summit, which included research on addressing nuclear disarmament and peace education in Ontario schools’ curriculums (something the RAs found was lacking) as well as how it could be incorporated.
The SERC-GC RAs presented this same research to the Kansai Soka students, but the experience was different from when they presented their work to students in Winnipeg. In Japan, many students are taught about Soka education from a young age – a concept referencing Japanese thought leaders Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Josei Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda’s ideas on global citizenship and their vision for world peace and harmonious coexistence. Hearing the high school students’ perspectives on the topic sparked different ways of thinking for the SERC-GC RAs.
“It was like we were talking to experts, and we were learning from them at the same time,” fourth-year Kinesiology student and RA Ashnaa Narumathan said. “Whereas in Winnipeg, we were sharing the insights we learned through SERC-GC with Dr. Paul Sherman to people unfamiliar with it. It was a bit different, but it was still very surreal and incredible to have those interactions with those students.”
Fourth-year CSS student and RA Nathania Ebegbare said in addition to presenting to the students, they were also divided into groups, with each RA facilitating conversations about nuclear disarmament within each group, in a way she described as an “enhancement of knowledge.” Plus, in addition to dialogues that broadened their perspectives, the U of GH students bonded with the Kansai Soka High School students, forging new relationships through partaking in the COIL and visiting them in Osaka.
“Over time, we've all formed personal connections with so many of the students, and even after it was time to leave [Kansai Soka High School], we kept hugging them…For me, I felt like a big sister,” Ebegbare said.
The other memorable part of their trip was visiting Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park in commemoration of the 1945 atomic bomb drop, which was the site of the world’s first nuclear attack. The students stood on the land where this tragedy occurred, witnessed the memorial, and heard stories from a survivor – which brought some to tears.
“The moment of the trip that I realized it was imperative to be into this movement of abolishing nuclear weapons is when we went to Peace Memorial Park. We saw the flame of peace, which will continue to burn until all nuclear weapons are abolished worldwide,” third-year CSS student and RA Linniah Williams said. “Talking to [the atomic bomb survivor] was very emotional. I cried. It was so heartbreakingly human when she told us to just be happy and live our lives without any hate or animosity and just share love with others,” Williams said, explaining the survivor’s message of hope and forgiveness.
The survivor’s stories inspired the students with a strong message of peace – one that Narumathan described as “life changing.”
As SERC-GC RAs, this trip was truly the opportunity of a lifetime. The work that the students do is, in fact, one of the reasons Williams said she applied to U of GH as a high school student. Working with SERC-GC provides amazing research experience, but also valuable lessons that can be learned by visiting a new country.
“If anybody has a chance to get involved in an experience like this, I would highly recommend it because it changes who you are as a person for the better, and it changes the way that you see the world. I think it makes you a more empathetic, more critical, and a more well-rounded person,” Narumathan said.
Their research journey doesn’t end here. Some members of SERC-GC will be presenting their research at the University of Guelph’s Teaching and Learning Innovation Conference this May.
To read about the 2024 SERC-GC trip to Japan, click here.
