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Learning to overcome epistemological challenges: A case of a cross-cultural action research exchange program between the United States and Japan
Blog post by Noriyuki Inoue
Cross-cultural experiences can offer unique opportunities to examine our assumptions that underlie our world views. So what can we learn from cross-cultural changes in AR?
Dr. Inoue’s students from the Tokyo student AR program
At the University of San Diego, I have been organizing an action research cross-cultural exchange program with Japanese partners in the last few years. This paper discusses the first time offering of the cross-cultural action research program in which U.S. and Japanese university students mutually presented and discussed their action research projects in Tokyo. Planning and organizing the program involved a series of dialogues with the Japanese partner that had led to mutual agreement to frame the cross-cultural exchange as ba, a Japanese cultural concept that implies intersubjective and open communicative arena to co-develop a new understanding. The paper discusses what the U.S. students and faculty group experienced and learned in the cross-cultural program.
Through the program, we encountered different styles of communicating meanings and epistemology and made sense of new ways of viewing the world. The paper discusses how encountering different modes of communications and social dynamics in cross-cultural dialogues can help us become aware of various assumptions that underlie our action research endeavors.
After this first time offering of the Tokyo Program, the program has been offered annually, and you can see the subsequent offerings of the Tokyo Program in the blog done by the graduate students who participated in the program. You can see how the program evolved over time as we continuously learned from the cross-cultural exchanges. Please check it out! Will you also please join me in the discussion forums and share your ideas on what can we learn from cross-cultural changes in AR?
Noriyuki Inoue
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After you’ve had a chance to read this piece, please share your thoughts, ideas, or experiences with our community so we can continue this discussion! The AR+ site is hosting a discussion forum for us to talk about our reactions and experiences related this topic. You can access the discussion forum HERE.
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Columbia Embury
www.wright.edu
www.wright.edu
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