The ‘state of exception’ and disaster education: a multilevel conceptual framework with implications for social justice

The term ‘state of exception’ has been used by Italian political theorist Giorgio Agamben to explain the ways in which emergencies, crises and disasters are used by governments to suspend legal processes. In this paper, we innovatively apply Agamben's theory to the way in which countries prepare and educate the population for various types of emergencies. We focus on two main aspects of Agamben's work: first, the paradoxical nature of the state of exception, as both a transient and a permanent part of governance. Second, it is a ‘liminal’ concept expressing the limits of law and where ‘law’ meets ‘not-law’. We consider the relationship between laws related to disasters and emergencies, and case studies of the ways in which three countries (England, Germany and Japan) educate their populations for crisis and disaster. In England, we consider how emergency powers have been orientated around the protection of the Critical National Infrastructure and how this has produced localised ‘states of exception’ and, relatedly, pedagogical anomalies. In Germany, we consider the way in which laws related to disaster and civil protection, and the nature of volunteering for civil protection, produce exceptional spaces for non-German bodies. In Japan, we consider the debate around the absence of emergency powers and relate this to Japanese non-exceptional disaster education for natural disasters. Applying Agamben's work, we conclude by developing a new, multilevel empirical framework for analysing disaster education with implications for social justice.     

Habitus and intraclass differentiation: nonuniversity‐bound students in Japan

This paper explores the mechanisms guiding differentiation among nonuniversity‐bound high schoolers from disadvantaged families in their job decision making and acquisition. Examining microlevel schooling processes over one year, it is argued that one differentiation mechanism is the individual's varying perceptions and consequent uses of school‐based resources that, in principle, are available to all within the school but, in reality, are not fully utilized by all. The paper then seeks to explain the mechanisms whereby these variations emerge and draw upon habitus as an analytical tool. It suggests that variations result from an interaction of individual habitus (within the “collective” habitus of nonuniversity‐bound students) and available resources (family‐based and school‐based) and that the ways in which these resources are presented to individual students are influential. School and family can in fact “intervene” in the student's perception and activation of the resources. The highly structured practice of job referral in Japan, where each school provides students with job opportunities, illuminates variability in students’ uses of school‐based resources.     

School education and development of gender perspectives and sexuality in Japan

This study aimed to evaluate changes in the attitudes of Japan’s post-war youth towards gender equality and sexuality, and to examine whether these attitudes bore a relationship to school education. Different generations were delineated based on changes in courses of study and year of birth, and semi-structured interviews were conducted enquiring about experiences and opinions during secondary school days. We examined sexuality education in both junior high school (ages 12–15 years) and high school (15–18 years), views on premarital sex, views on marriage and divorce, and views on gender roles. Fifty-three survey participants were involved in the study: 30 women and 23 men. The characteristics of each generation were examined in relation to corresponding courses of study and the textbooks available in junior high and high schools, identifying both homologies and differences between the messages courses contained and the expressed beliefs of different generations of informants.     

Contrasting experiences in Japanese returnee adjustment: Those who adjust easily and those who do not

This study examined how returnees who experienced more adjustment difficulties (Bumpies) differed from those who experienced fewer (Smoothies). Three open-ended items from 512 returnees¹ were analyzed. Ward et al.’s [Ward, C., Bochner, S., & Furnham, A. (2001). The psychology of culture shock. East Sussex: Routledge] adjustment model was used as the theoretical framework for this study.Prior to examining the open-ended items, preliminary analyses were conducted to confirm that these two groups, in fact, differed from each other in their returnee experience. Results suggested that one function, which we named “Lack of Acceptance,” differentiated the two groups; Smoothies felt more accepted by others compared to Bumpies.In the next stage, the open-ended questions related to the items that loaded significantly on the function identified by the discriminant analysis were coded and analyzed. Results suggested that the two groups’ experiences were similar in some respects (e.g., being stereotyped as a returnee, language-related problems) and different in others (e.g., Smoothies felt more accepted by others compared to Bumpies, Bumpies reported more incidents of discrimination and bullying). Results underscored Ward et al.’s [Ward, C., Bochner, S., & Furnham, A. (2001). The psychology of culture shock. East Sussex: Routledge] assertion that adjustment is a result of a two-way interaction between individual and societal variables.     

Cross-cultural impressions of leaders’ faces: Consensus and predictive validity

Across cultures, people tend to show high agreement in their impressions of others. But do these impressions predict external outcomes? Here we tested the predictive validity of trait judgments of the faces of Japanese and American targets, as rated by Japanese and American perceivers. Participants rated the faces of Japanese and American Chief Executive Officers of major companies. These judgments showed high agreement within and across cultures. In addition, judgments of power-related traits predicted the company profits of American CEOs, whereas judgments of warmth-related traits did not. However, neither power nor warmth predicted the company profits of Japanese CEOs, implicating longstanding cultural differences in company organization and business practices in the US versus Japan. Together, these data show both cross-cultural agreement between perceivers and targets but also cross-cultural differences in the relevance or application of particular trait information based on facial judgments.     

Impulsive force on the head during performance of typical ukemi techniques following different judo throws

In this study, eight judo athletes who are major candidates for the Japan national team were recruited as participants. Kinematic analysis of exemplary ukemi techniques was carried out using two throws, o-soto-gari, a throw linked to frequent injury, and o-uchi-gari. The aim of this study was to kinematically quantify the timing patterns of exemplary ukemi techniques and to obtain kinematic information of the head, in a sequence of ukemi from the onset of the throw to the completion of ukemi. The results indicated that the vertical velocity with which the uke’s head decelerated was reduced by increasing the body surface exposed to the collision with the tatami and by increasing the elapsed time. In particular, overall upper limb contact with the tatami is greatly associated with deceleration. In o-soto-gari, the impulsive force on the faller’s head as the head reached the lowest point was 204.82 ± 19.95 kg m · s^–2 while in o-uchi-gari it was 118.46 ± 63.62 kg m · s^–2, z = ?1.75, P = 0.08, and it did present a large-sized effect with r = 0.78. These findings indicate that the exemplary o-soto-gari as compared to o-uchi-gari is the technique that causes more significant damage to the uke’s head.     

Community response in disasters: an ecological learning framework

Natural disasters are frequently exacerbated by anthropogenic mechanisms and have social and political consequences for communities. The role of community learning in disasters is seen to be increasingly important. However, the ways in which such learning unfolds in a disaster can differ substantially from case to case. This article uses a comparative case study methodology to examine catastrophes and major disasters from five countries (Japan, New Zealand, the UK, the USA and Germany) to consider how community learning and adaptation occurs. An ecological model of learning is considered, where community learning is of small loop (adaptive, incremental, experimental) type or large loop (paradigm changing) type. Using this model, we consider that there are three types of community learning that occur in disasters (navigation, organization, reframing). The type of community learning that actually develops in a disaster depends upon a range of social factors such as stress and trauma, civic innovation and coercion.     

Developing vocational practice in the jewellery sector through the incubation of a new “project-object”

This paper analyses a work placement scheme established to create the conditions to: (i) incubate new designs in the jewellery sector in Birmingham; (ii) support a jewellery company compete more effectively in the global market; (iii) assist a newly qualified graduate jeweller to enter the jewellery sector. It introduces a new theoretical framework based on concepts from: Cultural–Historical Activity Theory—‘project-object’; Workplace Learning—‘vocational practice’; Philosophy of Mind—‘space of reasons’; to analyse individual and organisational contributions to workplace learning in this scheme. It identifies the strategies and tactics used by: (i) the organisations involved with the scheme to facilitate the incubation of the new designs, and (ii) an aspiring jewellery designer to create a new product range. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this conceptual framework for debates in workplace learning about: (i) the ‘front-loaded’ versus ‘practice-based’ conceptions of vocational education and (ii) the role of epistemic objects and practices in the development of vocational practice.     

Koreans in Japan: A minority's Changing Relationship with Schools

Koreans form the largest ethnic minority group in Japan. The present study explores the situation of Korean pupils in Japanese schools by analyzing recent changes in four areas:(1) governmental and school-level policies, (2) school-level programs targeted at Korean children, (3) Korean pupils' academic achievements and (4) their micro-level encounter with schooling. It shows that Japanese schools are now more willing to accommodate special needs of Koreans in mainstream schooling and that Korean students experience schooling more positively than was the case in their parents' generation. The study argues that their relationship with Japanese schools has undergone a significant transformation at least partially because of such changes, even as the shifting nature of the relationship has a long-term influence on Koreans' beliefs about schools. Central government policies are seen as having adjusted in reply to existing school practices, themselves representing a response to classroom reality and local civil movements.     

Social Justice and Job Distribution in Japan: Class; Minority and Gender

Japanese schools have a mechanism for helping their students to find jobs, rather than leaving this function to market forces. The system embodies three principles. First, it tries to ensure that every graduating student within a school obtains a job. Second, it gives special assistance to students who are seen as "vulnerable" in the job market. Third, it takes into account individual merit (i.e. academic marks, school attendance and extra-curricular activities). The system recognises that a young person's initial full-time employment is crucial in obtaining an adult identity; that high school graduates are still immature and vulnerable, needing professional adult assistance to find "suitable" employment, and that they have unequal access to such assistance in their families. A key role is played by the teachers, who strive to obtain what they consider to be the most suitable employment for all their graduating students.