Teaching Development Studies in Japan: Navigating Between Eastern and Western Discourses of Development

Abstract

This paper examines how development studies teachers in Japan are caught between Western and Eastern discourses of development amidst the changing political and economic realities unfolding in East Asia. The generally weak involvement of anthropologists in development studies teaching results in the preoccupation of Japan's development community with the task of uncovering the country's unique development experience distinct from the Western countries'. The paper argues that development studies institutions in Japan should become more sensitised to their identity as a source of discourse and that students doing development studies there should be taught to discern the competing Eastern and Western discourses of international development.

Development Knowledge in the Making: The Case of Japan, South Korea and China

“…Hence, the Japanese government instituted various research and teaching/training organizations and university programmes in IDS. They included the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) in 1990, the IDE's Advanced School (IDEAS) in 1990, the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in 1997 and graduate IDS degree programmes at major national universities at Nagoya in 1991, Kobe in 1992, Hiroshima in 1994and Tokyo in 1999(Interview 2022cIto 2017;GRIPS, n.d.;IDE, n.d.). 9 Japan's IDS formally took shape when JASID, established in 1990 with Okita Saburo as its first president, gathered 500 members ranging from consultants and practitioners to academics and representing various disciplines of study.…”