Teaching Mills in Tokyo

Abstract

Here I emphasize the applicability of the sociological imagination to an international audience by sharing my journey of teaching sociology in Japan. I found my own sociological imagination helpful in critically evaluating the literature on Japanese higher education and the construction of the Japanese student as a form of Orientalism. As I embraced international students' unique, context-specific capacities for learning, I relied on the illuminating power of C. Wright Mills's sociological imagination to heighten their understandings of themselves and others. Despite the characterization of Japanese students as passive learners, I discovered an engaged and responsive student body who developed a keen sociological imagination through storytelling. Employing a pedagogy of storytelling, I helped my students successfully explore gender and ethnic troubles as public issues in a global context. The insight gained abroad has led me to expand my pedagogy at home beyond active learning strategies to incorporate stories to enhance U.S. students' sociological imaginations.

Going to Zion! Experiencing Environmental Sociology in an Iconic National Park

“…Research suggests that developing a sense of global citizenship, as mentioned earlier, is imperative and can be accomplished domestically, not just by going abroad (Core 2017; Dallinger 2017). A reflective, critical pedagogy that employs storytelling to make connections to students’ lives, to community, and to related ideas and skills is an effective tool here (Fobes 2005; McKinney 2007; Storrs 2009). Importantly, to increase environmental consciousness as an integral part of global citizenship as well as more egalitarian education, travel study should not be the exclusive domain of the privileged.…”