Graduate School

Keisen Graduate School

In every part of the world, there are a number of people who are marginalized and forced to live in socially and environmentally difficult life conditions. The causes of this global problem could be attributed to the increase of direct violence and armed conflict accelerated by military proliferation, and the persistence of structural violence widening the economic gap between rich and poor, increasing discrimination and human rights abuse, and degrading the natural environment. Furthermore, they are direct or indirect consequences resulting genealogically from the history of colonialism and linked to our social structure emphasizing differentiating factors in religion and culture. For our human kind to live peacefully in this world, it is necessary to educate and train more students who should have extensive knowledge about global issues in the world with multi-cultural perspectives, and actively engage themselves in solving problems with practical methodologies.
Keisen Graduate School was established in 2001 at the dawn of the new millennium, with its Division of International Socio-cultural Studies focusing on two main educational principles: Multicultural Coexistence and International Coexistence. After extensive restructuring, it now consists of a Graduate School of Humanities, Division of Cultural Coexistence, and a Graduate School of Peace Studies, Division of Peace Studies. In 2007, Keisen Graduate Schools launched new programs to educate and train students who can devote themselves to multicultural coexistence and global peace. Each division has unique programs as follows:

Graduate School of Humanities: Division of Cultural Coexistence:

This school is designed to educate and train multicultural communication experts in two main fields: Japanese-Language education and multicultural coexistence studies. Students choose classes covering issues such as Japanese language teaching and education theories, gender and culture studies, minority and culture studies and multicultural communication to widen and deepen their knowledge about cultural vulnerability and diversity to bring about multicultural coexistence.

Graduate School of Peace Studies: Division of Peace Studies:

This school is a pioneer in advanced and practical studies in global peacebuilding. Students choose classes covering subjects facing the present global and national societies such as North-South issues, International Cooperation, racial and religious conflicts, low birth rates and ageing, and gender issues. English or other foreign language study, and Field Study courses, prepare students for their fieldwork within Japan and overseas.

Curriculum

Graduate School of Humanities: Division of Cultural Coexistence

Basic Research Area (required elective)

First-year students must earn 4 credits from this Research Area (every course in this graduate school counts as 2 credits). Study of Japanese Language Education I; Study of Japanese Language Education II, Study of Cultural Exchange I ; Study of Cultural Exchange II

Specialized Research Area (required elective)

Student must earn at least 12 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years. Japanese LanguageⅠ
Japanese LanguageⅡ
Japanese LanguageⅢ
Japanese Language Education I
Japanese Language Education II
Japanese Culture
Japanese Literature I
Japanese Literature II
Japanese Literature III
Japanese Teaching Practice
Cultural Exchanges I
Cultural Exchanges II
Religious Culture
Gender Culture
Minority Culture
Study of Cultural Exchange Issues

Related Research Area (required elective)

Students must earn at least 6 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years. Linguistic Culture
Second Language Acquisition
Study of Historical Regional Culture
Study of Historical Regional Society
Practical English

Research Seminar Area (required)

Students must earn 8 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years. Special Study of Cultural Cooperation

Graduate School of Peace Studies: Division of Peace Studies

Basic Research Area (required elective)

First-year students must earn 4 credits from this Research Area (every course in this graduate school counts as 2 credits).

Peace Study I ; Peace Study II

Specialized Research Area (required elective)

Students must earn at least 10 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years.

Peacebuilding
Global Governance
Multiethnic Cooperation
NGO Studies
Public Welfare Studies
International Agricultural Studies
Gender Studies
International and Transnational Society
Environment and Society
Religion and Peace

Area Studies Research Area (required elective)

Students must earn at least 2 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years.

Study of South East Asia
Study of East Asia
Study of South Asia

Related Research Area (required elective)

Students must earn at least 6 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years.

Practical Study of Peace I
Practical Study of Peace II
Research Method I
Research Method II: Study of Practical English
Field Study I
Field Study II

Research Seminar Area (required)

Students must earn 8 credits from this Research Area during their first and second academic years.

Special Study of Peace

Outline of Syllabus

Peacebuilding

Violent conflicts at the present time occur mainly in developing countries with the potentiality of recurrence. This course aims to analyze such unique features of current conflicts and examine the roles of the international community and various peacebuilding policies regarding the security sector reform and reconstruction development.

Religion and Peace

This course aims to interpret Immanuel Kant's classical philosophical essay on peace entitled "Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch," examining such topics as the historical backgrounds in which he lived and his view on ethics and religion. It also analyzes the influence of his thought upon the following generations, particularly in Article 9 of the Peace Constitution of Japan.

NGO Studies

In the midst of the growing interest in NGOs and NPOs, are they actually becoming the social forces in the civil society that are able to overcome both the retreating roles of states and the limitations of markets? This course analyzes the current state of NGOs and NPOs, sorting out the concepts and the legal frameworks including the taxation system concerning those organizations. It also examines the history of Asian NGOs and the challenges they face, in particular the current and desirable roles that Japanese NGOs play in addressing global agendas.

Public Welfare Studies

A large amount of expenditure of Official Development Assistance has been spent in order to reduce the poverty of developing countries. While some countries have succeeded in "taking-off", others such as Sub-Saharan African countries are suffering from increasing poverty and a widening income gap in spite of all that aid. Meanwhile, new approaches to develop human resources and the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals have been tried in order to address this situation. This course re-examines such current and previous efforts at development in developing countries to explore appropriate development approaches from a practical perspective.

Gender Studies

This course takes the decline of the birth rate in Japan as the gateway to examine gender issues. This includes the analysis of the policies of the Japanese government to address the declining birth rate, international comparisons of those governmental efforts including policies toward the family, and the examination of such topics as views on the family and women, and the employment system in Japanese society.

Peace Study Ⅰ

The unique perspectives of "Peace Study" in this graduate school are a) the embracing of a nonviolence principle, b) the focus on structural violence, c) a standpoint of the least advantaged, and d) the emphasis on historical understanding. From these perspectives, this course analyzes basic topics and concepts including International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, socialism and Democratic Peace Theory, nuclear weapons and security, Rights-based Approach, global environmental issues and environmental pollution, and indigenous peoples and decolonization.