Inexpressible Memories and Learning for Reconstruction : Between the Major Earthquake Disasters in Postwar in Japan

Abstract

Learning for disaster reconstruction carried out by teachers and children in schools faces the fundamental contradiction of how tragic memories leaving deep scars can be told and shared, and the attempts to deal with this problem. In this paper, in order to approach the issue of whether an educational practice which overcomes this contradiction is possible, I carried out case study analysis of learning and education from earthquake experiences, based on the framework of activity theory. As the result of the analysis, it became clear that through learning for disaster reconstruction in school, children encountered various "providers of learning" outside school, and according to the connections they made, came to possess the possibility of creating new mutually supportive cultures and lives. (Contains 2 figures and 1 note.) (As Provided)