Authors:
- Boeun Cha: Academia.edu, Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate

- Jing A. Williams, School of Education, University of South Dakota - Personal Website, Academia.edu, Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »This qualitative case study examines how human rights education (HRE) is integrated into teaching the history of Japanese military ‘comfort women’ in South Korea to empower students as global citizens. Six Korean teachers––representing a mix of genders and grade levels – participated in semi-structured interviews. Research questions include (a) How do South Korean history teachers teach the ‘comfort women’ history within a HRE framework? (b) Why do they go beyond nationalism and emphasise universal human rights when teaching this history? Key findings indicate that (a) Korean teachers framed the ‘comfort women’ issue within a HRE framework, instead of presenting it as a nationalistic dichotomy, to deepen students’ understanding of global issues; (b) They tied the ‘comfort women’ history to contemporary issues despite gender-based challenges in Korean society; and (c) They created safe and brave learning environments to empower their students to engage with current sensitive and difficult human rights issues.« (Source: Human Rights Education Review)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 1)
	Conceptual frameworks (p. 2)
	Transformative HRE for global citizens (p. 3)
		Moving beyond nationalism in teaching historical injustices (p. 3)
	Japanese military ‘comfort women’ history as a catalyst for HRE and GCE (p. 3)
	Methods (p. 4)
		Participants (p. 4)
		Data collection (p. 5)
		Data analysis (p. 6)
		Positionality (p. 6)
	Findings (p. 7)
		Learning about human rights (p. 7)
			Teaching beyond nationalism (p. 7)
			‘It wasn’t just us’ (p. 8)
		Learning through human rights (p. 9)
			‘Teacher, you always listen to students’ voice’ (p. 9)
			‘I don’t want him or her to feel humiliated during the class’ (p. 9)
			‘Don’t know how to approach women in safe and healthy way’ (p. 10)
		Learning for human rights (p. 10)
			‘Learned specific movements for Wednesday Demonstrations’ (p. 10)
			‘But slowly, the students started taking action’ (p. 10)
			‘Developing some level of emotional control’ (p. 11)
	Discussions and conclusion (p. 11)
		Framing the history as a human rights violation (p. 11)
		Teaching history beyond nationalism (p. 11)
		Connecting history to contemporary issues (p. 12)
		Make safe but brave space (p. 12)
	Disclosure statement (p. 13)
	References (p. 13)

Wikipedia: History of Asia: History of Japan / Shōwa era | History of Asia: History of Korea / Korea under Japanese rule, History of South Korea | Prostitution: Forced prostitution / Comfort women | Sex and the law: Wartime sexual violence / Wartime sexual violence in World War II | War: Pacific War / Japanese war crimes