Comics and War: Transforming Perceptions of the Other through a Constructive Learning Experience

During World War II the United States and Japan experienced what Rouhana and Bar-Tal described as "a clash of narratives between two societies". The Japanese envisioned themselves as heroes saving Asia from western colonisation, while the Americans felt the need to defend the West from the "Yellow Peril". In the research reported below, US students at Grinnell College studied the Japanese national narrative of World War II by viewing Japanese graphic novels about the war and role-playing Japanese characters from 1945. The role-playing exercises, based on an experiential learning model, are designed to encourage students to alter perceptions of war through reliving the war experience of another people in a past time. Vicarious participation in World War II Japanese society leads role-playing participants to go beyond their accustomed frame of reference and see themselves as part of a "larger self" in a "wider common world of rational beings" (Habermas). This study suggests that war experience as mediated by role-playing is a promising methodology for peace educators. (Contains 2 figures and 2 notes.)