CALL FOR PROPOSALS

3rd International Conference on Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education

教育分野に於ける池田・創価研究第三国際会議

Interdependence, Literary Selfhood, and the Restoration of Humanity

August 17 – 18, 2023 (in-person)

August 19, 2023 (virtual)

DePaul University / Chicago, Illinois (USA)

The DePaul University Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education is thrilled to host the 3rd International Conference on Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education. This field engages with and takes its name from Daisaku Ikeda (b. 1928) and his many contributions to education as well as from the heritage of ideas and ideals from Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871 – 1944) and Josei Toda (1900 – 1958) that he has embraced, developed, and spread globally under the broad banner of “sōka,” a Japanese neologism meaning the “creation of value.”

Conference Theme

The conference theme, Interdependence, Literary Selfhood, and the Restoration of Humanity, commemorates the 30th anniversary of two important works that Daisaku Ikeda presented in the United States in 1993: his poem The Sun of Jiyu Over a New Land (Ikeda, 2014) and his second Harvard address, Mahayana Buddhism and 21st Century Civilization (Ikeda, 2010).

Written in the wake of the Nichiren Shōshū priesthood’s November 1991 excommunication of the twelve million lay members of the global Sōka Gakkai Buddhist order that Ikeda leads and the 1992 Los Angeles riots sparked by the acquittal of police officers involved in the vicious (bystander-recorded) beating of African American Rodney King, these works advance multiple themes, cohered in interdependence, that remain relevant today and enliven Ikeda’s broad goal of the restoration of humanity at the heart of his philosophy of ningen kyōiku (人間教育), or “human education” (Nuñez & Goulah, 2021). These themes include awakening to our true identity and humanity, cultivating a broad spirituality and religious sentiment, confronting death, and overcoming racial violence and discrimination, among many others.

The works also exemplify what Goulah (in press-a, b; forthcoming) calls Ikeda’s “literary selfhood,” his “dialogic and lived engagement with transnational literature, poetry, writers, and their thought and ideals that uniquely animates his approach to [his spheres of influence] and nurtures and vindicates his faith in human possibility across them.” With references to Walt Whitman and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Ikeda infuses both works with the world of literature as a justifying force, paean of the people, and crystallization of the bond between individuals, people and society, and humanity and nature. At the same time, these works illustrate the significance Ikeda places on literature, particularly read in one’s youth, as “the blood and flesh of a vital spirit” and that which “even forms the framework of our entire lives” (Ikeda, 2023, p. 8; see Bosco et al., 2015; Gebert, 2012; Indangasi & Odari, 2001; Patterson, forthcoming).

The conference theme, then, invites us to reflect on such questions as:

  • How do these works, written against a certain historical and cultural background, speak to us today?
  • What educational thinking or practice can we draw from them, even though neither explicitly addresses education?
  • What is their relevance for individuals, contexts, and conditions outside the United States?
  • What do they mean for the teacher and taught in all matters of human education in a complex and interconnected world—from curriculum and instruction in PreK-adult schooling to education and the rise of global nationalisms, from covid and sociopolitical divisions to racial violence and injustice, from climate change and the war in Ukraine to religious intolerance, human rights violations, the threat of nuclear weapons, and so much more?

Conference Scope

As research and praxis in the field of Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education grows worldwide, this international forum is increasingly necessary for established and emerging scholars to gather, substantively discuss the current state of, and actively and collaboratively unite, characterize, define, and advance scholarship in, the field.  This 3rd international conference is thus envisioned as an opportunity to examine both the intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions of Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education. By “intrinsic” we mean the historical and primary texts by Ikeda, Toda, and Makiguchi in Japanese and the contexts in which they were written; by “extrinsic” we mean these texts and their ideas in translation and application in various contexts and disciplines today. Particularly important here is a proper accounting of various elements of the primary texts, such as their diverse voices, modes, and styles (e.g., poetry, energetic and personal prose, essays, speeches, detailed proposals); purpose and audience (e.g., faith encouragement for the initiated, engagements with society at large, writings for specialists in specific disciplines); translation approach used—domestication (bringing the writer to the reader) versus foreignization (bringing the reader to the writer)—and the terms, phrases, and meanings employed, assumed, and abandoned, as well as which of these are featured and endorsed in the most current, authoritative bilingual-bicultural scholarship and why. In navigating these the field must maintain fidelity to intrinsic dimensions while exploring extrinsic possibilities that are relevant to current and future demands in education and human becoming worldwide. It must recognize and articulate the nuanced and comparative particularities and uniqueness of the educational thought and practices of Ikeda, Toda, and Makiguchi, and reckon with conceptual and terminological assumptions, generalizations, gaps, and silences.

In sum, this conference provides a space for international scholars and professionals involved in Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education to present their work and engage in dialogue with others in the field. The conference will feature invited keynote presentations by leading scholars as well as submitted individual paper and panel presentations. We seek scholarly submissions on theory and theorizing; empirical, conceptual, and applied research in practice and policy; bilingual and critical discourse analysis; and text-based praxis of Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education in various contexts. These may include, but are not limited to, the conference theme and fields common to Ikeda, Toda, and/or Makiguchi, such as: human education, global citizenship, communities studies, human geography, human rights and peace education, dialogue, creativity and the poetic spirit, biospheric sustainability, interdependence and creative coexistence, people movements, youth activism and empowerment, deductive reasoning, language and literacies education, aptitude and assessment, knowledge and wisdom, reading and the role of literature, student-teacher relationships, social self-actualization and contributive living, happiness, and value-creating approaches to knowledge, power, and society.

Chicago is beautiful in August. We hope you will submit a proposal and join us for the conference!

Proposal Guidelines

We invite two types of proposals: Individual Papers and Panels (3-4 individual presentations thematically grouped together). Each presentation, whether individual or included in a panel, will be limited to 18 minutes.

For Individual Papers, please include:

  • Title of the presentation (13-word limit)
  • Name and institutional affiliation of the presenter(s)
  • Whether you are submitting for in-person or virtual session
  • 400-600-word Summary of the presentation, addressing under separate headings:
    • key aspects of theoretical frames and/or arguments,
    • primary/secondary literature used,
    • research design and methods,
    • findings and implications
  • Full references [APA or Chicago Manual Style]

For Panels, please include:

  • Title (13-word limit) and 75-100-word Abstract of the Panel
  • Name and institutional affiliation of respective presenters
  • Whether you are submitting for in-person or virtual session
  • Title (13-word limit) and 300-500 word Summary of each presentation in the panel, addressing under separate headings:
    • key aspects of theoretical frames and/or arguments,
    • primary/secondary literature used,
    • research design and methods,
    • findings and implications
  • Full references [APA or Chicago Manual Style]

Submission Process and Timeline

Note: The Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education reserves the right to amend the grammaticality and meaning of titles and descriptions for accepted proposals. We ask submissions to follow translations included in The Light of Learning: Selected Writings on Education (Ikeda, 2021), the most recent and updated collection of works by Ikeda on education.

References

Bosco, R. A., Price, K. M., & Wider, S. A. (2015). Encountering the poems of Daisaku Ikeda. Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue.

Gebert, A. (2012). Daisaku Ikeda and the culture of translation. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, 9(1-2), 15-32.

Goulah, J. (in press-a). Daisaku Ikeda and African American pragmatism: Race, identity, and becoming in the Dewey-Soka Heritage.

In J. Goulah, G. Obelleiro, & J. Garrison (Eds.), The Dewey-Soka heritage and the future of education. Peter Lang Series on Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education. Peter Lang.

Goulah, J. (in press-b). Daisaku Ikeda: Introduction to the man, his influences, and educational thought. In B. A. Greier (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of educational thinkers. Palgrave.

Goulah, J. (forthcoming). Daisaku Ikeda’s literary selfhood in the justice of becoming: Toward the second American renaissance and the dawn of a new global age. In A. Patterson (Ed.), Dialogues of the heart: Daisaku Ikeda, transnationalism, and American literature.

Ikeda, D. (2010). A new humanism: The university addresses of Daisaku Ikeda. I. B. Tauris.

Ikeda, D. (2014). Journey of life: Selected poems of Daisaku Ikeda. I. B. Tauris.

Ikeda, D. (2021). The light of learning: Selected writings on education. Middleway Press.

Ikeda, D. (2023). Wakaki hi no dokusho, kanpon [Readings from my youth: Complete works]. Daisan Bunmeisha.

Indangasi, H., & Odari, M. (Eds.). (2001). Daisaku Ikeda and Africa: Reflections by Kenyan writers. Nairobi University Press.

Nuñez, I. & Goulah, J. (Eds.). (2021), Hope and joy in education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda across curriculum and contexts. Teachers College Press.

Patterson, A. (Ed.). (forthcoming). Dialogues of the heart: Daisaku Ikeda, transnationalism, and American literature.

Download the Call for Proposal here.