Yuri Fuwa - Retiring in AY2022

My research subject is King Arthur. He is a legendary figure said to have been active around the 6th century, and I specialize in the literature that passed his stories down, primarily from medieval Britain to the 19th century. If you ask why a Japanese person in the 21st century would study King Arthur, the answer is simple: "Because it's interesting." And with the simple motivation of wanting to share that interest with students, I have applied a part of my research to my teaching. The English courses at the Faculty of Economics shifted their educational policy from "learning English" to "learning in English" several decades ago. This is the fruit of the efforts of my predecessors in the English department. "Learning in English" means reading about a certain theme in English, giving presentations, writing essays, and deepening one's knowledge and insights while developing English proficiency. These courses are called "English Seminars," and faculty members can set themes based on their specializations and design their own syllabi.

In my case, I have been in charge of two English Seminars for many years. One seminar uses a British high school history textbook to study society, industry, and the changing status of women during the Industrial Revolution in 18th- and 19th-century Britain. The text includes not only maps and graphs but also political cartoons and documents over 200 years old, which can be quite challenging for students to decipher. However, despite the difficulty, they are "living witnesses of the era," so they must be read. On top of that, through role-playing and discussions, I have students consider why people of that time made such decisions and took such actions. By getting even a little closer to the thinking of people from that era, students begin to notice that there are patterns in human behavior and policies that are also relevant today. For example, why did cholera spread so quickly, recur repeatedly, and cause so many deaths, yet countermeasures failed to advance? They come to realize the intertwined psychological factors at play, which go beyond a mere lack of knowledge in the medical sciences: a reluctance to change (conservative instincts), a desire to prevent change (vested interests), the hassle of it all (a very human trait!?), and the feeling that "it doesn't concern me" (indifference and prejudice). I believe that studying history is about learning not to think about a single event in a simplistic way. I am delighted if I was able to provide even a small opportunity for students to patiently decipher materials, imagine the thoughts of the people of that time as conveyed by their words, and express their own ideas in their own words.

In another English Seminar, I developed a syllabus that connected English literature and painting. We read the poem "The Lady of Shalott" (1832, 1842), written by the British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson based on Arthurian legend, and I had students consider how painters of the time translated the images and themes evoked by the verses into a visual language. First, to learn how to interpret and describe paintings, students repeatedly practiced describing what they saw in English, sharing their impressions, and writing about them in groups. They also read academic papers in English, and finally, each student gave a presentation on one of their favorite paintings. The key is how they can develop their subjective impressions from observation into an objective argument. Reading poetry is difficult, but by pairing it with painting, by the time of the final presentations, students become able to quote verses fluently and present their own interpretations quite impressively in English. It transforms into something "difficult but interesting." They will likely not have many opportunities to read English poetry in their lifetime. As a teacher who believes that the experience of reading a poem considered a masterpiece even in the West during one's university years can be a source of lifelong enrichment, it is the greatest reward to see the intentions I put into the syllabus realized in the students' presentations.

What moves people is curiosity, a spirit of inquiry, and sharing the joy of discovery with peers; it is through these things that students learn. The students of the Faculty of Economics who can do this are wonderful. I would like to conclude my 40 long years of teaching by expressing my gratitude for having met such students and genuinely enjoyed my time with them, to my senior colleagues in the English department who made such a curriculum possible, and to the academic culture and generosity of Keio University and the Faculty of Economics that permit freedom in education and research. For the future of our students, I sincerely hope that this kind of education and research will continue to be deepened.