Special Lecture Meeting Featuring Dr. Tejendra Pherali from the University College London Institute of Education
On October 22, the Osaka Kyoiku University International Center and Department of English Education jointly hosted a special lecture by University College London (UCL) Senior Lecturer Tejedra J. Pherali at the Kashiwara Campus. Dr. Pherali is on staff at UCL's Institute of Education (IOE), with which OKU has an academic exchange agreement. The lecture meeting is an annual event featuring a talk delivered by a member of the IOE faculty. With its varied themes, it serves as a valuable opportunity offering suggestions for ways to reconsider what "education" is.
A native of Nepal, Pherali's research focuses on interactions between conflict and education and post-conflict peacebuilding in fragile environments. His research interests also extend to international development, globalization, ethnicity, identity, and political movements.
In his talk on “Education, Conflict and Peacebuilding: Re-Envisioning Education in Post-Conflict Societies,” Pherali drew on those research interests along with the frame of gender to outline the damage that conflict inflicts on education and recovery from it. Using Nepal and Cambodia as specific examples, he pointed out how the reconstruction of education actually occurs after a conflict and pointed out problems that arise.
Attendees relished the opportunity to apply their English skills in listening to the talk and found the meeting to have been an extremely valuable one.