Physicality in Postcolonialism: Tensions at the Asian Rural Institute

Abstract

The Asian Rural Institute (ARI) is a transnational NGO that has a unique model of education and was founded in response to Japan’s role as a colonizer. It invites participants from around the world to learn sustainable agriculture, servant leadership, and community advocacy at their campus in Tochigi, Japan. Postcolonial studies has a strong foundation of analyzing physical elements such as bodies and space and their role in both controlling colonized people and resisting colonizers. I argue that the complications of postcolonial and racial relationships manifest physically through movement and shared space at ARI, both of which operate as tensions that support (and sometimes undermine) self-determination and survivance, key characteristics of decolonization. This analysis contributes to postcolonial scholarship by providing another means of conceptualizing movement and linking space to consubstantiation.

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“…To some extent, they are looking for a kind of extension service (many participants expressed dismay about the loss of public extension services in Ontario), but the dominant model -with its emphasis on decontextualized, one-size-fits-all information focused on maximizing productivity through industrial methods and inputs-does not meet their needs. Rather, they would be better served by something akin to Cook et al's (2021) notion of a "humanized extension," with its attentiveness to power, place, and people, and emphasis on farmers' socio-spatial contexts and lived realities.…”

“…For example, the Asian Rural Institute is an educational Christian nonprofit that operates in Tochigi Prefecture, about 31 miles (50 km) away from the Eco-farm, and teaches sustainable agriculture and community leadership to about 25 international students annually. Founded by the charismatic leader Takami Toshihiro, this school also faces tensions between its differing goals (Senda- Cook, 2021). Dispersed throughout Japan are a wide range of initiatives that contribute to the resiliency of alternative food networks, but their decentralized nature complicates efforts to recognize and evaluate the impacts of their activities.…”

The Privilege of Control and the Constraint of Presence: Fieldwork and Ontologies of Time

“…Seeing everyone working together and following the same rules regardless of status was a daily reinforcement of this ideology. Such attention to time has informed my interpretation of ARI in other analyses as well (see, for example, Senda-Cook, 2021). By attending to time first as a frustration and second as a point of analysis, I was able to critically engage with my fieldwork and privilege per se.…”

“…Its education model challenges the colonial-like approach that some nonprofits take, that is, they send an expert from a wealthy nation to provide training rather than recognizing the knowledge that exists within a community. By contrast, ARI recruits community leaders who are already experts in farming or religion (or both) to get additional training and serve as mentors to other participants in Japan (Senda-Cook, 2021). ARI’s campus is located in Tochigi, Japan, and they grow crops (e.g., rice, soybeans, cabbage, carrots, and sweet potatoes) and raise chickens, pigs, and goats.…”