Teaching conflict holistically in higher education

Addressing historical trauma in China–Japan grassroots relationships

Bibliographic Data

ID21691582
Authorsdeting lu (Osaka Jogakuin University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume31
Issue3
Pages376-385
Publication date2026-04-03
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTeaching in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-2517 • E-ISSN: 1470-1294
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13562517.2025.2605683
OpenAlexW7116336276
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited10

This paper presents a holistic framework for conflict reconciliation in higher education (HE) by addressing historical trauma through mind, heart, and body. Drawing on Johan Galtung’s conflict triangle, it reframes conflict as rooted in unhealed trauma that shapes attitudes and behaviors in complex ways. Using a case study involving university students exploring the Nanjing Massacre’s impact on China–Japan grassroots relationships, it introduces a 'trauma-informed and healing-centered' approach. This approach integrates intellectual engagement with history, arts-based emotional processing, and culturally rooted somatic practices to help students confront inherited/secondary trauma, humanize historical narratives, and build capacities for empathy and reconciliation. Moving beyond purely cognitive analysis, it shows how HE teaching can help address historical wounds through dialogue, disrupt Western mind-centered pedagogies, and nurture resilience and transformative engagement with conflict. Adaptable to diverse contexts, this approach offers a concrete strategy for HE teaching to foster peace, justice, and sustainability

Consciousness raising · Grassroots · Higher education · Historical trauma · Qualitative research · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Peace and Human Rights Education

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