Abstract

This research started from a personal realization of how the stories of “Comfort Women” are rarely discussed in society or shared internationally. This led to me to considering my role as a woman, educator and researcher who is studying at an international institute outside of Korea in relation to this issue. I contemplated how I could best contribute to the field, and then I became involved with the Heeum Museum of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. This Museum exemplifies public participation and social activism at a grassroots level. Meeting with staff at the Heeum Museum shifted my research to become a case study and participatory action research to create a sustainable education program for the Museum, integrating art education theory and practice. I approached the Heeum Museum to enhance how it could operate in ways that contribute to a broader pedagogic understanding by: (a) developing a workshop program to engage the general public and raise awareness about this historical tragedy; (b) adopting a strategic approach to provoke empathic learning; (c) cultivating an educational approach that takes into account the realities of this history in ways that contemporary audiences can make meaningful; and (d) shifting the parameters of art education towards history and social justice education due to the unique and sensitive nature of this collection. Fostering a learning environment with strategic empathy through arts-based experience as a pivot of the workshop, this research: (a) brought a focus on caring and hope towards “Comfort Women;” (b) suggested an educational approach towards the “Comfort Women” issue; (c) demonstrated an example of arts-based experience for museum education as public pedagogy; and (d) provided an interactive cooperation model through PAR. In this project, I applied an art education approach to a community in South Korea and brought the stories of the “Comfort Women” and its social activism to Canada.