Journal of Volunteer Studies
Online ISSN : 2434-1851
Print ISSN : 1345-9511
Process of Activating Citizens by Raising Voices of Compassion for the Oppressed
A Collaborative Practice in Producing a Community FM Radio Program “Nanmin Now”
Katsuya SODAHironori YAMAGUCHI
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JOURNAL OPEN ACCESS

2019 Volume 19 Pages 75-86

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Abstract
We focused on activities to increase the awareness about refugees by using a community FM radio broadcasting program and the meaning of the program is discussed from the perspective of social psychology. This activity was developed in four stages. Since the start of the program in 2004, the first author, with the cooperation of UNHCR, has strived to increase listeners’ concern about the problems of refugees. Concurrently with the production of the radio program, the participation in the global community radio network meeting, “AMARC 2010”, triggered the development of a variety of activities. The content and subjects of the program conducted with the cooperation of AMARC members resulted in the expression of multiple voices by Japanese people, who had not been very interested in the problems of refugees. Moreover, the program developed trust as a result of broadcasting for over 10 years. Furthermore, university students wanted to collaborate with the organizers of the program to communicate directly with refugees through the Internet. As a result, crowdfunding activities were developed for supporting local followers to provide food packages to people in Syria. Adopting the Activity Theory, we confirmed that changing the basic relationship among subjects, objects and supporters caused changes in rules, roles, and tools of the community of practice. After this action research, we plan to construct an ethical approach to avoiding excessive production in the media and create new activities for people suffering in distant places.
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2019 The International Society of Volunteer Studies in Japan
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