De Baets, G. A., & Van Praet, E. (2020).

Interviewing aikido experts all over the world : towards a framework for
intercultural training. CIUTI Conference 2020, Abstracts. Presented at the Conférence internationale permanente d’instituts
universitaires de traducteurs et interprètes (CIUTI Conference 2020), Online (Paris, France).

Interviewing aikido experts all over the world: towards a framework for intercultural training

Presentation language:
English

Abstract authors:
Greet De Baets and Ellen Van Praet, Ghent University, Belgium
Department of Translating, Interpreting and Communication | greet.debaets@ugent.be

Presenter:
Greet De Baets

Presenter’s biography | 104/150 words:

Greet De Baets is a business communication teacher and researcher. She is working on PhD
research at Ghent University, Belgium, on intercultural business communication training and
applied aikido. However, her career was outside the academic world until 2016. She worked
as a translator, a language teacher, a training coordinator and a communication trainer-coach
for private companies and public institutions. The geographical area she worked in comprised
Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany. At the same time, the trainees and
coachees often came from any country in the European Union. Since 2012, she has even
coached many Japanese and some South-Korean expats working in Belgium.

Presenter’s portrait picture | see also separate .jpg:

Five key words summarizing the presentation:

1. Intercultural training
2. Aikido
3. Expert interviewing
4. Decolonization
5. Embodied pedagogy
De Baets, G. A., & Van Praet, E. (2020). Interviewing aikido experts all over the world : towards a framework for
intercultural training. CIUTI Conference 2020, Abstracts. Presented at the Conférence internationale permanente d’instituts
universitaires de traducteurs et interprètes (CIUTI Conference 2020), Online (Paris, France).

Abstract:

Aikido (aikidō) is a primarily weaponless, noncompetitive martial art characterized by circular

movements and throws as well as locks applied to the joints [grappling techniques involving
manipulation of an opponent's joints]. Today it is practiced globally as self-defense, as a
recreational activity, as a meditative technique, as a social activity, and indeed as a ritual act
(Niehaus, 2019). Moreover, it is based on a philosophy of peace and non-violence (Brawdy,
2001). Aikido aims to turn opponents into partners, to build bridges even when the odds are
against harmony (Ueshiba & Stevens, 1993).
This presentation explores the effectiveness and efficiency of aikido as a somatic,
multisensory and embodied learning method to benefit intercultural intelligence. It focuses
on the principles of aikido to become a practical and useful framework. To identify the core
principles of aikido, we performed a benchmark study. Semi-structured interviews with
twenty key aikido experts from all over the world revealed their current views. All informants
were recruited through purposive sampling. The sample was homogeneous in knowledge and
expertise, heterogeneous in geographical spread (Etikan, 2016). It contained at least one
expert from each continent, which was an attempt to add to the Japanese view on aikido, to
avoid a Eurocentric view and to decolonize the research method. Relying on NVivo software,
we performed a qualitative content analysis of the interview data, coding the data into
categories to make the main inferences.
The preliminary results of the study found two main categories of aikido principles. One
category focuses on the interaction with the opponent such as entering into the situation
(irimi), unification with the other (musubi), soft counterattacks (atemi), respect and a win-win
outcome. The second category focuses on personal principles such as breath power (kokyu),
balance, posture and openness. Aikido integrates the two categories into one whole. To
validate and triangulate the interview findings, a large-scale survey will address different
communities of aikido practitioners all over the world. The results will then feed an aikido
framework for a longitudinal comparative experiment between aikido-based and non-aikido-
based intercultural training.

References:
Brawdy, P. (2001) Exploring Human Kindness through the Pedagogy of Aikido. Annual Meeting of the
American Educational Research Association, Seattle.
Etikan, I., Musa S.A. and Alkassim, R.S. (2016) Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive
Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics. Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 1-4.
Niehaus, A. (2019) Sport and Religion in Japan: The Aikido of Ueshiba Morihei as Ritual Practice to
Reconstruct the World [paper], workshop at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo.
Ueshiba, M. & Stevens, J. (1993). The Essence of Aikido, Spiritual Teachings of Morihei Ueshiba,
Compiled by John Stevens. Japan: Kodansha International.