In his article “Literature, Imagination and Human Rights,” Willie Van Peer asserts that the development of human rights is greatly influenced by literature and imagination. Van Peer believes that reading fiction allows us to catch a glimpse of alternative realities and offers new perspectives that compel us to escape from our “encapsulated world,” as he calls it, permitting society to expand the definition of “human” and consider human rights. However, Van Peer’s article, which offers an excellent defense of the societal significance of literature and the arts, ignores the essential role of historical fiction in the development of human rights. Historical fiction, which tempers the imagination of fiction with the reality of history to achieve high levels of political persuasiveness, has played a critical role in the development of human rights, evidenced particularly in Joy Kogawa’s novel, Obasan. Historical fiction has impacted human rights in a way that purely imaginative fiction cannot.

Historical fiction is a very politically persuasive genre of writing, a characteristic that makes it a particularly effective medium for addressing the exclusiveness of society and furthering the development of human rights. In the decades directly following the end of World War Two, the internment of Japanese-Canadians was an issue largely swept under the rug to be ignored and forgotten. These Japanese-Canadians not only suffered the injustice of being forcefully displaced, or “evacuated,” as the government described the internment, to sub-standard internment camps in interior BC, but received little to no compensation for the loss of their possessions and property. Many were forced to start over again, marginalized and excluded by their own country for a racial and ancestral affiliation with one of the countries that Canada happened to be at war with. The gross injustices and breaches of human rights committed by the Canadian government against its coastal Japanese citizens were largely forgotten until Joy Kogawa published her novel, Obasan.

Obasan is an account of the internment of Japanese-Canadians through the eyes and experiences of a little girl. Obasan draws its political significance and persuasiveness from the fact that it is both imaginative fiction, which allows readers to develop empathy with the characters and relate to the story in their own unique way, but its role in the development of human rights is also due to its foundation in reality. As historical fiction, Obasan allows readers to imagine and empathize with different characters and situations, but is also lent a certain power and persuasiveness because the reader knows that, as history, stories like Naomi’s occurred in reality. The fact that it was historical fiction allowed Obasan to impact readers in a way that no piece of purely imaginative fiction discussed by Van Peer could, forcing Canadians to confront the injustices committed by their government and contributing significantly to the eventual apologies, compensation and recognition offered to the Japanese-Canadians affected by internment. Indeed, due to its unique political persuasiveness and role in addressing the violated rights of Japanese-Canadians, Obasan was read in Parliament as the Canadian government attempted to make amends for the injustices and exclusion that it forced upon Japanese-Canadians during World War Two.

Van Peer is right to argue that literature and imaginative fiction are essential to social change and progress, but he ignores the critical role and unique power of historical fiction in the development of human rights. By blending imagination and reality, historical fiction offers readers an empathetic and personal experience that is particularly impactful because the reader knows that similar stories have occurred to real people in the past. This unique impact makes historical fiction the most effective literary medium through which issues of human rights may be discussed. Van Peer is correct in his assertion that imagination plays a central role in the development of human rights, but does not discuss the aspect of reality conveyed by historical fictions such as Obasan, which grants historical fictions a unique measure of political persuasiveness essential to the development of human rights.

Martha Nussbaum’s “Democratic Citizenship and the Narrative Imagination” asserts that a liberal arts education and the study of literature play a critical role in the development of judgment, sensitivity and imagination, three qualities that are essential for fostering excellent citizenship in a democratic society. Nussbaum echoes a prominent constitutional scholar, Alexander Mieklejohn, who, when arguing against an opponent who denied the practical and political application of the arts, asserted that citizens need the arts “because they will be called upon to vote.” In other words, a study of the arts equips citizens with the qualities that they need to become valuable members of a democratic society, which Nussbaum dubs “world citizenship.”

The significance of Nussbaum’s primary argument, that literature and the arts develop sensitivity, imagination and empathy cannot be overlooked. However, after attending a joint lecture hosted by professors in just three of the arts disciplines – history, political science and literature – my perspective and understanding of the role of the arts in society has been altered, and I think that it can contribute to Nussbaum’s discussion. Not only do the arts allow citizens to develop qualities essential for world citizenship, but they also allow citizens to interpret society and place themselves in a much broader social, political and historical context, something that no other faculty can achieve to a similar degree.

The various disciplines contained by the faculty of arts provide a wide range of lenses through which members of society can better come to understand society, and, in doing so, become more effective citizens. History places the present in context, and describes the conditions and factors that have reverberated throughout time, creating a particular moment or a particular situation which a citizen experiences. The first step toward becoming an effective world citizen is recognizing your place and situation in the grand narrative of society, and understanding that your choices and actions in the present dramatically impact the future. Political science allows us to understand the mechanisms that govern society, and the study of political science allows a world citizen to interact with and understand the processes of government and law, and how these processes might be altered or advanced for the greatest benefit to society. Literature, as Nussbaum argues, allows citizens to develop empathy, which, in combination with a study of history and political science, forces citizens to consider the applications of their choices in the present and the way in which they interact with the mechanisms of power that govern society. As was discussed in the joint lecture, a discussion that I feel is worth highlighting, literature tells the story and relates the issues of those whose voices have been forgotten or ignored, from the Japanese Canadians interned in WWII to the young First Nations children at the mercy of the residential school system.

Nussbaum argues that literature and the arts develop empathy necessary for world citizenship. While this is certainly a valid point, my experience in the joint lecture showed me a number of other key roles that the arts plays in fostering world citizenship. History places our actions in a broader context, political science allows us to interact with the forces that govern society, and literature shows us the impact and significance of our actions through telling the story of the forgotten and ignored. Armed with Nussbaum’s argument and my own gleanings from the joint lecture, I think that I have the beginnings of a solid response for any smug engineers or business students who question the practical applications of my field of study!