Foreigners Teaching in the Global North “Teaching International Relations Theory as Foreigners in the Global North”

This chapter explores the challenges of teaching International Relations (IR) Theory that transnational scholars meet in countries of the Global North. As a South Korean teaching in Japan and as a German teaching in the UK, Emilia and Felix not only pursue their professions in foreign countries, which in itself poses numerous obstacles, but also create learning environments through their sheer presence, deeply affected by World War II memories. Bringing humanitas into the teaching of IR-theories, both put emphasis on aesthetics, as this enables their students and themselves to approach what unfolds as reality in front of them in different ways, experience international affairs beyond ‘high politics’, and see the relevance of IR-theories for their own life-worlds. It is hence their ambition to gain for themselves and their students’ agency in their studies and contribute towards a ‘positive IR’ that care for humanity and considers possibilities for peace and reconciliation.