Paper short abstract:

L'Arche is an International Federation dedicated to the group-home movement where people with and without learning disabilities live together. The aim of this paper is to consider the common guiding principle for all l'Arche communities and the difference between l'Arche in Japan and the others.

Paper long abstract:

L'Arche, an International Federation dedicated to the group-home movement where people with and without learning disabilities live together, was founded in 1964 when a catholic Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier had begun to live with two men with learning disabilities at Trosly-Breuil (100km northeast of Paris), with spiritual support of a Dominican, Father Thomas. Since then, 147 l'Arche communities have founded in 37 countries, regardless of religious beliefs, and each community needs and is willing to be rooted in its own cultural base. Although a considerable number of reports have been made on l'Arche Community Movement, over the past decades, little study has been conducted and few attempts have so far been made at comparative studies for its diversity of cultural backgrounds.

Our concern is to consider two points below: first, the common guiding principle for all l'Arche communities, which aims for being a place more than care-house; secondly, the comparative studies of four communities, especially the difference between l'Arche in Japan and the others. The aim of this paper is to present l'Arche Community Movement as inter-cultural field of care-work and to point out the Japanese tendency in this field.