Speaker
Description
How do Japanese haafu adults (aged 30s–50s) construct their identities through interviews about their experiences of growing up and living in Japan?
This workshop invites participants to examine how haafu narrators position themselves and others across the life span through their storied accounts of everyday events. Special attention will be given to discourse analysis of “small stories,” with a focus on both linguistic and paralinguistic resources—such as laughter—as interactional tools. Participants will gain hands-on experience in analysing these features to better understand how identity is negotiated and expressed in interaction.
Summary
Over recent decades, the issues of Japan’s multi-racial identity and society has piqued both lay and academic interest. Whilst the majority of studies have focused on early life stages: childhood/adolescence (Kamada, 2010; Nakamura, 2020; Seiger, 2019) and young adults (Murphy-Shigematsu, 2008; Oshima, 2014; Yoshida & Oikawa, 2012), research on haafu adults - the so-called first generation of mixed-race Japanese – is comparatively limited (e.g., Kich 1982; Shaitan & McEntee-Atalianis, 2017).
| Teaching Context | College and university education |
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