Speaker
Description
Foreign professors on university committees encounter Japanese language-mediated, local discourses used in active negotiation of texts and roles. However, as I describe in this autoethnography, task expectations for committee assignments at Japanese universities can be confusing when joining from other cultural milieux. I will reflect on theories from sociology, anthropology, and sociolinguistics that I have used throughout the process of developing pragmatic skills and professional identity on the job at universities in Japan.
Short summary
Foreign professors on university committees encounter Japanese language-mediated, local discourses used in active negotiation of texts and roles. However, as I describe in this autoethnography, task expectations for committee assignments at Japanese universities can be confusing when joining from other cultural milieux. I will reflect on theories from sociology, anthropology, and sociolinguistics that I have used throughout the process of developing pragmatic skills and professional identity on the job at universities in Japan.
References
Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Polity.
Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J. (1990). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. Sage.
Fairclough, N. (2010). Critical Discourse Analysis: The critical study of language. Routledge.
Hayashi, A. & Tobin, J. (2015). Teaching embodied: Cultural practice in Japanese preschools. The University of Chicago Press.
Hale, C. C. & Wadden, P. (2019). The landscape of higher education: an introduction. In P. Wadden, & C. C. Hale (Eds.). Teaching English at Japanese universities. Routledge.
Hori, G. V. S. (1994). Teaching and learning in the Rinzai Zen monastery. The Journal of Japanese Studies, 20(1), 5-35.
Kondo, D. K. (1990). Crafting selves: Power, gender and discourses of identity in a Japanese workplace. The University of Chicago Press.
Lebra, T. S. (2004). The Japanese self in cultural logic. University of Hawai’i Press.
Poole, G. S. (2010). The Japanese professor: An ethnography of a university faculty. Sense Publishers.
Abstract
Non-Japanese professors tasked with committee assignments find themselves among Japanese language users versed in discourses (Bourdieu, 1991; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990) intended to reproduce the social order through active negotiation of texts and social roles. As I describe in this autoethnography of my experiences adapting to various committee roles, the “common sense” guiding Japanese professors can be difficult to grasp when coming from other cultural milieux. I will reflect on theories from sociology, anthropology, and sociolinguistics which helped me navigate a critical period of adapting to new roles and the tension of performing speech-mediated duties in university settings as an L2 speaker/adult learner. While my own positionality is salient ([redacted]), I will focus on applicable insights from the literature that theorized the Japanese self (Lebra, 2004; Kondo, 1990), Japanese professoriate (Poole, 2010; Hale & Wadden, 2019), and Japanese education traditions (Hori, 1994; Hayashi & Tobin, 2015) while presenting strategies utilizing Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2010) that I believe will help in taking stock of local cultural concepts and resources. Maintaining confidentiality, I will present takeaways rather than specific examples from my experiences developing pragmatic skills on the job and under pressure.
Keywords
Learner Identity
Critical Discourse Analysis
Autoethnography
| Title | Japanese Univ. Committees via L2: Competency, Cultural Frameworks, and CDA |
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