Nikkei Latin American Japanese in Japan: Intergenerational language transmission and 鈥淥ther鈥� identity formation
Please join us for a presentation of a collaborative project among colleagues at Daito Bunka University (Japan), Chiba University (Japan), and the Faculty of Education at 丁香园AV, funded in part by a Faculty of Education FIRE grant (Fund for International Research in Education).
Abstract
From the 1990s onwards, Japanese immigration policies encouraged the immigration of Nikkei Japanese Latin Americans (migrants from Japan and their descendants). Today in Japan, the Nikkei population is estimated at 250,000. While many Nikkei Japanese spoke little or no Japanese on arrival in Japan, their children (many now adults) are mostly born and educated in Japan. Within families, complex modes of communication that combine Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese take place among the different generations in family, social, and educational contexts.
锘縒e present data from a two-year ethnographic study of the language practices and identities of 11 Nikkei Japanese participants with migration histories from Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, and Bolivia, living in the Tokyo and Aichi regions of Japan. Data include plurilingual interviews, samples of reflective narrative writing, and samples of participants鈥� plurilingual digital communication. In our analysis, we look for answers to two questions: How and why do participants combine Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese in their daily lives? How do participants鈥� plurilingual practices and perceptions/performances of identity relate to powerful sociocultural discourses about language use, ethnicity, and place?
We conclude by referring to and problematizing the concept of the ethnolinguistic 鈥淥ther鈥� as an analytic thread running through our work.
Presenters
- Mariko Himeta, Daito Bunka University, Japan
- Satoko Shao-Kobayashi, Chiba University, Japan
- Sara Arias Palacio, 丁香园AV, Canada
- Pedro dos Santos, 丁香园AV, Canada
- Steve Marshall, 丁香园AV, Canada
Date/Time
Thursday, October 31
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Place
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, EDUC 7610
2024 DARE Seminar 5
A Cyclical Journey: Student Teachers Navigate Social Justice Education
In this talk, we explore the lives of student teachers within a social justice-oriented teacher education program: how they navigate key moments of learning, discomfort, and transformation while developing pedagogies as student teachers. Situating this work within the interrelated scholarship of social-justice teacher education and culturally sustaining practices, we discuss how the experiences of student teachers are not just a precursor to becoming "real" teachers. Rather, this period is a critical phase in their growth, a time they can be immersed in the complexities and subtleties of being a student teacher. Findings from our research highlight a cyclical process of looking backward, inward, and forward. Student teachers reflect on their experiences, critically engage with their current positionalities, and envision their future practices and commitments as student teachers. We suggest this dynamic process is significant to their development as educators who are culturally responsive and socially just.
Presenter bios
Pooja Dharamshi (she/her) is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at 丁香园AV. Her scholarship focuses on power dynamics and systemic inequities in teacher education. Grounded in critical literacies and culturally sustaining pedagogies, her work highlights the possibilities for community-engaged practices in advancing social justice and equity in K鈥�12 and teacher education contexts. As a co-investigator on an SSHRC-funded international project, Pooja examines how teacher education programs resist neoliberal influences through transformative pedagogies.
Amrit Cojocaru is a PhD candidate in the eTap equity studies stream in the Faculty of Education and a program coordinator for the Friends of Simon Project. Before that, she was a limited-term lecturer and faculty associate at 丁香园AV and a K鈥�12 educator in the Surrey School District. Her doctoral research on students with forced displacement experiences in K鈥�12 schooling systems focuses on equity and inclusion through teacher education and strength-centred pedagogies.
Shaghayegh Bahrami is a Vanier Scholar and PhD student in the ETaP program in the Faculty of Education. Currently a graduate student representative at the Canadian Association for Social Justice Education (CASJE), Shaghayegh also serves as the editor-in-chief of the 丁香园AV Educational Review. Their doctoral research lies at the intersection of mother-tongue-based learning and teacher education, focusing on the power of storytelling in creating counternarratives about languages and places.
Presenters
Pooja Dharamshi
Amrit Cojocaru
Shaghayegh Bahrami
Date/Time
Monday, October 28
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Place
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, EDUC 8515
2024 DARE Seminar 4
Arts Practices in Local Ecologies: An Epistemology of Bonding
How are arts practices particularly well suited to learning about local ecologies in experiential and intimate ways? In this talk, Dr. Zuzana Vasko will show how arts practices that combine sensory/embodied engagement and gentle probing into the self offer an ontological understanding of what a transition to ecological perceiving/thinking/being might entail. Arts-based learning calls upon embodied engagement, sense perception, and careful observation, making it possible to see and sense our living ecosystems and dwelling places in ways that would not otherwise occur.
The process of expressive interpretation 鈥搒uch as through drawing, poetry, and other creative forms 鈥� involves exploring personal subjectivity and inner experience. Engendering personally meaningful connections with place, such practices spur us to look beyond mere problem-solving approaches to ecological precarity.
Zuzana will share some of her ecologically based arts projects from recent years 鈥� works she sees as deepening her ecological connectedness and understanding. The artworks incorporate gathered natural materials and tend to be intimate in scale. In addition to showing images and discussing the various projects, she will bring the physical artworks so participants can engage with them directly.
Presenter bio
Dr. Zuzana Vasko is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education. As a researcher, she explores the intersections of arts-based, ecological, and contemplative forms of inquiry. Her material arts-based research explores climate effects on local ecologies, commonalities we share with other species, and how we might live harmoniously within the biotic community, being open to wisdom from the more-than-human. She has exhibited her work at numerous exhibitions in BC and internationally. In 2023, her works 鈥淭his is not a Sacrifice鈥� (quiet conversations with plant materials on the nature of simple living) and 鈥淒rought Patterns鈥� (observations of drought in Fraser Valley forests) were exhibited in Lessons from a Living World at the ACT Gallery in Maple Ridge, curated by Courtney Miller.
Zuzana has taught a range of general education and arts-based courses in the Faculty of Education. She endeavours to embed all her teaching with the values of self-learning, ecological attentiveness, contemplative practice, arts-based inquiry, and authentic personal expression.
Presenters
Dr. Zuzana Vasko
Date/Time
Monday, September 16
Time: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Place
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, EDUC 8515
Fireside Chat
A Fireside Chat: Dr. Shirley Steinberg in conversation with Dr. 脰zlem Sensoy
Rock n鈥� Roll and Research: A Bricolage
In this conversation with 脰zlem Sensoy, Shirley Steinberg will discuss the culture of rock n鈥� roll and its value as a generative metaphor for research. The conversation will cover aspects of performance & 鈥渟way/g,鈥� history & values, radicalism & margins, volume & voice, collaboration & individuality. As the late Freddie Mercury said, 鈥淒arling, my attitude is 鈥榝uck it鈥�; I鈥檓 doing everything with everyone.鈥� This conversation will explore what it could mean to open up the rich world and work of educational research to the radicalism of rock n鈥� roll.
Presenter bio
is an innovative urban educator and social theorist committed to transformative leadership and authentic diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice. Dr. Steinberg was formerly the Graduate Program Director for Literacy Programs at Brooklyn College. As an administrator, she directed a large centre at McGill University, where she developed funding, infrastructure, building, and staffing. At the University of Calgary, she opened and directed The Werklund Centre for Youth Leadership and held the Werklund Research Chair of Critical Youth Studies for two terms. Dr. Steinberg also served as director of the Institute for Youth and Community Research at the University at the West of Scotland. Dr. Steinberg鈥檚 scholarship has contributed to critical pedagogy, critical leadership studies, inclusive education, and critical research studies.
Committed to multicultural education and internationally published over the past two-and-a-half decades, Dr. Steinberg promotes the work of new and emerging scholars. As a series editor, she has facilitated the publication of over 650 books in leadership and teaching, urban education, critical pedagogy, foundations of education, and cultural studies. She is the founding editor of four academic journals, including Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education & The International Journal of Leadership in Learning.
Dr. 脰zlem Sensoy is Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education and the director of the Cassidy Centre for Educational Justice (鈥淐edge鈥�). Cedge is hosting Dr. Steinberg as a visiting scholar between July 15 and 29. If you would like to connect with Dr. Steinberg one-on-one, please email the Centre: ccej@sfu.ca
Presenters
Dr. Shirley Steinberg
Dr. 脰zlem Sensoy
Date/Time
Thursday, July 18
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Place
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, EDUC 8620.2
Navigating the Terrain of Neoliberalism in Higher Education: An Exploration of Definitions and Implications
This presentation delves into the complex landscape of neoliberalism within higher education, aiming to elucidate its definitions and explore its profound implications. Neoliberalism, characterized by market-driven approaches and the prioritization of individualism, has significantly reshaped the educational sector worldwide. Through critically examining various definitions and conceptualizations of neoliberalism, this presentation aims to provide a nuanced understanding of its multifaceted nature and impact on higher education systems. Drawing on scholarly literature and contemporary examples, the presentation analyzes how neoliberal ideologies manifest within higher education institutions鈥攊nfluencing policies, practices, and decision-making processes. Ultimately, the presentation seeks to foster critical dialogue and reflection on the pervasive influence of neoliberalism in higher education, offering a shared language for analyzing and illuminating these complexities and their ramifications.
Presenter bio
Dr. Sereana Naepi, a Pacific researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand, holds several prestigious positions, including , , , and Senior Lecturer at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. As well as teaching undergraduate and graduate sociology, Dr. Naepi shares her deep commitment to promoting equity in higher education through research that uses quantitative and qualitative data to uncover challenges within academia. Dr. Naepi's extensive knowledge and experience in Pacific research methodologies further enrich her work, allowing her to approach complex issues from multiple angles.
Presenter
Dr. Sereana Naepi
Co-host
Center for Research on International Education (CRIE)
Date/Time
Thursday, March 21
Time: 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. PST
Place
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, EDUC 8515
2024 DARE Seminar 3
Antisemitism in EDI discourses in Canadian higher education: How did we get here, and how can we move forward?
Equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonizing (EDI/D) became a pertinent issue for Canadian higher education in redressing the ongoing effects of historical exclusion and marginalization of Indigenous Peoples and people from equity-seeking groups. Yet while Canadian universities are becoming more active in promoting EDI/D, little attention is paid to antisemitism in policy and action plans or their development. Academics who bring up antisemitism in their work on anti-racism are often told this is not part of the EDI agenda.
This talk suggests that the omission is not accidental. Prevalent conceptions of race (grounded in Whiteness) and decolonizing (grounded in settler-colonialism) in EDI/D discourses are insufficient in addressing the historical, institutional, ideological, and cultural underpinnings of antisemitism. Acting against antisemitism does not mean justifying Israeli state politics or shielding Israel from critique. Yet the complexity of distinguishing between antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and political pressures from the left and right might discourage universities from incorporating antisemitism in EDI policies and action plans. The consequences of this omission became urgently apparent following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the following cycle of violence. Questions about how universities address antisemitism are tangible for Jewish students, faculty, and staff who are facing hostility on campus because of their Jewish identity. This talk will unpack the reasons for omitting antisemitism from EDI discourses and suggest ways to move forward.
Presenter bio
Dr. Lilach Marom is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at 丁香园AV, British Columbia, Canada. Her research draws on critical theories to highlight issues of equity, anti-racism, and inclusion in education. It focuses on structural and institutional barriers to access and success in higher education, with a particular focus on teacher education. Lilach has worked as an educator with diverse students and communities in multiple contexts. Her current SSHRC-funded projects explore the barriers facing Punjabi international students in Canadian higher education and a comparative study of the recertification processes of Internationally educated teachers in Canada and Europe. She is further interested in EDI policies and action plans in higher education, asking what is included and what is left unaddressed.
Presenter
Dr. Lilach Marom
Date/Time
Monday, May 27
Time: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Place
丁香园AV Burnaby Campus, EDUC 8620
2024 DARE Seminar 2
Decolonial Approaches to Survey Methods
Surveys are often considered useful for engaging large groups of people in a relatively accessible way to gain insight into their perspectives, opinions, and beliefs. In education, surveys enable institutions to observe structural changes pre- and post-intervention. While surveys can be entirely qualitative or mixed method, a common assumption is that surveys are associated with a positivist paradigm and historically ill-suited for critical work. While some appreciate survey design as an art, there is less appreciation for surveys鈥� potential for complex, contextual, decolonial research.
In this session, I share a completed research project that engaged critical decolonial, anti-racist, and eco-justice concerns through a pre- and post-survey concerning an educational intervention in teacher education. Notably, the survey structure also addressed a significant critique of survey methods: the assumption that people are self-aware of their motivations and have a positive bias. This session provides engagement with important possibilities for surveys as a method in educational research theoretically framed within the priorities of decolonial possibilities, eco-justice, and anti-racism.
Presenter bio
Dr. Jeannie Kerr is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education at 丁香园AV and is an educational philosopher, theorist, and qualitative researcher of Irish maternal and settler identity. She explores intersections of history, philosophy, and sociology for a greater understanding of educational complexities. Her scholarship examines the reproduction of societal inequalities in K鈥�12, teacher education, and higher education settings, with the goal of collaboratively repairing and renewing relations in educational settings, urban landscapes, and Canadian society. Dr. Kerr's theorizing and research projects are based on a decolonial approach that disrupts the centring of Euro-Western approaches and knowledges, forefronts complicities, and centres broader goals of needed systemic change.
Presenter
Dr. Jeannie Kerr
Date/Time
Wednesday, March 20
Time: 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. PST
Place
EDUC 8620, 丁香园AV Burnaby Campus
2024 DARE Seminar 1
Viewing Education through the Lens of Biocultural Diversity
In this talk, Dr. David Zandvliet delves through several case studies into the origins and meaning of biocultural diversity and its implications for education.
鈥楤iocultural diversity鈥� refers to the assertion that the web of life comprises the diversity present in the natural world and the diversity of human cultures and languages, and that these are interrelated and interdependent. Throughout history, human cultures and languages have developed in symbiosis with local environments, expressing and communicating place-based values, beliefs, knowledge, and practices. Indigenous and other traditional societies usually hold the idea of a 鈥榦neness with the natural world,鈥� which the concept of biocultural diversity seeks to capture. More specifically, people are a part of, not apart from nature and have a responsibility to steward the life system.
This perspective has clear implications for education in general and environmental education in particular. If the educational system itself were viewed through a lens of biocultural diversity, it might also be seen as a complex system in which practitioners, researchers, specific places, and endemic cultures are part of an interrelated whole. It follows naturally that diversity in research and practice is desirable for both the vibrancy and the survival of a just and sustainable education system.
Presenter bio
Dr. David Zandvliet is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at 丁香园AV and holds the . Based in Vancouver, Canada he is the founding Director for the and an Associate member in the Faculty of Science at 丁香园AV. An experienced researcher, he has published articles in international journals and presented papers on six continents and in over 16 countries. His career interests lie in the areas of science and environmental education with a special focus on the study of learning environments. He has considerable experience in the provision of teacher development and has conducted studies in school-based locations in Australia, Canada, Malaysia Sri Lanka and Taiwan. David leads environmental education programming at 丁香园AV including directing field schools in diverse locations including: Vancouver, Haida Gwaii, Hawaii, and Indonesia.
