Interactive Presentation Finding Home in Academia in (or from) Japan 日本の(あるいは日本から)学界で家を見つける more

Sat, May 21, 14:30-15:15 Asia/Tokyo

After about eight years in Japan I am still on the way to find home within Japanese academia. I want to take this opportunity to address the problem of finding acceptance within academia in (or from) Japan, by reflecting on my/our experiences within universities, scholarly associations, and study groups. In this interactive session I would like to discuss issues such as: • the complexities of teaching something outside our specialization field (for example, teaching language while pursuing research on a different field) • the language and cultural barrier to feel integrated in Japanese universities and scholarly associations • the sense of ‘bubble’ and estrangement from Japan when communicating mainly with foreign faculty or belonging mainly to foreign academic associations • the struggle of whether to present or hide our ‘differences’ within academia (race, gender, sexual orientation neurodiversity, multiculturality, plurilingualism, etc.) • how to confront the barriers and challenges we encounter in Japan in general and Japanese academia in particular • how to manage or compensate for the solitude, frustration, or sadness of not finding home I will also briefly introduce the anthropological concept of ‘cocoon community’, which I think might be helpful to explain why in some academic associations we feel estranged and in others we can feel at home, and the significance of non-academic communities.