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- Convenors:
-
Iza Kavedzija
(University of Cambridge)
Fabio Gygi (SOAS, University of London)
Ksenia Golovina (Toyo University)
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- Chair:
-
Ksenia Golovina
(Toyo University)
- Section:
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 25 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
Migration and mobilities: individual papers Chair: Ksenia Golovina
Long Abstract:
Migration and mobilities: individual papers
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 25 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the transformation in relationships that Russian-speaking migrants in Japan have with consumer goods. The analysis is situated in a discussion about the overall consumer practices and conventions pertaining to the reciprocal exchange of goods in Japan during the past 30 years.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the transformation in relationships that Russian-speaking migrants in Japan have with consumer goods. The 1990s, when many informants in this study left Russia and other post-Soviet countries for Japan, were marked by political and economic turbulence in the migrants' places of origin. Even for those who moved to Japan later, memories of the shortage of consumer goods that they - or their parents, relatives, and friends - experienced constitute a core memory of the pre-migratory past. Drawing on interview data and visits to informants' homes in Japan, this study analyzes the changing trajectory of the relations the migrants have developed with consumer goods in their new country. The analysis is situated in a discussion about the overall consumer practices and conventions pertaining to the reciprocal exchange of goods in Japan during the past 30 years. The researcher examined how initial sentiments, such as people's negative views about their pre-migratory lifestyles and their excitement about the availability of goods, were changed, such that they now value living modestly and getting by with little. For some, these new sentiments are deepened by their correspondence with present-day ideas of simple living, recycling, and being attentive to the earth. Many of the informants were in marital unions in which one spouse was Japanese. They thus found themselves unable to freely choose how to organize their consumer practices, gift exchanges, and the presence of items in their homes. They reported unresolved psychological discomfort regarding the overabundance of consumer goods. The study also explores how the informants negotiated transnational relations pertaining to material things with next-of-kin in their countries of origin, where consumer practices have also shifted significantly in recent years. In addition to a socio-cultural perspective rooted in anthropological methodology, this research incorporates discourses regarding materiality, the agency of objects, and affect.
Paper short abstract:
This paper applies Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital to elucidate the public school choice decision-making process of middle-class mothers depending on their intra-family class differences within families, with a concern about mothers’ potential.
Paper long abstract:
Studies have shown that middle-class parents tend to exit from public schools and choose selective schools such as private schools and national schools in Japan (Kobari 2002, 2008, Kataoka 2009). So far, the “middle-class” has been principally measured by the fathers' occupation and the mothers' education in research on parental school choices. Little research has been done to illuminate the social class differences between parents within families during the school choice process. This gendered measurement of parental social class obscures how mothers’ school choices relate to both maternal education and occupation and vice versa. On the other hand, previous studies on parental choice note that mothers, in particular middle-class mothers, tend to involve in the educational transitions as Ojuken in primary and secondary schools(Kita 2012). This paper explores the extent to which mothers’ public school choice and involvement in educational transitions are affected by their intra-family class differences, with a concern about mothers’ potential. While much of the research on middle-class parental school choice has been done in Western countries such as the UK, the US, France, and Germany (Mayer et al 2020: 36), this research applies a modified Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital to demonstrate the maternal school choice decision-making process in a Japanese context. This modified theoretical framework attempts to highlight the differences in individual but relational capitals between fathers and mothers within the family. In order to shed light on the class differences within the family other than between families, this research adopts a qualitative case study of Chinese-Japanese intermarried middle-class mothers’ public school choices in Japan. This paper contributes to adding to the body of research on parental school choices at both empirical and theoretical levels. The empirical contribution fills a gap in the current research on parental public school choices, particularly the decision-making process of middle-class mothers within the family. The theoretical contribution of this paper is supported by its original operationalization of cultural capital by taking a closer look at gendered class relationships within the family through parental school choices.
Paper short abstract:
This paper presents ethnography of Japan’s ethnic-minority senior services for Zainichi Koreans, Japanese war-orphan returnees from China, Vietnamese refugees, and a mixture of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese elderly, who reveal the interwoven complexities of multi-ethnic aging and care.
Paper long abstract:
Historically, Japan has immersed itself in the myth of ethnic homogeneity. However, this emphasis of homogeneity has been contested by the growing presence of “others” within its midst. According to Japan’s Ministry of Justice in 2020 there were 2,933,137 foreigners, a 7.4% increase from 2019. With a growing number of foreigners, the fact that many will settle permanently, age, and die in Japan is a reality. As of 2019, there were approximately 260,000 foreigners 60 years and older. Although Japan ranks among the highest in the world for its elderly population, the presence of aging minorities has received little attention. Currently, the “foreign” elderly within Japan’s peripheries face another kind of challenge in their aging process. The historical realities of forced occupation, colonization, poverty, migration, and tragic consequences of war, separation, refuge, and unexpected “homecoming” presents another dimension – aging in a foreign land. Witnessing a need to care for their elders, younger generation of Japan’s minority communities have begun to build multi-cultural, multi-ethnic care services. In senior daycare facilities, home-visiting services, and community outreach, the care-givers and minority seniors highlight crucial factors such as ethnic identity, language, food-culture, gender, familial relationships, socio-economic status, education-level, religious beliefs, and communal memories of migratory experiences as an integral part of “ethnic care”. Knowing the barriers that minority elderly face – illiteracy, discriminatory experiences, isolation, and stigma of being different – have direct influence on the quality of care provided, as well as mental health and physical wellbeing of foreign seniors. This paper presents ethnography of minority senior-care services of Zainichi Koreans, Japanese war-orphan returnees from China, Vietnamese refugees, and a mixture of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese elderly, who reveal the interwoven complexities of aging in a supposedly homogenous Japan. The multicultural, multi-ethnic spaces serve as a place of belonging “ibasho,” where difference is the norm, which promotes dignity, well-being, and quality of life and aging.