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- Convenors:
-
Susanne Klien
(Hokkaido University)
Florian Purkarthofer (University of Vienna)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Location:
- Lokaal -1.91
- Sessions:
- Friday 18 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
Of aspirations, hopes, and visions
Long Abstract:
Of aspirations, hopes, and visions
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 18 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
This paper discusses the case of student mobility from four Central European countries to Japan and analyses the motivations and perceived value of the study in Japan. We assess an explanation focused on labour market outcomes, and emphasize non-material and socio-cultural dimensions of motivations.
Paper long abstract:
Previous studies on student mobility towards Japan focused on understanding of this migration in relation to labour market outcomes and mainly from a handful of major sending countries such as China or Vietnam (e.g., Liu-Farrer 2011, Sato 2018, Mazumi 2021). This paper discusses the case of student mobility from Central European countries to Japan and analyses the motivations and perceived value of the study in Japan. Furthermore, by comparing the aspirations and values of study abroad held by students of Japanese studies with their counterparts from Chinese and Korean studies, we aim to understand the popularity of study in Japan and explore alternative explanations of student mobility that goes beyond the “neoliberal reductionism” often seen in studies on international student mobility (Lipura & Collins 2020).
Our paper is based on an analysis of questionnaire survey (N=692, conducted October – November 2022) and focus group interviews (conducted in November 2022 – January 2023) with students of East Asian Studies (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean studies) in three Central European countries (Austria, Czech, Slovakia). We aim to explore how institutional, national, and individual factors (such as age, gender, class, or value orientations) shape student’s aspirations to study in East Asian countries and how students understand the value of studying in these countries in relation to their future plans.
Preliminary results suggest that students of Japanese studies are less career-motivated when choosing their majors and see less instrumental value of study abroad for their future careers when compared with students of Chinese studies. Besides demonstrating symbolic values of each of the countries in the European context, these results necessitate explanation of student mobility that does not necessarily reduce students’ motivations to strategic intentions related to market forces and account for non-material and socio-cultural dimensions of study abroad (Lipura & Collins 2020:348).
Paper short abstract:
The second generation of Brazilians and Peruvians, who have gone on higher education in Japan have access to different public services, which in turn partially provides them with other types of well-being such as emotional, moral, psychological and physical well-being.
Paper long abstract:
It has been over three decades since the establishment of a legal framework that allowed immigrants of Japanese descent or Nikkeijin to come to Japan, most of them to work at Japanese factories. The vast majority of whom are South Americans, mainly from Brazil and Peru. The initial temporariness of this immigration has turned into a permanent residence of first, second and third generations of Brazilians and Peruvians, concentrated particularly in some specific areas in Japan.
Being born and raised in Japan, the second generation differently from the first possesses more skills and competences that grant them more freedom to conduct their lives not only in Japan, but also in their parents’ home country, therefore they could be true agents of their own destiny, in either country. As agency is an important source for well-being, the second generation by being better equipped to thrive in Japanese society reaches higher levels of well-being than their first-generation parents. They speak Japanese, they attend Japanese public schools and institutes of higher education, they have access to different public services, and they can engage in jobs as any other Japanese of similar age. However, the second generation faces other challenges and restrictions that cannot allow them to have access to rights and privileges guaranteed by the Japanese constitution and laws, as long as they do not acquire Japanese citizenship. While economic well-being is at the center of the first-generation decisions, the second generation has more leeway to find other sources of well-being, which are thought to be important for producing their sense of agency.
The current paper responds to the need of counting on a research on the different sources of well-being for second-generation Brazilians and Peruvians, who have gone on higher education in Japan. Besides, the access to public services, such as education, health and housing, among others, this paper explores the association between these sources of material well-being with other types of well-being such as emotional, moral, psychological and physical well-being.