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Short abstract:

What kind of “environment” is enacted in an undergraduate Environmental Studies course in Japan? Our ethnographic action research on this transdisciplinary course mediated in English reveals frictions and gaps among traditional disciplines and explores knowledge production in practice.

Long abstract:

This paper explores how different versions of “environment” or “nature” are enacted in an undergraduate “Introduction to Environmental Studies” course in Japan with English as a medium of instruction (EMI), using an ethnographic approach focusing on teachers’ interactive narratives and reflections. EMI in higher education is a relatively new practice in Japan, where most of the courses are taught in Japanese, separated into narrower fields, notably under the umbrella categories of bunkei (humanities and social sciences) and rikei (natural sciences). This paper is part of our transdisciplinary action research on improving new EMI practices at a Japanese university, in which researchers/teachers from different backgrounds (chemical engineering, STS, cultural anthropology, and English education) came together to collaborate. Mediated with English, several frictions and gaps in the Japanese local contexts were made visible. For example, the translation of kogai (“public nuisance” or “environmental pollution”) appeared as a point of confusion, reflecting the particular Japanese versions of the “environment” and “Environmental Studies” that historically emerged along with the concept and materiality of kogai. Therefore, the “mere” explanations of “Environmental Studies” and the “environment” themselves are not straightforward, and their definitions, categorizations, examples, and imaginaries (figures and visual aids) have revealed nature-culture differences. English as a medium is not a neutral tool; it interferes with the discursive contexts, reveals usually hidden or coordinated conflicts, and transforms the production of knowledge. This paper discusses the mutual transformations of language, content, and teachers.