A bricolage exploration in genkan space: tengu and adjunct TEFL in the Japanese university context

Abstract

This paper reports on research focusing on a group of adjunct teachers of English employed in Japanese universities. Grounded in interpretive epistemology foregrounding constructionist traditions, this research employed bricolage as way of inquiring into, then representing, these teacher’s experiences utilising multi-perspectival, multi-theoretical and multi-methodological approaches. Employing elements of Turnerian liminality and blending these with Japanese cultural mythology, this paper explores participants’ experience, knowledge and identity. Through interviews and focus groups, participants (n = 43) gave voice to their lived world in Japanese universities locating their ‘place’ as simultaneously inside and outside the boundaries of mainstream Japanese society and universities. As ‘liminal personas’, participants likened themselves to a ‘necessary evil’ in the context of internationalising the curriculum. Thus, their condition is understood to be both ambiguous and paradoxical. The Japanese university is likened to genkan (a common architectural feature in Japanese houses resembling an entrance hall or transitional space between inside and outside worlds) space and employing Japanese mythology, it is argued these teachers share features attributed to Tengu (Tengu are goblin-like monsters in Japanese mythology with long noses and bright red faces who traditionally act in mischievous, disruptive ways).

Keywords:

• bricolage
• liminality
• Japanese university
• tengu
• genkan
• TEFL
• internationalization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Throughout this paper, we employ “adjunct” as a synonym for hijoukin-koushi (part-time, contract lecturer). See Whitsed (2011) for a fuller description of status, terms and conditions of their employment; Kopp (2013) provides an overview of other employee categories in the Japanese company context.

2. It is common practice across Japan to employ adjunct non-Japanese native speakers of English as EFL teachers merely on their being ‘native speakers’, rather than on qualifications or experience. This is reflected in Appendix 1 Participants’ qualifications and discussed by Whitsed (2011). For a fuller exploration of ‘native speakers’ in the Japanese context’ see Rivers and Ross (2013).

3. For example, the University Part-time Lecturer’s Union Kansai (http://www.hijokin.org/) and the Union of University Part-time Lecturers in Tokyo Area (http://hijokin.web.fc2.com/).

4. Fg #; P# are used to identify focus groups and participants.

5. Until recently, it was common for non-Japanese Anglo European academics with PhDs to be restricted from teaching ‘content’. However, as Brown (2014) observes with the growth across the Japanese university sector in undergraduate English-medium instruction programmes, this practice is changing. For a fuller discussion on native-speaker phenomena and employment practices see Rivers (2013).

6. Gaijin is a colloquial term (slang) that connotes negative meanings. The accepted term for non-Japanese used by official agencies is gaikokujin. For example, the term gaijin is not permitted on the national broadcaster NHK.

7. It is important to note that while some universities want compliant non-Japanese faculty as Houghton (cited in Johnston, 2004) notes, and a view expressed by participants in this study and reported by Whitsed (2011), there exists a practice among some universities of hiring young staff and then replacing them once they have lost their youthful appeal with another young teacher. This practice is referred to by Houghton as a form of Peter Pan syndrome.