Measuring the effectiveness of theory in action: grass-roots initiatives and social justice for Japan’s Kurdish migrants

ABSTRACT

Set in the Kurdish migrant community of Kawaguchi, Japan, the current study examines interview data to investigate the effectiveness of advocacy initiatives to stimulate social justice. Analysis is based on Byram’s Model of Intercultural Communicative Competence. Measured according to Sorrels's and Leydens and Lucena’s characteristics of social justice, the results indicate progress toward this aim. However, the emergent opportunities that favour the documented and the continuing risks for the undocumented suggest an unequal distribution of social justice. The initiatives discussed here hold implementation potential in other migrant communities, especially those of populations that are minorities in their countries of origin.

Lêkolîna ku li ser civaka koçber a Kawaguchi, Japonyayê de bi cih tê,datayên hevpeyvînên bandora însiyatifên herêmî yên ku dadweriya civakî teşwiq dike bi kar tîne. Bingeha analîzan li ser Modela Byram a Pêşbazî ya Têkilî ya Navçandîyetîyê ye. Li gorî taybetmendiyên Sorrells û Leydens û Lucena yên dadmendiya civakî hatine pîvandin, encamên pêşkeftina li ber vê armancê destnîşan dikin. Lêbelê, derfetên derketî yên ku ji hêla belgekirî ve piştgirî dikin û rîskên domdar ji bo yên nehatine belgekirin, belavokek wekhevî ya dadmendiya civakî pêşniyar dikin ku ji hêla teoriyan ve nehatiye pejirandin.

KEYWORDS:

• Social justice
• migration
• Kurdish
• intercultural communicative competence
• Japan

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the participants of this study for their time, insights, and help, including with the Kurmanji translation of the abstract. The author would also like to thank Hans Ladegaard, Alison Phipps, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful guidance on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Anne Schluter is Assistant Professor in the Department of English at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In addition to her work on Kurdish migrants in Japan (discussed here), she also studies the sociolinguistic aspects of Kurdish migration within Turkey as well as migrant domestic labour at a multilingual cleaning company in New Jersey, USA.

ORCID

Anne Ambler Schluter http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3943-7616

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by a start-up grant from The Faculty of Humanities, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [grant number 1-BE0H].