A bricolage exploration in genkan space

Tengu and adjunct Tefl in the Japanese university context

Bibliographic Data

ID12215134
AuthorsCraig Whitsed (0000-0002-2001-726X, Murdoch University, corresponding author), P Wright (0000-0002-6433-3889, Murdoch University)
Year2015
Volume29
Issue4
Pages594-615
Publication date2015-08-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0951-8398 • E-ISSN: 1366-5898
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09518398.2015.1074748
OpenAlexW1734849429
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited48

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)

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Bricolage · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Foregrounding · Liminality · Linguistics · Literature · Mainstream · Mythology · Pedagogy · Sociology · Visual arts · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Global Education and Multiculturalism · History · Social and Cultural Dynamics

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