This book is about education, ideology, power and identity investment and
concerns an influential East Asian expatriate community. Specifically, it seeks
to understand particular ways in which the Japanese white-collar elite live as
a closed and self-referentially defined in-group, despite the manifestly multicultural
ethos of their Singaporean domicile. The study attends to issues
regarding schooling, unity, diversity and community based on grounded
anthropological observations. Specific observations centre around the particularities
of Japanese nation-state schooling practices set in cosmopolitan
Singapore, a contrastingly non-Japanese setting. The insights therein are
made possible by way of seeing education as an ideological domain and
powerful discursive platform. Using this framework, cultural and identityrelated
practices are viewed dynamically and appreciated for their fluidic
reflection of identity praxes.
Readers will gain fresh insights into the role of education and ideology in
reproducing asymmetry and the value of sociohistorical analyses in surfacing
hidden power relations. Researchers, educators and decision makers will
appreciate the transparency of grounded ethnographic observation yielding
insights into practices which imbricate inclusion-exclusion and privilege-marginalization
debates within a neoliberal hegemony. Students of the social
politics of education and the cultural politics of language, ideology and
identity will find the book a provocative read.
Cover
1
Half Title
2
Series Page
3
Title Page
4
Copyright Page
5
Dedication
6
Table of Contents
8
List of tables 9
Acknowledgements 10
List of abbreviations 11
1. Japanese culture and overseas schooling: critiquing academic miscreance and pretentions to objectivity and generalizability
12
Giving due attention to matters of accountability, contextual and historical importance 13
Drawing (on) lessons from the response as backgrounding for subsequent discussion on criticality 16
a logically storied concatenation toward praxis 16
Anatomizing 22
generalizability’: miscreance and mischief through the management and subversion of meaning 22
Finding resonance and support in humanizing motifs 28
Chapter content 29
References 33
2. The Japanese in Japan (and overseas)
37
veracity and actuality within a Japanese ethos 38
as key cultural concepts to understanding Japaneseness 41
and 41
Internationalization, dealings with the outside and its detractors 43
and English language learning in Japan 45
The culpability of the high-hand of history and education in 47
perpetuation 47
Internally constructed meanings, autopoietic aspects and explanations of 52
imaginaries and effects on the imagination and practice 54
Meanings held in abeyance as a frustration as well as a door of hope 55
References 56
3. Singapore: colonization, independence and industrialization
59
The founding of modern Singapore 59
Independence from British rule and warming of relations with Japan 60
Japan’s contribution to Singapore’s postwar economic growth 61
Growth in volume and scope of Japanese investment 64
Learn from Japan’ drive and Singapore’s admiration for the 66
The 66
Japanese Model’ 66
The signing of Singapore’s Free Trade Agreement with Japan 68
Singapore’s education system: technology, competitiveness and meritocracy 69
Singapore’s interest and involvement in international education 70
International schools in Singapore 71
Concluding remarks 75
References 76
4. Singapore’s Japanese presence: businesses, institutions and symbolisms
78
Moving into the South’ 78
Understanding the history and politics of Japan’s 78
The proliferation of Japanese businesses in Singapore 82
The Japanese business community in Singapore 85
Foreshadowing other particularities: the schooling of Japanese children 89
References 89
5. Japanese schooling in Singapore: institutions, ideologies and identity investments
92
Institution A (IA): a social body for Japanese residents 94
Institution B (IB): a Japanese 95
international’ elementary school 95
Institution C (IC): a registered cooperative society 96
Institution D (ID): a supplementary weekend language school 97
Storytelling 98
Deconstructing the workings of ideology: a critical analysis of ideological enactments involving Institutions A to D 100
Ritual and ceremony versus day-to-day reality 102
The structuring of work and work-related structures 104
Bus routes as inventions of borders and as operations over (on) space and place 109
Preparing students for the homeland: the question of (in)tolerance of diversity 112
IA, IB, IC and ID: producing subjective identities of privilege and exclusivism 113
References 115
6. Japanese engagements with English overseas as a cultural politics of control
119
Explanation of the idiomatically and ideologically short leash 120
The teaching and learning of English in, IB, the elementary school concerned 121
Textbooks, cultural content and the workings of ideology 121
Commentary on the teaching and learning of English in IB 124
to 139
as a way of restoring voice, hope and dignity 139
Moving from 139
References 142
7. Interrogating ‘Singapore-as-technology’ in the reproduction of Japaneseness
146
A nurturing and naturalizing of elitism and exclusivity through schooling 147
Schooling as a moral, ideological, identity-laden and identity-charged project 148
Harnessing Singaporean technologies and Singapore-as-technology towards reinforcing Japaneseness 152
English language education 153
Observations relating to truly liberating pedagogies beyond regulated or hackneyed forms of didacticism 155
Addressing my superaddressee 157
References 158
Index 161
1,Japanese,culture,and,overseas,schooling;,2,The,Japanese,in,Japan,(and,overseas);,3,Singapore;,4,Singapore’s,Japanese,presence;,5,Japanese,schooling,in,Singapore;,6,Japanese,engagements,with,English,overseas,as,a,cultural,politics,of,control;,7,Interrogating,‘Singapore-as-technology’,in,the,reproduction,of,Japaneseness
1 Japanese culture and overseas schooling,2 The Japanese in Japan (and overseas),3 Singapore,4 Singapore’s Japanese presence,5 Japanese schooling in Singapore,6 Japanese engagements with English overseas as a cultural politics of control,7 Interrogating ‘Singapore-as-technology’ in the reproduction of Japaneseness
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