This book analyses how children from transnational Japanese-Singaporean families are educated. The author demonstrates that the negotiated educational pathways of these children have significant bearing on the ways in which individual identities of mixedness may be constructed or contested – where notions of mixedness are necessarily recognised for their inherent fluidity, contextuality and contingency. This interdisciplinary book will be of interest to students and scholars across the fields of education, neoliberalism, globalization, multiculturalism, mobility and cross-border migration.
Author(s): Glenn Toh
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 136
City: Cham
Acknowledgments
Contents
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Backgrounding Japanese-Singaporean Families: Discourses, Histories, and Ecologies
Terms Commonly Used and Related Questions
Mixedness and Questions Concerning Mixed Identities
An Earlier Example
A Recent History of Japan’s Relations with Singapore
Turning to Aims and Reflexive Positioning
Chapter Descriptions
References
Chapter 2: Japanese Identity Discourses: Homogeneity Versus Heterogeneity
Complexifying Dominant Narratives Reifying Homogeneity in a Particularized Form of Japaneseness
Population Problems and Resistance to Immigration
Beliefs in Japanese Uniqueness
Beliefs in Japanese Superiority and Links to Whiteness
Superiority Borne of Military Power and Economic Success
Taking the Influence and Changing Agendas of Japan’s Post-War Occupiers into Account
Mixed Marriages and Mixed-Race Identities in Japan
Earlier and More Recent Accounts of Mixed Marriages and Families in Japan
World War II, Its Aftermath, and Mixed Marriages Involving Japanese and Non-Japanese Spouses
People of Mixed Ancestry
The Biological Question of Eugenics
A Storied Account of Ongoing Identity Negotiation
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3: Singaporean Identity Discourses: Narratives and Questionings of Racialization and Cultural Diversity
Singapore’s Development After Independence
Singaporean Conceptualizations and Renditions of Race
Race-Based Categorizations
Mixed-Race Identities in Singapore
European-Asian Marriages
The Eurasian Population
The Japanese-Singaporean Population
Singapore’s Continued Openness to Immigration
Movement, Fluidity, and Singaporean Demographic Flows
A Final Word on Race, Wartime Wounds, Aftermaths, and Legacies
Japanese Sensitivity to Race
References
Chapter 4: Navigating the Japanese and Singaporean Systems of Schooling: Challenges, Choices, and Enigmas
State Schooling in Japan
Dissimulation of Educational Nationalism Through Internationalism
More Struggles and Opposites Inhering the System
Goals, Agendas, Revisionism, and Censorship
Issues Faced by Transnational and Mixed Ancestry Families Regarding Education
Types of Schooling and Community Support Overseas
The Cost of Being Uprooted as a Price to be Paid
State Schooling in Singapore
English Plus Mother-Tongue Policy in Singaporean State Schooling
Implications of Additive Bilingualism for Schooling
Education in Singapore as Host to a Culture of Competitive Individualism
Possible Challenges for Transnational Families Given Systemic Intricacies and Subtleties
Attention to the Reflexive Element
Navigating the Educational Challenges of Relocating from Japan to Singapore and Again to Japan
Ideologies Reified in the Terms Kikoku and Zaikikoku Shijo
Ideologies Dissimulated in Japanese Overseas Schooling
Kikoku as a Necessary Outcome of Earlier Decisions to School One’s Children in the Japanese Medium
Concluding Comments
References
Chapter 5: Families of Japanese Heritage Mixed Marriages in Singapore: Educational Trajectories and Lived Stories
Acknowledging the Role of the Imagination
Newfound Synergies Between Japan and the Southeast Asian Region Amidst Longstanding Rigidities
Changes Afoot
Challenges Facing Present-Day Japanese Heritage Mixed Families in Singapore
Procedures and Participants
Recognizing the Humanizing Aspect of Education and Scholarship
Participants and Families
The Situated Stories
‘Murata-Wong Family’
‘Nosaka-Nuli Family’
‘Chan-Sato Family’
‘Thong-Tanaka Family’
‘Kwong-Itoh Family’
Discussion
Hopes, Dispositions, and a Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: Conclusion: Enabling the Imagination and Anticipating the Future
Relevant Particularizations Concerning Socio-discursive and Ideological Influences
Dreams, Opportunities, Pathways, and Dilemmas
Living with Inequality and Competition that Pervade Singaporean Education and Societal Ethos
Instantiations, Images, and Ideologies of Transnational Marriage Identities
Negotiating Mixedness Amidst Fixedness
Language as Facilitation, Identification, or Monocultural Trap
Differences and Considerations of Accommodation as Hope
Conclusion
References
Index
