EDUCATING CHILDREN FROM CROSS-BORDER MARRIAGES : understanding japanese heritage transnational... families in singapore

"Infused with discernment, this sharp critique is an invitation to sift inner workings of educational institutions as they impinge students' aspirations and are themselves bound by ideology and political discourse. Dr Toh, comprehending causes and effects of power and control which are present but hidden in education, interweaves historical precursors, practices and perceptions, and experience as a teacher and parent. The result has been for me a gleaning of wisdom and an investment with insight." --Paul McBride, Tamagawa University, Japan "With more and more Japanese choosing to leave the archipelago to live and work abroad, the notion of Japaneseness remains ever more relevant for its educational institutions. Parents may find themselves asking how children might be educated to both affirm the national sense of homogeneity but also to celebrate emergent forms of cultural identity ushered in through transnational trends and flows. The author does an exceedingly good job in addressing these questions." --Joff P. N. Bradley, Teikyo University, Japan 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. Glenn Toh is Senior Lecturer at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 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