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• Being more Okinawan in Hawaiʻi: Socio-psychological processes of Okinawan identity development among Okinawan international university and college students in Hawaiʻi

  Taira Kazufumi

  Asia Pacific Journal of Education ( Taylor & Francis Online )  43 ( 2 ) 497 - 513   2023 [ Peer Review Accepted ]

  Type of publication: Research paper (scientific journal)

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  The study aims to investigate Okinawan identity development among individuals who grew up in Okinawa and came to Hawai‘i to study at a university or community college. The grounded theory approach was used for the qualitative inquiry. Nineteen participants were interviewed about their self-descriptions, spaces where their Okinawan consciousness was provoked and influences of activities and learning regarding Okinawa and Hawai‘i on their Okinawan identities. The results pointed to three dimensions of socio-psychological processes of Okinawan identity development in Hawai‘i, namely (a) self-identification as Okinawan in Hawai‘i, (b) Okinawan consciousness and identity salience and (c) a strengthened sense of Okinawan identity. The results were used to construct and discuss the core category of “being more Okinawan in Hawai‘i”, subsuming all the concepts regarding self-identification, consciousness and identity as Okinawan. The study demonstrated the probability that the more frequently Okinawan international university and college students self-identified as Okinawan and the more intense their Okinawan consciousness and identity salience became, the more likely it was that their Okinawan identities became stronger. The study elucidated the socio-psychological processes of Okinawan identity development in Hawai‘i by examining the history and society in Hawai‘i to contextualize the empirical results.

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• A systematic form of Japanization in Okinawa: Japanese identity construction through a Japanization discourse in textbooks and a textbook guide

  Kazufumi Taira

  International Studies in Sociology of Education ( Taylor & Francis Online )  28 ( 2 ) 110 - 126   2019.05 [ Peer Review Accepted ]

  Type of publication: Research paper (scientific journal)

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  This research examines some modes of Japanization through education in Okinawa where Japanese influences on education have permeated after Japan’s annexation. I investigate how a book excerpt entitled Mizu no Tōzai, included in high school textbooks in Okinawa, constructs Japanese identity. Mizu no Tōzai functions as nihonjinron discourse, which is characterized by ‘Japanese culture,’ ‘Japanese uniqueness,’ and ‘Japaneseness.’ The ‘East-West’ dichotomy, depicted in this nihonjinron discourse, induces students to choose ‘Japan’/‘Japanese culture’ and become ‘Japanese.’ Practice sections of Mizu no Tōzai in textbooks as well as a textbook guide operate to be complicit in this Japanese identity construction. Through a critical analysis of discourse, I reveal that the nihonjinron discourse operating as official knowledge, in collusion with the other discursive texts, produces a position subjected to the discourse of Japanization within which Okinawans become ‘Japanese.’ I problematize these discursive texts as a systematic form of Japanizing Okinawans’ minds through education.

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• Okinawan consciousness and identity salience and development among Okinawan university students studying in Hawai‘i

  Kazufumi Taira, Lois A. Yamauchi

  Journal of International Students   8 ( 1 ) 431 - 452   2018.01 [ Peer Review Accepted ]

  Type of publication: Research paper (scientific journal)

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  After Japan’s annexation in 1879, Okinawa came under the unprecedented influence of Japanization. This research examined how learning in Hawaiʻi influenced the Okinawan sense of identity of 11 Okinawan students. Grounded theory analysis of interview transcripts indicated that students became more conscious as Okinawan through encounters and interactions with local people, including Okinawans, and Hawaiians in Hawai‘i, and Okinawan events and activities there. Participating in an Okinawan club at the university provided opportunities for the students to express their Okinawan identity, interact with club members, and take responsibility as representatives of Okinawa, which promoted students’ Okinawan consciousness and identity salience.

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• Effective instruction for engaging culturally diverse students in higher education

  Lois A. Yamauchi, Kazufumi Taira, Tracy Trevorrow

  International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education   28 ( 3 ) 460 - 470   2016.12 [ Peer Review Accepted ]

  Type of publication: Research paper (scientific journal)

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• A Report on Past and Future Research: Instructional Strategies, Identities, and Culture and Education

  Kazufumi Taira

  秋田英語英文学 ( 秋田英語英文学会 )  ( 62 ) 39 - 43   2021.03

   

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• Raising Okinawan consciousness through education provoking cognitive dissonance

  Kazufumi Taira

  11th International Conference on Education and Justice  (The United States online (Pacific Time Zone))  2021.09  -  2021.09 

• My past academic studies and plan for future research: Aiming to explore culture and education in Hawai‘i

  Kazufumi Taira

  秋田英語英文学会2020年度大会  (オンライン)  2020.11  -  2020.11 

• Being more Okinawan: Influences of activities, learning, and interactions in Hawaiʻi on Okinawan identity

  Kazufumi Taira

  The 2018 American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, SIG – Cultural-Historical Research  (New York City)  2018.04  -  2018.04 

• Inequality in Okinawans’ identification: Nationalism and patriotism in the Japanese educational laws and curriculum standards

  Kazufumi Taira

  The 2017 American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, SIG - Postcolonial Studies and Education  (San Antonio)  2017.04  -  2017.05 

• Japanese identity construction among Okinawan students: Colonial discourse in textbooks to ‘police’ a crisis of Japan’s hegemony

  Kazufumi Taira

  The 2016 Cultural Studies Association Annual Conference  (Villanova)  2016.06  -  2016.06 

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• Research on the Development of National Minority Education in Japan: A Comparative Analysis in Education between Okinawa and Hawaiʻi

  Young Researcher

  Project Year: 2024.04  -   

  Investigator(s): Kazufumi Taira 

  Direct: 1,700,000 (YEN)  Overheads: 510,000 (YEN)  Total: 2,210,000 (YEN)

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  This research focuses on education as a means of achieving a multicultural society. Specifically, it investigates the factors that have contributed to the Japanization of Okinawan people through education. It also aims to propose a framework for education that fosters Okinawan identity and consciousness. From a perspective of a national minority, the research seeks to provide recommendations for building an education system rooted in Okinawa. To achieve this goal, the research will compare Okinawa's education under Japan's centralized education system with Hwaiʻi's education, paying particular attention to the rigidity and flexibility of each educational system. Furthermore, by critically analyzing the promotion of nationalism and patriotism within Japan's centralized education system and comparing it to the ethnic cultural education in Hawaiʻi, the study will identify the factors that hinder the development of Okinawa's education and the necessary elements for its improvement. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the establishment of an educational system that allows Okinawans to learn from their own ethnic perspective within a diverse society.

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• 2022.07

  　

  　

• 2021.07