Somewhere

Abstract

This study is a situated qualitative investigation of the multiple languages and identities of three Japanese international school students in Japan. These students had no foreign heritage or experience living outside Japan, but had been educated completely in English-medium international schools since kindergarten. In effect, they had been socialized into another culture and language without leaving Japan--a relatively monolingual and monocultural country. The participants' complex linguistic situations and identities were investigated using narrative inquiry over a period of 19 months. Their narratives, gathered primarily by interviews, were supplemented by observations, interviews of those close to them, and other data sources. Using postmodernist-influenced concepts as analytical lenses, I was able to bring to light the students' complex views on language and identity emerging from their unique linguistic and cultural experiences. The students in this study revealed that one does not necessarily belong to a single dominant culture or have a single "first language." These students felt most comfortable with their multiple cultures and languages in a 'third space' (Bhabha, 1994), and they actively took part in creating their own hybrid cultures, languages, and identities. The students' hybrid languages and identities were nurtured and secure within the international school community. However, once outside this community, the students realized the complexities within themselves, requiring that they learn to negotiate their identities, as identity crucially involves location and relationships with others. When they were able to visualize their futures as bilingual/bicultural individuals, their identities became somewhat clearer and less contested. At that point, they felt that their linguistic and cultural hybridity was not entirely an obstacle, but something that they could also use to their advantage. It was when they had to make either-or choices between cultures, languages, and identities that they felt troubled or deficient. Through their narratives, the participants revealed the extent to which static categories and monolithic notions of language and culture were imposed upon them, and how these affected their understanding and perceptions of themselves. In conclusion, I interrogate such static views and urge researchers, educators, and bilingual/bicultural individuals to view languages and identities in more complex ways.