Race, Language, and Power: Fiction Novels and Their Implications for Language Education

Abstract

Recently, against the backdrop of various social incidents, studies in language education in North America have paid increased attention to social justice, especially to issues of race. Based upon the conceptual frameworks of race and racism, this paper focuses on the intersectionality of race and language in Japan. Looking at the content of recently published fiction novels, it examines how the intersectionality of race and other individual attributes of Japanese language users of non-Japanese heritage affects lived experiences. The analysis revealed that the varied experiences of the characters in the novels are shaped by raciolinguistic ideologies and stereotyping, as well as the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status, which positions them within a hierarchy of power. Even though they share the same background as being Japanese language users of non-Japanese origin, the experiences they encounter are vastly different. In particular, invisibly privileged whiteness and Japaneseness function as ideologies that, coupled with intersectionality, construct complex power relations between these characters and Japanese people. Language education needs to promote anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and anti-normativity that affirm individual human dignity.