<論文>在日韓国・朝鮮人児童のアイデンティティとポジショナリティ : 京都市立小学校における「民族学級」を事例に

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the identity of Korean children in Japanese public schools, focusing on their relationship with other people on the "majority" side (that is the Japanese children and teachers), and the positionality given to the Korean children in the school. I carried out a research on three Japanese public elementary schools in Kyoto city in which special classes called Minzoku class are held for ethnic Korean children. They are learning subjects such as Korean language, history, music, art and so forth, taught by Korean teachers in a separate classroom during the school hours. I focused on the following two questions. Firstly, what kind of positionality has been selected (or ignored) and given to the Korean children attending Minzoku class in diverse situations and contexts by the Japanese children and teachers? Secondly, how have the Korean children been responding in the process of being given a kind of special positionality, sometimes being positioned as "foreigners"? The below is a summary of the main findings. First of all, the Korean children attending Minzoku class have been given a special positionality by the majority side. In other words, they have been positioned as some kinds of special children, not simply as "foreigners" but as non-Japanese, or "not the same as us". Furthermore, the teachers and children on the majority side have been strongly conscious of the nation and nationality of not only the non-Japanese children but also their own, even in situations when nation or nationality is not necessarily needed to be concerned. Secondly, I found that the Korean children have been conscious of their own positionality selected and given by the majority side, which means that they have identified themselves as non-Japanese, though not necessarily as Korean. At the same time, however, sometimes they feel uncomfortable in the situation that their positions, despite having various realities, tend to be converged on nationality terms. Finally, I pointed out that the teacher's role in the class is crucial to mitigate these minority children's uncomfortable feelings.