We plan to hold three presentations.
I will examine a transcript of part of a student discussion in an English classroom at a Japanese university. During the discussion, two of the students co-construct a statement of nihonjinron ideology. I will analyze this statement from four different perspectives, two of which are empirically grounded at the micro- level, while the other two are much more speculative. At the micro- level, I will examine how the statement is co-constructed by the two students and at the purpose it serves within the local context of a student discussion on an assigned topic. I will also engage in wild speculation regarding how the statement can be heard as a statement of an ideological position, which indexes the nihonjinron ideology, but not as an ideological statement which actually forms part of the discourse of this ideology. I will then engage in even wilder speculation as to the purposes the nihonjinron ideology serves within (parts of) Japanese society.
For this data session I will present a transcript that focuses on a small group of students (3) and their mentor (teacher) in their attempt to begin an after school science lesson (the physics of popcorn popping). The students are 5th graders at a Philadelphia public school, who voluntarily participate in the after school program. The mentor is a Univ. of Pennsylvania junior who participates in the program as part of his university requirement for social service.
I focus on internal (vaginal) examinations cunducted by a midwife. I noticed three prominent things about interaction there: 1. pregnant women do not express their pain, as is very different form other types of examinations in medical settings; 2. the entire interaction appears to be oriented to problems brought up explicitly or implicitly in the preceding exchanges; and 3. the midwife explains what she is currently doing, the explanation having evaluative connotations related to those problems forming the orientational framework for the current interaction.
If anybody is interested in bringing their own data, analyses, observations, arguments, or whatever, to a next meeting to discuss together, please contact Aug Nishizaka at augnish(a)soc.meijigakuin.ac.jp.