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Analyzing the Testimonies of Japanese-Speaking Christians a Dissertation Submitted to Th 455'1 EXPLORING SOCIAL IDENTITY IN NARRATIVE: ANALYZING THE TESTIMONIES OF JAPANESE-SPEAKING CHRISTIANS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES (JAPANESE) DECEMBER 2004 By Miwako Yanagisawa Dissertation committee: Dina R. Yoshimi, Chairperson David E. Ashworth Haruko M. Cook Michael Forman Jack Bilmes © Copyright 2004 by Miwako Yanagisawa 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First ofall, I would like to thank the members ofmy committee. I thank Professor David Ashworth for his continued encouragement and amazing availability. Even after I returned to Japan, he was always there via e-mail. I re-Iearned the joy of analysis from Professor Jack Bilmes. I am truly thankful for being trained under his expertise, which was such an invaluable, eye-opening experience. Professor Haruko Cook had been guiding me very patiently, including the period when I was searching for a dissertation topic. I am particularly indebted to her for her helpful comments which I received at my defence, which helped me to strengthen my presentation ofthe findings. I would like to thank Professor Michael Forman for his willingness to serve on my committee, although he held many other responsibilities. In addition to carefully reading my draft, he always inspired me with his scholarship. I would also like to thank Professor Kazue Kanno who served on my committee until I finished my Ph.D. comprehensive exams. She was very patient with me and always provided warm support and godly encouragement. I am especially indebted to Professor Dina R. Yoshimi, my committee chair. She literally nurtured me since my arrival at the University ofHawai'i. Without her, I would have never completed this dissertation. Without her encouragement, I would never have thought ofpursuing my academic career. Both her expertise and personality had been a source ofinspiration to me. I do not know how to express my gratitude properly. I simply thank God for giving me such a wonderful chairperson. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my proofreaders, Professor Terry Klafen at the University ofHawai'i at Manoa, and Niroshan John, my brilliant IV student, at Tokyo Christian University. I also want to thank Professor James Gustafson, Professor Joseph Poulshock, and Professor Frank Tuzi at Tokyo Christian University, who helped me with my inquiries about the English language. I am also truly grateful to my dear friends. Asuka Suzuki had been my "resource person" after I returned to Japan after I became an ABD. She helped me so many times by checking out books and returning them to the library or running an errand to the academic offices. Masami Tsujita and Miwako Watanabe always took me in at their place every time I returned to Hawai'i for my academic consultation. Ritsuko Narita, Shuhui Su, and Gene and Marie Fujii helped me in many ways, including their prayer support. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family --- Takao and Akiko Yanagisawa, my parents, for their love and acceptance which never change, and Natsuko Yoda, my dearest sister, and Nobuyoshi Yoda, her husband, and Ayane, my precious niece, who were always there for me. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to my family ofGod --- Jack and Barbara Tapping, my spiritual parents, Minako Ishikawa, my dear sister in Christ, Pastor Saku Kuroda, Pastor Wayne Ibara, and Pastor Howard Yoshida at my church in Hawai'i, Pastor Kunimitsu and Hiroko Ogawa, Pastor Jerry and Karlyn Ehrhardt at my church in Japan, all the friends from both congregations, my colleagues, staff members, and students at Tokyo Christian University --- for their love and faithful prayers. Finally, I would like to thank God who led me to Hawai'i and enabled me to complete this dissertation according to His perfect plans. v ABSTRACT This study investigates the notion ofsocial identity within Gee's (1989, 1996, 1999) framework of Discourse. A Christian testimony is a type ofpersonal narrative in which believers' experiences are evaluated in terms ofvalues and beliefs from the Scripture, which is the communal guiding norm. Construing social identity as membership in a Discourse, this study will explore social identity which is presented, negotiated, and socialized in narration as situated social practice. When we narrate a story, we evaluate our experiences in terms ofcommunal values and expectations. These communal expectations of"how to be a good person" are an integral part ofour identity. In our attempts to reconcile our personal experiences with communal expectations, we, as narrators, go through "problem-solving," or a process whereby we present ourselfas a good and socially competent person. I argue that the presentation oftestimony is constrained by the shared values and beliefs which consist ofa Discourse in this particular community. The narrators made reference to the spiritual values, which rendered believers' personal narrative into testimony recounting how they worked through a problem with God's assistance. Moreover, presenting their responses to the narrative problems as reflecting the moral values from the Scripture, the narrators structured the narrated events as moral events in order to create their moral identity as a good Christian. I also argue that testimony can be a site ofsocialization, where novice members are socialized into the shared values and beliefs through interaction with expert members. Lastly, the testifiers in the present study are Japanese immigrants and non-immigrants who practice their faith in Hawai'i. The Japanese values are still an inseparable part oftheir identity. I VI demonstrate that these two sets ofvalues (Le., Christian and Japanese) are alternately recognized as two separate Discourses or integrated to form a single Christian Discourse. I also present that the narrators negotiate morality between the two conflicting perspectives. Through ethnographically-informed discourse analysis, this research aims to shed new light on the complex nature ofsocial identity which is constantly defined and evolves through interpersonal interaction. VB LIST OF TRANSCRIPTION SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS Transcription Conventions [ the point where overlapping talk begins ] the point where overlapping talk ends (0) length ofsilence measured in a second (.) micro pause CAPITAL LETTERS indicate emphasis lengthening ofprevious syllable = indicates latching, i.e., no interval between two utterances ? rising intonation (difficulty) unsure hearings (( )) author's comments Abbreviations Appearing in the Interlinear Gloss COP copula verb "be" NOM nominalizer SFP sentence final particle SUB subject marker GEN genitive marker ACC object maker TOP topic maker Q question maker QT quotative maker HONORIFIC honorifics IMP imperative form ofa verb ING present/past progressive form ofa verb NEG negation PAST past tense Symbols for English Translation [] indicates words which do not appear in original Japanese. Romanization ofJapanese translation is based on the Hepburn style and its word segmentation is based on the JCHAT system. Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT vi LIST OF TRANSCRIPTION SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 9 2.1. Defining Social Identity 9 2.2. Social Identity from the Language Socialization Perspective 20 2.3. Research on Japanese Narrative 32 2.4. Previous Research on Christian Testimonies 45 CHAPTER 3: THE ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTEXT 55 3.1. "Castle Church" in Honolulu 55 3.2. Historical Context 57 3.3. The Japanese-speaking Congregation 60 3.3.1. Acculturation vs. Holding on to Japanese Culture 61 3.3.2. Previous Religious Background and Current Church Life 63 3.4. Testimony-giving Practice in the Japanese-speaking Congregation 66 ]X CHAPTER 4: TESTIMONY AS A PERSONAL NARRATIVE 72 4.1. Data and Researcher's Position in the Community 72 4.2. What Constitutes a Communal Discourse? 73 4.3. Spiritual Values Evidenced in Testimonies ~ 74 4.3.1. God as a Personified Agent 74 4.3.2. The Scripture as God's Guidance Voice: Dialogue with God 79 4.3.3. God "Works" in Believers' Everyday Life 82 4.3.4. God Takes the Initiative 88 4.4. Performance Aspects ofTestimony-giving Practice 95 4.4.1. A Scriptural Quotation: A Valued Practice 95 4.4.2. Being Concerned about Accuracy 104 4.5. Presenting One's Moral Identity in the Communal Discourse 109 4.6. Conclusion 125 CHAPTER 5: LANGUAGE SOCIALIZATION WITHIN THE TESTIMONY- GIVING PRACTICE 127 5.1. Implicit Socialization within the Testimony-giving Practice 128 5.2. Explicit Socialization within the Testimony-giving Practice 150 5.3. What can Expert Members do?: Manipulating the Framework ofthe Testimony-giving Practice 174 5.4. Conclusion 188 x CHAPTER 6: "HETEROGLOSSIA" IN TESTIMONY-GIVING PRACTICE: USING MORE THAN ONE DISCOURSE 191 6.1. Using More than One Discourse: The Use ofCulturally-shared Resources in Testimony................................................................................................. 192 6.2. Negotiating Morality between the Two Sets ofMoral Values 221 6.3. Conclusion 236 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 238 APPENDIX A: LIST OF THE NARRATIVE TITLES 243 APPENDIX B: CONSENT FORM FOR PARTICIPATION 244 REFERENCES 246 Xl CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This study will explore the notion ofsocial identity within Gee's (1986, 1996, 1999) framework ofa Discourse. In the field ofsociolinguistics, "social identity" or "identity" has been viewed as a researcher's
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