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Effects of Babel in the Church: a Study of Language Planning, Policy and Practice in Japanese Ethnic Churches

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Effects of Babel in the Church: a Study of Language Planning, Policy and Practice in Japanese Ethnic Churches University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2015-06-03 Effects of Babel in the Church: A Study of Language Planning, Policy and Practice in Japanese Ethnic Churches Barrett, Tyler Barrett, T. (2015). Effects of Babel in the Church: A Study of Language Planning, Policy and Practice in Japanese Ethnic Churches (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25820 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/2286 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Effects of Babel1 in the Church: A Study of Language Planning, Policy and Practice in Japanese Ethnic Churches by Tyler Andrew Barrett A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CALGARY, ALBERTA JUNE, 2015 © Tyler Andrew Barrett 2015 1 Refers to the Tower of Babel story in the Bible, which is meant to explain why there are different languages in the world. Abstract In the globalizing world, it is difficult to understand the cultural, linguistic, religious and policy landscape of Japanese ethnic church communities. Japanese ethnic church communities in Western Canada consist of, and are impacted by, levels of language planning, policy, and practice as they are communities that operate within and without macro-levels of language policies (i.e., Official Language Act and the Canadian Multicultural Act), meso-levels of church policies (e.g., church websites and Facebook pages), and micro-levels that are often determined by perspectives of church members who are typically Japanese people from Japan. Japanese ethnic churches are also spaces that function to legitimize the language and cultural practices of Japanese people who come to Canada for various purposes and periods of time. Since little research has been done to understand the language and cultural practices of Japanese ethnic churches in Western Canada, it is important to ask the following question: What is a Japanese ethnic church community in terms of language and cultural practices? To answer this question, I use language planning and policy (Johnson, 2009) as a theoretical framework and conduct a multi-site case study (Thomas, 2011) that consists of data collected through interviews and observational experiences which are analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 2003; Gumperz, 1982; Onodera, 2004) to understand relationships of power and intertextuality in discourses and in social practices relevant to Japanese ethnic church communities in Western Canada. The analysis reveals that while Japanese ethnic churches are spaces of legitimization that are fueled by strong beliefs about one nation, one culture, and one language ideologies, and subsequently aimed at, and dependent upon facilitating the perceived Japanese language and cultural preferences/needs of first generation Japanese people who come to Canada as adults, church members also perceive themselves as becoming “mixed” to varying degrees as they are impacted by the dominant English language policies, practices, and culture in Western Canada. As a result, legitimization is often context dependent and experienced differently by church members within and without Japanese ethnic churches. ii Acknowledgements First, I would like to give thanks and praise to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. I would like to express deep gratitude to my wife Yukiji and son Andrew for making great sacrifices and for unwavering support as we have traveled back and forth and between three countries to pursue this endeavor. I would like to thank my parents and my sister for their ongoing support and for listening to me “talk shop” even when it stopped making sense. I would like to thank Dr. Tom Ricento for inviting me into the program. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Sylvie Roy for taking me as a student and for her patience and guidance throughout the project. I would like to thank my committee members: Dr. Yan Guo for her guidance, and Dr. Kimberley Lenters for reminding me early on to “Go where you are welcome.” I would like to thank Sean McCausland for being a great friend who was always willing to help in whatever way possible. I would like to thank Dr. Antoine Koury whose feedback was instrumental in helping me to understand how to approach the phenomenological positionings from which I gaze. Finally, I would like to thank the Japanese ethnic church community whose participation and tremendous hospitality made this project possible and enjoyable. I hope the findings are deemed useful. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................ iii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 PROBLEM ................................................................................................................................................................... 6 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................................................................................... 10 RATIONALE AND SIGNIFICANCE .......................................................................................................................... 12 ORGANIZATION OF THESIS .................................................................................................................................. 14 CHAPTER 2: CONTEXTS ...................................................................................................................... 16 ONE NATION, ONE IDENTITY, ONE LANGUAGE ............................................................................................... 16 ENGLISH IN JAPAN AND JAPANESE IN CANADA ................................................................................................ 21 ORIGINS OF JAPANESE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES AT HOME (IN JAPAN) AND ABROAD ................................. 23 LEGITIMIZATION IN THE CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY ................................................ 26 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................ 28 LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY ................................................................................................................... 28 MACRO-LEVEL LANGUAGE POLICY (DE JURE) IN CANADA: OFFICIAL LANGUAGE ACT AND CANADIAN MULTICULTURAL ACT .......................................................................................................................................... 33 MESO-LEVELS OF LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY ................................................................................... 35 MICRO-LEVELS OF LANGUAGE PLANNING AND POLICY .................................................................................. 35 FROM CULTURAL MOSAIC TO SOCIAL JUSTICE: IDEOLOGIES AND POLICY .................................................. 37 ETHNIC CHURCHES ............................................................................................................................................... 39 IMPLICATIONS OF ETHNIC CHURCH STUDIES AND FOR MY STUDY ............................................................... 49 ON CULTURE .......................................................................................................................................................... 52 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: LANGUAGE POLICY OF THE JAPANESE ETHNIC CHURCH ............................. 55 CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 60 RATIONALE FOR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/METHODS .............................................................................. 60 CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................................... 60 INTERTEXTUALITY ................................................................................................................................................ 62 CASE STUDY ........................................................................................................................................................... 64 FINDING PARTICIPANTS ....................................................................................................................................... 64 PARTICIPANTS: WHO THEY ARE ........................................................................................................................ 66 MOUNTAIN JAPANESE CHURCH .......................................................................................................................... 68 CITY JAPANESE CHURCH
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