A Bubble of Diversity: International Students and Global Cultural Capital in Japan’s Compartmentalized Internationalization

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 20. Cosmopolitan migration

Abstract

International student mobility has become a defining feature of contemporary migration. Student migrants represent dual liminality, as they simultaneously navigate transitions between nations and life stages. At the macro level, international students serve as instruments through which nation-states pursue multiple policy objectives: attracting global talent, cultivating globally competent human capital, enhancing international prestige through “world-class” universities, and generating economic benefits through tuition and local consumption. These objectives are particularly salient in countries such as Japan, which faces acute depopulation and increasingly fierce competition in the regional economy. This paper examines how local institutional arrangements shape the utility of global cultural capital and the integration of student migrants. Drawing on 43 in-depth interviews with degree-seeking international students enrolled in English-medium instruction (EMI) programs at universities in Japan, this paper argues that, in the context of compartmentalized internationalization, in which institutional reforms are implemented as an add-on rather than as a holistic transformation, EMI programs operate as a micro-field governed by normative structures that are distinctly different from the rest of campus. Global cultural capital, such as English proficiency, intercultural competencies, and cosmopolitan dispositions, is valued and nurtured in this micro-field, but its utility diminishes or may be inverted in the broader campus environment and in local communities. Interviews with international students revealed that the primary line of distinction in their social world runs between “the internationals,” i.e., international students and those who were raised across multiple countries or in multicultural environments, and “the intranationals,” students whose formative education took place within the conventional Japanese school system. The findings demonstrate how compartmentalized internationalization generates patterns of segmented incorporation.

Author

• Ryoko Yamamoto, SUNY Old Westbury