Black Teachers of English(es) in Japan: Transnational, Professional and Pedagogical Encounters

This book examines the pedagogical and professional experiences of a transnational group of teachers from the African continent and diaspora who made the decision to live and teach English in Japan. Through a layered analytical framework, it explores how these teachers struggle to negotiate their raciolinguistic identities in contexts that may prove to be professionally supportive in some cases but marginalizing in others. The author contends that although multiculturalism and diversity within ELT in Japan may currently seem to be more prevalent, the agency that Black teachers exercise in promoting their own cultures and language varieties may be constrained depending on the characteristics of the institutions in which they teach. The issues raised in this volume will be relevant to educators, administrators, curriculum and materials developers, and researchers committed to promoting equity, racial harmony and intercultural understanding in language education.

Gregory Paul Glasgow is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Kanda University of International Studies, Japan. He is the editor of Multiculturalism, Language, and Race in English Education in Japan: Agency, Pedagogy, and Reckoning (2023, Candlin & Mynard e-Publishing).