An Ethnographic Interpretation of Intercultural Experiences : Stories from Japanese Students in a U.S. Midwestern University

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  • 物語が織り成すアイデンティティと文化 : アメリカ中西部の大学院における異文化体験についての民族誌的省察
  • モノガタリ ガ オリナス アイデンティティ ト ブンカ アメリカ チュウセイブ ノ ダイガクイン ニ オケル イブンカ タイケン ニ ツイテ ノ ミンゾクシテキ ショウサツ

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Given the comparative lack of humanistic studies of intercultural communication in recent years, this article provides an ethnographic interpretation of intercultural experiences of Japanese students who studied at a medium-sized state university in the U.S. Midwest. Based on the theoretical standpoints of symbolic interactionism and social constructionism, the author perceives both self-identity and culture as ever-changing stories. The interpretive analysis suggests that self-created, sufficiently persuasive stories of the near future led the Japanese students to decide to study in the United States. These students' experiences as minority members in the U.S. society facilitated their acceptance of social construction of reality and relational construction of identity. With their secure views of social reality and self-identity being threatened, the Japanese students began to search for the sources of their cultural values. The study demonstrates the process in which the Japanese students constructed and reconstructed the stories of self-identity and culture through ongoing dialogues within themselves both prior to and during their study in the United States.

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