Introduction to the Special Issue, Commitment to Alterity and Its Disavowal: The Politics of Display of Belonging

Abstract

As multiple ethnic/race affiliation is highlighted more and more, we lack analytical frameworks to examine diverse ways individuals navigate through them as they balance aspirations, fears, desires, pride, responsibility, and pragmatic necessities. Existing studies of identification practices offer little examination of practices of those who disavow identifying with certain ethnic/race categories except for the ones focused on a narrow field of social relations, such as the academic achievement and career success in 'acting White.' This introductory piece introduces the main theoretical ideas in the special issue, commitment to alterity and its disavowal, which expands the scope of analysis to a wider range of identification practices and fields of social relations. This piece also briefly describes each contributing article, which further develops these notions to analyse various contours and degrees of belonging and links to wider cultural politics and power relations.

Korean Fan Dance for Fun: Performing Alterity in Contemporary Japan

“…The bottom line is: it must be fun, making everyone happy. As Doerr (2008;2013) illustrates, identity representations are a complex interaction between individuals and broader social and cultural forces. Korean minority experiences exemplify the conundrum of the identity commitment and disavowal.…”

“…80:2, 2015 (pp. 192-222) with the oppressed and the vulnerable remains taken for granted (Ang 2001;Doerr 2008Doerr , 2013Song 2002).…”

“…I will illustrate how an anti-racist pedagogical approach based on strategic essentialism both challenges and reproduces prevailing social and gendered expectations. This case study shows that in relation to the hegemonic Japanese culture and society a commitment to alterity accompanies a disavowal of alterity (Doerr 2013). Dance performances in the context of Korean empowerment education obscure critical understandings of what it means to be a Korean minority in Japan.…”