Journal Article

Blood relatives: language, immigration, and education of ethnic returnees in Germany and Japan

Hinderliter Ortloff, Debora, Frey, Christopher J

2007

Overview

Since 1989, large numbers of \"ethnic returnees\" have settled in Germany and Japan. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 2.8 million Aussiedler, or ethnic German returnees, came to Germany from the former Soviet Union.1 In Japan, immigration reform driven by low-skill labor shortages induced nearly 300,000 Nikkeijin, or people of Japanese descent, to come from South America in the 1990s. This article analyzes the development of language education at the local and national level for the Aussiedler and Nikkeijin since 1989. In particular, we investigate how the policy makers and educators have problematized the returnees and in what ways discourses of national identity, citizenship, and belonging have (not) adapted to the slow integrations of the Aussiedler and Nikkeijin into the larger German and Japanese communities. (DIPF/Orig.).

• Publisher: The University of Chicago Press,University of Chicago Press,University of Chicago, acting through its Press
• Subject: Acculturation / Adult education / Allgemein bildende Schule / Asien / Aussiedler / Belonging / Berlin Wall / Bildungssystem / Children / Citizen Role / Citizenship / Civics / Community Attitudes / Cultural Context / Cultural identity / Cultural Pluralism / Definitions / Descent / Deutschland / Discourses / Education / Education policy / Educational Policy / Erwachsenenbildung / Erwachsener / Ethnic identity / Ethnicity / Ethnische Identität / Foreign Countries / German / German language / Germany / Gesellschaft / Gesetzgebung / Human Geography / Immigration / Immigration and emigration / Immigration policy / Integration / Japan / Japanese culture / Japanese language / Jugendlicher / Labor shortages / Labor supply / Language Attitudes / Language instruction / Language policy / Languages / Minority & ethnic groups / Multicultural education / Multikulturalität / National identity / Nationalism / Policy making / Postcommunist societies / Public Policy / Repatriation / Return migration / Rückkehrförderung / Rückwanderer / Second Language Learning / Shortages / Social identity / Social integration / Sprachentwicklung / Sprachgebrauch / Staatsbürgerschaft / Teachers / Theorie / Vergleichsuntersuchung