Emotional positioning in academic internationalization: Interactionist perspectives between Japanese universities and Southeast Asian counterparts

This presentation examines the international positioning of Japanese academics and university administrators through the development of short-term outbound study abroad programs in Southeast Asia. Drawing on the academic literature of positioning (Fumasoli and Huisman, 2013; Marginson, 2015; Fumasoli, Barbato and Turri, 2019), repositioning (Takayama, 2016) and internationalization of higher education, the research focuses on the emotional aspects of positioning when academics and administrators are interacting with one another for the international education programs. It conducted semi-structured interviews with 29 officials at four different Japanese universities. This study found that given cultural and geographical proximities, alumni support and common use of English as non-native speakers, Japanese collaborators are confident in mutually collaborating with Asian universities. It is in contrast with their emotion of inferiority when they interact with western counterparts as they generally perceive challenges in language, communication and cultural understanding. This paper adds to the comparative education literature by an understanding about how ‘emotional positioning’ affects education and everyday interactions in academic internationalization. Copyright © 2021 Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong.