多文化主義への闘い : Ishmael Reed, Japanese by Spring

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By the mid-1980s, multiculturalism had become the term for the celebration of American cultural diversity and is now controversial in political, sociological and cultural fields, such as affirmative action, political correctness, feminism, bilingual education, the English only movement and so on. This term proclaims freedom and equality to all members of American society, all ethnic and religious groups, women and all others, including such diverse yet forgotten groups as the disabled and homosexuals, who had previously been marginalized. Multiculturalism provides a historical study of diverse groups living together and an opportunity for employment for racial and ethnic minorities. However, some Americans feel seriously threatened by such tendencies because racial and cultural diversity removed the privileges and opportunities that these white men always enjoyed. Some conservative scholars complain that multiculturalism disregards European civilization and is a threat to the individual rights. Since the United States began as a multi-ethnic country and there are 106 ethnic groups these days, the development of multiculturalism is inevitable in the future. I would like to examine the problem and the nature of multiculturalism with a novel, Japanese by Spring (1993) , written by Ishmael Reed (1938-) who is an African American novelist and a professor at University of California at Berkeley. Japanese by Spring is a parody of the power games of campus politics and ethnic studies on an American campus. Reed is satirizing American society's tendency to advocate multiculturalism or the importance of all languages and cultures. A leading character in Japanese by Spring, a black part-time lecturer, becomes an opportunist to get promoted at Jack London College, which was named after the apostle of Anglo-Saxon superiority. I would like to explore his conflict among the staff in regard to affirmative action, political correctness, feminism, traditionalism on his way to become tenured. The black lecturer was hired by the ignorant white president through affirmative action because he was a submissive old black man. He tried to adapt his beliefs to the ideological climate at the school and opposed affirmative action catering to the interest of the university superintendents. Ishmael Reed depicts the black protagonist not as an Afro-American intellectual but as a "new black intellectual" who is not concerned about oppression and discrimination. He describes the realities of the mutilated affirmative action policy and the black middle class' aim at success by assimilating into white society. The black lecturer is the target of attacks by white students. The student newspaper, Koons and Kikes, printed a cartoon of the black lecturer having intercourse with an ostrich and a few faculty members demanded political correctness on campus. A white fraternity claimed that the political correct movement was bringing a new campus McCarthyism. Ishmael Reed asks us how much black people have to endure discriminatory speech and behavior from ignorant white people. The important thing is that "words are deeds and language is not just about representing private mental states, it is also a public affirmation of values." The black lecturer was in favor of feminism and makes every effort to receive tenure but it is denied. His dream of tenure was rejected by hypocritical feminists and white colleagues who interested in power games and he was replaced by a radical lesbian ecologist/activist. African American Studies department expected her to fight against homophobia, sexism, and racism, but, as soon as she arrived the airport, she demanded a chauffeur-driven limousine and a police escort to bring her to the university. The radical black feminist is depicted as one of the hypocrites in the novel. Ishmael Reed, who is famous for misogyny, often describes white feminists as racists. Dr. Crabtree, leader of the traditionalists, ignored the black lecturer and fought against his promotion, arguing that the blacks desired multicultural education because they couldn't cut it with the tough Eurocentric curriculum. However, the Japanese took over the Jack London College and their power relation was reversed. The new Japanese president appointed the lecturer as the acting president and he first used drastic educational reforms to settle old scores. Changing the College to Hideki Tojo Daigaku, named after a Japanese war criminal, the new president planned to return the Tokugawa Shougunate to power. The black protagonist handed in his resignation and finally began to fight against the Japanese chauvinists who were monoculturalists with little respect and consideration for other languages and cultures just as Western traditionalists. The story of Japanese by Spring is humorous and has a happy ending in which the multiculturalists won on the college campus. Ishmael Reed seems to give a grave warning to Japanese society that the Japanese should not make the same mistakes as the whites did. Since the Japanese have a long monocultural history that has a habit of oppressing people from other countries and minorities, Japan should adopt the idea of multiculturalism in language education.

多文化主義への闘い : Ishmael Reed, Japanese by Spring

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