Transnationalism and Schooling: The Case Study of a Brazilian Ethnic School in Japan

This paper aims at analyzing the relation between migration and education through the case study of a Brazilian ethnic school in Japan. The hypothesis which underlies this work is that the conception of Brazilian schools is related to the logic which drives the migratory flow to Japan: many Brazilian migrants living in Japan experience this migration as a transitory state, whose final objective is the return to their country. The experience as a temporary high school teacher in a Brazilian school has shown that the ethnic school tends to reproduce this reasoning: the curriculum is the same as that studied in Brazil; the textbooks are imported from education companies, whose educational view are strictly utilitarian; classes are taught in Portuguese and the pedagogical objective is to prepare the students to their return, allowing them to continue their studies in Brazil later on.

The fieldwork highlighted three points to be analyzed: first, given that the curriculum focus solely on the study of Brazil, the daily life and the migratory experience in Japan is set aside – the content of the imported textbooks does not fit to the social reality lived by those children. Second, Brazilian schools are target of severe criticism and receive a suspicious look by the Brazilian community itself. Common criticisms denounce poor infrastructure, lack of skilled professionals, corporate mindset that disrupts the schooling and high tuition fees. Third, most of those ethnic schools are supported neither by the Brazilian government nor by the Japanese government. Arguably, all these factors together contribute to a poor quality of education, hindering the chances for upward mobility either in Japan or in Brazil. Although the ethnic schools face many obstacles, there is still a demand for them.