Identity Presentations of L1-Japanese Female Professors in the United States

This article examines how female L1-Japanese professors who teach Japanese language and culture on U.S. campuses present their identity in interviews. An analysis of their narratives reveals that they employed various tactics of intersubjectivity, and presented themselves in complex and strategic ways. Their multiple grounds of identity (e.g., they are female, Asian, ethnically Japanese or Korean and Japanese, foreign-born, L1 users of Japanese, LX users of English, and professors of Japanese language and culture) as well as their ideologies on language and identity affected which tactics of intersubjectivity (authorization, authentication, adequation, and/or distinction) they chose to use in their depictions of their identity in the interviews. The article ends with suggestions for how American institutions could be more inclusive of international faculty who might feel little affinity for institutional activities designed for people of color.