Staff profile

Professor Kaori Okano

Professor

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Social Sciences

SS 417, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BEd (Hiroshima University-Japan), MA (Honours-Sydney University), PhD (Massey University).

Membership of professional Associations

Association of Asian Studies (US); Asian Studies Association of Australia; Japanese Studies Association of Australia; Comparative and International Education Society (US);

Area of study

Anthropology
Asian Studies
Japanese
Sociology

Brief Profile

Kaori H. Okano is a Professor in Asian Studies in the School of Social Sciences. She researches and writes in the field of sociology/anthropology of education, youth, women and multiculturalism in Asia (especially in Japan); and comparative education.

Kaori’s recent monograph, Young women in Japan: Transitions to adulthood (2009, Routledge) received an “Outstanding Academic Title of the Year 2010” award from the American Library Association. The book is a longitudinal ethnography tracing the same group of women from 17 to 30 years of age (1989-2001), a sequel to her 1993 book, School to work transition in Japan: An ethnographic study [1993, Multilingual Matters]. The study is ongoing, with the next sequel examining middle adulthood.

Kaori has published extensively on how education reproduces/ameliorates social inequality. Her book, Education in contemporary Japan: Inequality and diversity (1999, Cambridge University Press, co-authored with M.Tsuchiya) was later published as Pendidikan Moden Jepun: Ketaksamaan dan Kepelbagaian in the Malay language (2004, and reprinted in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009). Kaori has edited three books: Language and schools in Asia: Globalization and local forces (a special issue of Language and Education, 2006), Minorities and education in Japan (2011, Routledge, with R. Tsuneyoshi and S. Boocock) and Handbook of Asian Education (2011, Routledge, with Y. Zhao et al).

Kaori is an editorial board member of two international journals, Language and Education: An International Journal (Taylor & Francis, UK), and Globalisation, Societies and Education (Carfax, US). She has been affiliated with Kobe University and Waseda University as a research fellow during her sabbatical years. Originally from Japan, Kaori began her professional career as a secondary teacher of Japanese and Asian Social Studies in Sydney and New Zealand in the 1980s, prior to completing a PhD and joining La Trobe. At La Trobe she has taught subjects in Asian Studies and Japanese.

Research interests

  1. Longitudinal ethnography
  2. Ethnography of schooling
  3. Multiculturalisms in education in Asia
  4. Education and social inequality (class, ethnicity and gender)
  5. Ethnic schools and multiculturalism

Research interests

Asian History

- Global-local interface in education

Gender, Culture, Sexuality

- Class-gender-ethnic identity

Social and Cultural Anthropology

- Anthropology/sociology of education

- Education in contemporary Asia and Japan

- Multiculturalism and education

Teaching Units

  • Asian Studies11IJI - Introduction to Asia: Japan and Indonesia.
  • Asian Studies 22/32UJS – Understanding Japanese Society.
  • Japanese 21ADA/31BEA.
  • Japanese 22ADB/32BEB.

Recent Publications

Books (1993-)

Journal articles and book chapters (2006-)

  • Okano, K. (in press 2013b). Japan. In P. Stevens & G. Dworkin (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of race and ethnic inequalities in education. Palgrave.
  • Okano, K. (in press 2013a). Ethnic Schools and Multiculturalism in Japan. In G. DeCoker & C. Bjork (Eds.), Japanese Education in the Era of Globalization: Enduring Issues in New Contexts. New York: Teachers College Press.
  • Okano, K. (in press 2012). Indigenous Ainu and Education in Japan: Social Justice and Culturally Responsive Schooling. In R. G. Cravan, G. Bodkin-Andrews & J. Mooney (Eds.), Indigenous Peoples (pp.3-25).Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing.
  • Okano, K. (2012). Language and citizenship in education: Migrant languages in government schools. In N. Gottlieb (Ed.), Language and citizenship in Japan (pp. 58-78). London: Routledge.
  • Okano, K. (2011) ‘Adaptive learning at the global periphery: Cultural overview of education in Japanese civilization’ , in Yong Zhao, Jing Lei, Guofang Li, Ming Fang He, Kaori Okano, Gamage David, Ramanathan Hema, Megahed Nagwa (eds.). Handbook of Asian education: A cultural perspective. New York: Routledge, 183-198.
  • Okano K. and Tsuneyoshi, R. (2011) ‘Introduction: An interactive perspective for understanding minorities and education in Japan’, in Tsuneyoshi, R., Okano, K., and S. Boocock (eds).  Minorities and education in multicultural Japan: An interactive perspective. London: Routledge, pp.1-26.
  • Okano, K. (2011). ‘Overview of long-existing minorities and education’, in Tsuneyoshi, R., Okano, K., and S. Boocock (eds). Minorities and education in multicultural Japan: An interactive perspective. London: Routledge. pp.29-43.
  • Okano, K. (2011).’Ethnic Koreans in Japanese schools: Shifting boundaries and collaboration with other groups’, in Tsuneyoshi, R., Okano, K., and S. Boocock (eds),  Minorities and education in multicultural Japan: An interactive perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 100-125.
  • Okano, K. (2009) 'Education reforms in Japan: Neo-liberal, Neo-conservative, and “progressive education” directions', in David Hill (ed.) The rich world and the impoverishment of education (Volume 4 of Global Neo-liberalism and education and its consequences). New York: Routledge, pp. 238-258. http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415957755/
  • Okano, K. (2009) 'School culture', in Yoshio Sugimoto (ed.) The Cambridge companion to modern Japanese culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 92-112. http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521880473
  • 岡野かおり　（２００９）「学校教育での生徒たちの経験：マイノリテイ」ローレンス　マクドナルド編　『世界から見た日本の教育』東京：日本図書センター　
  • Okano, K. (2007) 'Career adaptability: Transition from school to work in non-college bound adolescents in Japan', in Vladimir Skorikov and Wendy Patton (eds) Career development in childhood and adolescence, Rotterdam: Sensepublishers, pages 295-311.
  • Okano, K.H. (2006) ‘The global-local interface in multicultural policies in Japan’. Comparative Education 42(4): 1-19. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a762377286~db=all~order=page
  • Okano, K. (2006) 'Introduction: Globalisation and local forces'. Language and schools in Asia: Globalisation and local forces, Language and Education 20(4): 263-269, a special issue. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g907119217~db=all
  • Okano, K. (2006) 'The impact of immigrants on long-lasting ethnic minorities in Japanese schools: Globalisation from below'. Language and schools in Asia: Globalisation and local forces, Language and Education 20(4): 338-354, a special issue. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g907119217~db=all

Research projects

Transition to adulthood and beyond in Japan: Class, gender and ethnic identities. This longitudinal ethnographic study has followed a group of working class women since 1989. The previous phases are presented in two monographs, School to work transition in Japan: An ethnographic study (1993) and Young women in Japan: Transitions to adulthood (February, 2009). (See the publication list).

Indigenous Ainu and education in contemporary Japan

Multiculturalism and education in Asia

Ethnic schools and multiculturalism in Japan