Predicaments of 'Particularity' and 'Universality' in Studies of Japanese Education

Abstract

Two dominant discourses-the 'discourse of particularity' and the 'discourse of universality' condition the articulation ofJapanese education (and by implication 'other' education in general) in education scholarship. The discourse of particularity is produced and circulated by the writings whose primary aim is to introduce Japanese education to non-Japanese readers. In this discourse, disseminating knowledge about Japanese education to the international scholarly community is the end in and of itself. While the writings in this camp draw on either Japanese-language scholarship, English-language scholarship on Japanese education, or both, they are commonly disarticulated from the theoretical debates in English-language comparative education and other disciplines in education (e.g. sociology of education). Hence, these writings tend to circulate rather exclusively within the closed circle of Japanese education 'specialists' in English-language scholarship.