Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore impacts of the pandemic on the academic activities and life of full-time international faculty at Japanese universities, drawing on findings from semi-structured interviews with them. Main findings include three points. First, although the vast majority of the interviewees believed that the pandemic has had more negative impacts on their academic activities and life, the case study of Japan suggests that there are both negative and positive impacts from the pandemic that are unique on international faculty’s academic activities and life. Second, the study reveals that the impacts on international faculty vary according to the backgrounds of the interviewees such as their academic disciplines, countries of origin, and work roles and duties. Finally, participants may have experienced discrimination etc., but not felt comfortable talking about it. It seems that no interviewees, particularly those from China and other parts of Asia, experienced social exclusion and xenophobic attitudes and, at times, became victims of discrimination and verbal assaults.
本研究主要通过访谈10名来自日本国立和私立研究型大学以及地方国立大学中具有不同背景的外籍教师，分析和讨论了新冠疫情对日本大学全职外籍教师学术活动和日常生活产生的影响。主要研究发现包括三点。首先，虽然绝大多数受访者认为疫情对他们的学术活动和生活产生了更大的负面影响，但同时也带来了某些正面的影响。其次，研究表明，这些影响因受访者的背景而异，例如受访者的学科背景、国籍以及工作性质等都对他们的学术活动和日常生活产生了不同程度的影响。最后，至少在访谈结束之际，似乎没有受访者，尤其是来自中国和亚洲其他地区的受访者明确指出，他们受到过种族歧视或成为言语攻击的受害者。