Hanae Tsukada塚田 英恵

Education

After completing my Master’s program in Comparative and International Development Education in the United States, I worked for five years as an International Student Advisor. During this time, I began to notice how power operates in subtle and often unacknowledged ways within the field of international education, which led me to pursue a Ph.D. in Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. My dissertation examined how global and local power structures shaped the internationalization of Japanese higher education, and how universities and international students sought to position themselves within those structures.

Message to Students

Education is often believed to be a social equalizer and a powerful force for liberation—and in some cases, it has indeed fulfilled that promise. At the same time, education continues to reproduce, rather than challenge or dismantle, the status quo. Not only the field of education but also the broader society holds many of these contradictions and dilemmas, as well as great potential. At GLA, you will meet peers from diverse backgrounds, share your stories and ideas, and work together to address these complex social issues while developing critical thinking skills and interdisciplinary perspectives. Ultimately, your learning at GLA will be a collaborative and imaginative inquiry—an opportunity to envision and negotiate what kind of world you want to live in, and how you can use your privileged learning experiences at GLA to help create the change you wish to see. I look forward to joining and supporting you on this exciting journey.

Courses Taught

• Introduction to Education
• Special Lecture (Social Sciences) [Introduction to Social Justice]
• Research Seminar

Introduction to Education
This course introduces students to key questions and themes in the study of education, with particular attention to its relationship with broader social forces. Students will critically examine how educational policies and practices are shaped by dominant ideologies and the interests of various social actors—and how education, in turn, reproduces or challenges existing social arrangements. After exploring foundational issues, theories, and debates, students will apply analytical frameworks to investigate educational systems and challenges across diverse social contexts.

Special Lecture (Social Sciences)
[Introduction to Social Justice]
This course introduces key concepts, theories, and debates related to social justice. Through critical examination of issues such as inequality, power, and privilege, students will explore how social structures shape individual and collective experiences across lines of race, class, gender, sexuality, and other identities. The course encourages students to connect theory with lived experience, reflecting on their own positions in society and engage in meaningful dialogues with others.

Research Interests

My research focuses on critically examining power relations that are often hidden or unacknowledged within international and intercultural educational settings. My current research project investigates how faculty members involved in international education and exchange at Japanese universities perceive and address—or do not address—issues of racism in their educational contexts. I am also engaged in a smaller project that examines Japanese students’ learning experiences in an intercultural training course. Through these projects, I am finding myself drawn to the challenges of questioning the normative power of Japaneseness in educational contexts that support and promote the idea of diversity.

Supervision Information

I would be happy to supervise students who are interested in critically examining power dynamics in education. Possible areas of focus include (but are not limited to) how dominant ideologies shape educational policies; how various actors—such as students and educators—engage with or resist educational practices informed by those ideologies; how students and educators perceive and negotiate social power relations within educational settings; and how issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are interpreted and translated into institutional and educational policies and practices.

Representative
Publications

• 塚田英恵 (2024) 「国際教育交流における「人種」「人種主義」を考える」『一橋大学国際教育交流センター紀要』6, 105-114.
• Tsukada, H. (2018). Chinese international students in English-medium programs in Japan: Experiences and life strategies (pp. 31-46). In G. Li & W. Ma (Eds.), Educating Chinese-heritage students in the global-local nexus: Achievement, challenges, and opportunities. New York: Routledge.
• Tsukada, H. & Perreault, A. (2016). Complicating how classroom climate works: Advancing the framework. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, 9(2), 1-17.