Student discourse on Tôkôkyohi (school phobia/refusal) in Japan: burnout or empowerment?

Abstract

Tôkôkyohi (school phobia/refusal) has been steadily increasing in Japan since the 1980s. It is causing an exodus of students from schools, thus creating a legitimation crisis of the education system. This paper examines this phenomenon by focusing on its various discourses. Four types of adult discourse are discussed: the psychiatric (tôkôkyohi as mental illness); the behavioural (tôkôkyohi as laziness); citizens' (tôkôkyohi as resistance to school); and socio-medical (tôkôkyohi as physical and psychological burnout). These are compared with the student discourse drawn from autobiographical accounts of tôkôkyohi. This paper argues that tôkôkyohi is a process in which students who burn out in the extremely demanding and alienating school system try to empower themselves in their search for subjectivity.