The Return of Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in Japan

ISBN-13: 9783718654017 / Angielski / Twarda / 1993 / 221 str.

SJOBERG;SJOBERG

Opis

This study discusses cultural change among the Ainu, Japan's indigenous people, its specificity and the circumstances which have led to it. The book focuses on strategies in response to change, laying bare the multiple nature of agency that characterizes the interaction between the Ainu, the larger society and the state. The stress is on cultural aspects of Ainu's contemporary activities and how they have been incorporated into the larger society. The Japanese pursue a policy of assimilating the Ainu but this policy has not been successful, resulting in a resurgence among the Ainu. This is characterized by its emphasis on ethnic features, distinguishing them from the majority of the population who do not recognize the existence of ethnic groups but view them instead as social classes or casts. For the Ainu this strategy serves to firmly define their own position in the larger system, challenging the pre-established social and cultural context of Japanese society.

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Theme and objectives; Chapter 2 The ethnographic encounter; Chapter 3 Analytical framework; Chapter 4 The Reconstruction of the “Traditional” Ainu Society; Chapter 5 The Ainu in prehistoric and historic time; Chapter 6 The integration of the Ainu People and their land; Chapter 7 Mr Ainu; Chapter 8 Summary and Conclusion;

O autorze

Katarina V. Sjoberg