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- Convenors:
-
Iza Kavedzija
(University of Cambridge)
Fabio Gygi (SOAS, University of London)
Emma Cook (Hokkaido University)
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- Chair:
-
Emma Cook
(Hokkaido University)
- Section:
- Anthropology and Sociology
- Sessions:
- Saturday 28 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
Minorities and identity: individual papers
Long Abstract:
Minorities and identity: individual papers
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 28 August, 2021, -
Opening spaces of hope for minorities? Victims' movements and legislation
Ayaka Löschke
(University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)
Paper short abstract:
Minorities in Japan have often influenced the government policy as 'tōjisha'. My presentation discusses whether and how 'tōjisha undō' (victims' movements) open a space of hope for minorities by legislative means, using the Hate Speech Law of 2016 and its implementation as a case study.
Paper long abstract:
'Tōjisha' (directly affected people), usually referred to as 'victims' in the English-language literature, have been recognized as key players in Japan's social movements, because they have often influenced the government policy (Upham 1987; Feldman 2000; Arrington 2016). The term has a wide application and includes minority people who are ill-treated by government policy or are suffering from discrimination. It refers not to victims passively awaiting relief but to committed victims who are seeking redress for damage including policy change on their own initiative. My presentation discusses whether and how victims' movements (Tōjisha undō) open a space of hope for minorities by legislative means, more specifically, 'principle laws' (rinenhō). 'Principle laws' tend to consist of few articles, introduce no specific penalty, get almost no budget, and explain only basic principles in relatively abstract terms. Based on his analysis of the recent burakumin's movement and a principle law which was introduced in response to the movement, Bondy (2019) argued that principle laws and their implementation rely exclusively on administrative guidance with no binding force and therefore remain weak and symbolically only. In contrast to his research, my presentation will show the potential of administrative guidance, using the Hate Speech Law of 2016 and its implementation as a case study. Since the Hate Speech Law was enacted in 2016, far-right protests have been rapidly decreasing. I argue that victims can hope that a principle law can have considerable impact if it is implemented in accordance with Japan's 'soft' method of conflict resolution: Japan has historically implemented administrative measures not to directly ban but discourage social activities that are deemed harmful to the value of social harmony.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores Japan's process of finding ways to live with ethnic diversity. Residents who find hopelessness in the government's multicultural policy attempt to transform their community into networks of residents to aspire to an ordinary but steady base of inclusive social disposition.
Paper long abstract:
This paper explores Japan's process of finding ways to live with ethnic diversity. The recent appropriation of Korean cultural artefacts and consumption of Koreanness in Japan harnessed Japanese society with new vocabularies of diversity-friendly social dialogues among long-term multigenerational Korean and Japanese residents. While the Japanese government initially raised the multicultural awareness in communities, the state's opaque goals and unclear definitions of residents' roles partially alienated residents. The state's rhetoric is perceived to attract low-skilled foreign labour with temporary working visas and the authorities seem reluctant to promote equal rights and opportunities for long-term foreign residents. Among the sentiments of hopelessness, there are developments among citizens and residents who attempt to revitalise Japan's aspired future with diversity by connecting among fellow community members (see Kavedzija 2016) by emphasising on the ordinary everyday aspects of lives. I argue that such attempts to focus on "the ordinary" are a reaction to the extraordinary and abstract multicultural ideology that is imposed by the authorities. For some community members, the concept of "others among us" (Burgess 2012) that holds onto the homogeneity as the base of national identity (Weiner 2009) is gradually transforming into the idea of "our ordinary inclusive community". An increasing number of initiatives try to focus on the "ordinary" and everyday facets of lives such as preparing and sharing food, chatting, raising children, watching films, and enjoying creative activities through music and dance. In contrast to the government's anticipation to receive an increasing number of migrant workers while trying to maintain communities' social order, residents believe that activities that call for ordinary qualities provide a steadier and more spontaneous community base rather than the multicultural initiatives executed by the government. Based on my ethnographic data and interview material, I demonstrate how the frontline of multicultural contacts aspires to transform the homogeneous Japan into a society that accommodates diversity.
Paper short abstract:
The rise of the far-right movements has become a major concern in Japan. Analysing the life-story interview with a far-right activist, the current study psychosocially explores the role of ‘nation’ in one's investment in the far-right discourse.
Paper long abstract:
The rise of the far-right movements has become a major concern in Japan since the mid-2000s. Xenophobia in Japan is characterised by the correlation between international conflicts between Japan and its neighbouring countries and the rise of xenophobic discourse (Higuchi, 2014). Not much is known as to how some individuals relate themselves to conflicts between nation-states to the extent that they join in xenophobic movements. The current study explores this issue using psychosocial analysis as devised by Wendy Hollway and Tony Jefferson (2000). Through examining the life-story interview of a Japanese far-right activist, the present study investigates how personal experiences, international relations, and racism are connected in one’s mind. Discussing why racism is prevalent while ‘race’ is a concept void of substantial meanings, Rustin (2000) argues that ‘race’ works as an empty category: one can project a wide range of fear and anxiety to racial others precisely because of the emptiness of the concept. The current study argues that ‘nation’, on the other hand, works as a half-full, half-empty category. While an individual can project their fear and anxiety to national others, their choice of enemies and how they legitimise antipathy can be also influenced by phenomena associated with their nation, such as history, conflicts with neighbouring countries, or status in the international sphere. The analysis reveals how the childhood trauma of the activist made him attracted to the worldview of Japan being surrounded by enemies, and how these have changed according to the transition of the domestic conditions and international environments of Japan since the 1990s. Due to the everydayness of nationalism in contemporary society, an individual can easily invest themselves in the nationalist discourse and project uncontainable negative feelings onto ‘national enemies’. Such an attitude can be even legitimised as being ‘authentic’, which is one of the key norms of populocracy (Fieschi, 2019).