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- Convenors:
-
Maja Veselič
(University of Ljubljana)
David Slater (Sophia University)
- Location:
- 101a
- Start time:
- 17 May, 2014 at
Time zone: Asia/Tokyo
- Session slots:
- 3
Short Abstract:
This panel examines the diverse ways in which individuals and communities grieve for and remember the dead in the wake of a disaster as well as the importance of memorialization for the conceptions of both, the disaster itself and the subsequent process of recovery.
Long Abstract:
Trauma caused by sudden and violent mass death is almost immediately followed by public expressions of mourning for lives lost and compassion for shattered communities. Rituals, objects and sites of memorialization are imbued with complex symbolic meanings and have a variety of psychological, social and political functions: communal acts of remembrance may act as vehicles of personal catharsis, religious rituals of pacifying the dead may be inscribed with political strife, and disagreements over memorial monuments may serve to negotiate communal future.
This panel examines the diverse ways in which individuals and communities grieve for and memorialize the dead as well as their importance for the experience by survivors of both, the disaster itself and the subsequent process of recovery. We invite papers that address these issues from ethnographic or theoretical perspectives. We particularly welcome studies from more recent events, such as the 2011 Great East Japan Disaster, 2008 Sichuan earthquake, 2004 Asian tsunami and others.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
The paper focuses on a conflict between the claim of delivering grievousness of disasters and lessons to the future and individual feelings to avoid feelings which recall sad and difficult experiences in the regions devastated by the Great East Japan earthquake disaster.
Paper long abstract:
The coastal zones of the north-east Japan have been hit by tsunamis several times for the last one thousand years. And, those who have experienced the tsunami disasters have made an effort to convey the facts of the disasters, their personal experiences and what they learned from those experiences to future generations. With regards to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, various facets from the initial occurrence to the present have been captured and recorded in innumerable photographs, videos and texts, and efforts have begun to catalog those records. Also 'storytellers' have started to work talking about their experiences face-to-face in words on the spots where they experienced the disaster.
At the same time, we should not forget that there are those who cannot tell their story even though they recognize the importance of conveying their personal experiences. The records and memories of disasters left by our predecessors for future generations were likely determined amidst the devastation after much discord and discussion.
The paper will be focusing on discussions over the preservation of the remaining wreckage, storytelling and others. There is a conflict between the claim of delivering grievousness of disasters and lessons to the future and individual feelings to avoid feelings which recall sad and difficult experiences. The significance of recording all the process of issue will be emphasized from an anthropological perspective.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines narrative attempts to preserve and pass down the memories of the 2011 Tohoku triple disaster in the form of kataribe storytelling.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines narrative attempts to preserve and pass down the memories of the 2011 Tohoku triple disaster in the form of kataribe storytelling. While in early Japan kataribe were professional reciters who memorized and transmitted (i.e. recorded) communal myths and important historical events, the word later came to denote tellers of folk-tales, primarily for the purpose of entertainment. In the post-WWII Japan, however, the term kataribe also became used for the survivors of the atomic bomb and other disasters, who have been relating their first-hand experience to wider audiences in order to instruct them in important practical and moral lessons.
In the communities affected by the tsunami and the nuclear meltdown in the wake of the March 11 earthquake, too, certain individuals and groups have begun performing as kataribe and various kataribe bus and taxi tours of disaster areas have appeared. Based on interviews with survivors and audience participation in kataribe talks in Tohoku and Tokyo, this paper discusses both the poetics of the kataribe genre (e.g. narrative structures, imageries, use of space and objects as mnemonic devices) as well as the politics of such storytelling, touching upon the criteria of legitimacy in acting as kataribe, issues of representation and the challenges to dominant versions of the (post)disaster events.
Paper short abstract:
This paper analyzes causes of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami according to people in Aceh, Indonesia, who have discussed it in Islamic frameworks. I also examine Acehnese Muslims' discourses with science.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines reasons why Acehnese Muslims have said the tsunami struck Aceh, Indonesia. There is a special focus on religious reasons. Following large-scale Sumatran-Andaman earthquakes, tsunamis hit Aceh and other areas adjacent to the Indian Ocean in 2004. The damages and losses the tsunamis brought to Aceh were so severe that a long conflict between the Indonesian military and GAM or Free Aceh Movement concluded with a peace agreement. Since the disaster, many scientists and NGOs have entered Aceh to offer aid and reconstruction. Some scientists have tried to disseminate scientific knowledge of earthquakes and tsunamis in order to mitigate future risks. On the other hand, people in Aceh, where Islam is dominant, preferred to discuss the causes of the tsunami in Islamic contexts. DVDs and books sold in the affected area also stated religious reasons why the tsunami hit Aceh. However, earthquakes occurring in 2013 showed scientific knowledge of tsunami had become widespread among those who live in one coastal village in Aceh. This paper also discusses how Muslims in Aceh have tried to negotiate with science, or incorporate science into Islamic frameworks.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will address memorial practices and the sentiment that the memorial commemorations bring about among Thai survivors after the Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004. It will include narratives and demonstrate that memorials, as manifestations of communal grief, are sensitive in many ways.
Paper long abstract:
Memorial ceremonies serve varying purposes, from national recognition of a tragedy to healing an individual's inner wounds. An important aim is to make a catastrophic event comprehensible. The Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004 hit thirteen countries and about 300,000 people were killed. In Thailand approximately 10,000 perished and among them were foreign tourists from nearly forty countries.
This paper will address memorial practices and the sentiment that the memorial commemorations bring about among Thai survivors. It will discuss the significance of memorials by focussing on the divergence between the memorial ceremonies organized by local communities affected by a disaster and memorial ceremonies organized by the state. The distinctions lay both in the significance paid to religion and in the politicization of the ceremonies.
This paper will include narratives and demonstrate that memorials, as manifestations of communal grief, are sensitive in many ways. How the memorial is presented and how the event is conducted reflect more the concerns of those who arrange and control the public activities that may surround it.
The ethnography for this paper is based on a long-term anthropological research carried out after the tsunami in Phang Nga, the worst hit province in Thailand.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines how the 65,000 strong Japanese community in the UK mourned for and remembered the dead in the wake of the disaster of March 2011.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines how the 65,000 strong Japanese community in the UK mourned for and remembered the dead in the wake of the disaster of March 2011. It is a highly structured community made up of transient corporate staff and their families, students/academics and an increasing number of permanent residents. Hierarchies within the transient community made it particularly difficult to know how to demonstrate the sense of shock felt at the disaster. It took permanent residents , less hampered by social constraints, to provide platforms for expressing this through music and dance events. Although in the immediate aftermath these were initially primarily fund raising events, they also enabled Japanese to gather together in a unified sense of grief and to show solidarity for home. A memorial service was subsequently held at Westminster Abbey three months after the disaster and further memorial services both one and two years later were held at the Embassy of Japan. This paper shows how these latter events in London served not only as as vehicles of communal catharsis, but as diplomatic and political tools in the process of recovery in Japan.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines two commemorative symbols of 3.11 as the records of traumatic experiences on the one hand, and two circulations of the sign process in 3.11 on the other hand, in order to analyze uneven significations of objects that have the same name.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines two commemorative symbols of the Great East Japan Disaster (3.11). It focuses on the emanation of those objects as the records of traumatic experiences on the one hand, and two circulations of the sign process in 3.11 on the other hand, in order to analyze uneven significations of objects that have the same name. The first object is the sole surviving pine tree in Kashima ward, Minamisoma city, Fukushima prefecture that was discreetly ordinated, two and a half years after 3.11, as the "miracle pine tree." The second object is the now famous miracle pine tree in Rikuzen Takata, Iwate prefecture, which through the process of re-animation after its physical death has become the touristic commemorative symbol of both miracle and hope after 3.11. Unlike the latter, the local preservation group of the former describes the value of this particular tree to be its vitality and locality that stands outside of, although simultaneously concretizing, the governmentally regimented "invisible walls" of the 30 km radiation arcs. In the city that stretches out between the mechanically drawn circles on the map, this miracle pine tree is intended to commemorate against the invisible re-territorializing walls dividing the local community. Juxtaposing the two "miracle" trees and their intended significations, the paper analyzes how large-scale disasters are both nationally and locally experienced and memorized via socially constructed alibis of the past; in so doing, it also assesses the semiotic re-territorialization of memory via sketching a cartography of trauma.
Paper short abstract:
People of East-Timor suffered violent losses during Indonesia occupation that culminated in 1999. People were killed and destruction of property occurred. In this presentation we show how compensation has been achieved through the embellishments of grave sites, and monuments to fallen heroes.
Paper long abstract:
The people of East-Timor suffered a violent occupation by the government of Indonesia that lasted more than 20 years. It culminated in 1999 with a severe attack, in which people directly involved in the resistance were killed and a severe destruction of property occurred. Given the immense role that the deceased tend to play as ancestors in the lives of their relatives, it comes as no surprise that some initiatives have been taken to specifically address the need to pay respect to fallen heroes. In East Timor, family and nation merge in claiming adequate treatment to those deceased whose power to influence the lives of relatives and communities is widely acknowledged. We will address one of the proposals of this panel, namely how families and communities cope with the stress of sudden deaths of family members, loss of housing and property, and the disruption of communities caused by severe disasters. Based on fieldwork we are carrying out in the region of Lautem (East-Timor), in this presentation we argue that in East-Timor emotional and spiritual (religious) dimensions are entangled in the embellishments of grave sites, and in a diversified type of monuments to fallen heroes.
Paper short abstract:
This paper provides perspectives on mourning, memorialization and recovery in post-3/11 Japan through the lens of Buddhist practices for recreation and new approaches to spiritual care.
Paper long abstract:
Based on fieldwork in Tohoku and other areas, this paper explores aspects of memorialization and recovery in post-3/11 Japan through the lens of ludic practices for this-worldly benefits and spiritual care. I will begin by outlining the historical and doctrinal dimensions of Buddhist practices in care for victims of catastrophic disasters and, more broadly, crises. I will then turn to a discussion of Buddhist relief efforts in the wake of the 11 March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. In doing so, I hope to show that the commemoration of ancestral spirits and Buddhist funerals, which have formed the backbone of most Buddhist temples in Japan over centuries, are complementary to less well-known Buddhist practices for this-worldly benefits (genze riyaku) and recreation. Ludic elements and material culture, as shall be shown, provide an important arena for conversations about loss and depression, or for rituals in commemoration of disaster victims, and are therefore important for us to understand the ways in which individuals grieve and cope with trauma.
Part two of my presentation will contextualize "traditional" Buddhist practices for memorialization and salvation with new concepts of spiritual care in post-3/11 Japan, using the example of Kokoro no Sodanshitsu ("spirit counseling center"). I argue that within this trans-religious network, unprecedented collaborations between religious specialist, medical doctors and scholars have shaped concepts of care that may challenge our understanding of Japanese Buddhism, representations of Buddhism in the post-3/11 media, and the role of religion in the healthcare sector.
Paper short abstract:
This paper investigates the ideas and practices leading to the conception of monuments commemorating disasters and their victims. In particular, I test the hypothesis (Eyre 2006) that the active participation of the victims in memorializing processes increases their resilience and sustainability.
Paper long abstract:
This paper investigates the ideas and practices surrounding the conception of monuments commemorating disasters and its victims. On 11th March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and an annihilating tsunami destroyed entire coastal cities, caused the death of 15,083 individuals and left 3,971 missing bodies. In order to deal with the trauma and their losses, these communities and volunteer groups have developed various modes of remembering the tragic event and the dead through formal and informal, public and private, religious and non-religious, tangible and intangible, acts of remembrance. One of these strategies consists in the erection of a monument where mourners, survivors, and other visitors may join their hands (tewo awaseru) in order to express their respect, grief, solidarity and so on. Sprouting along the bared coastline, these markers vary from simple wooden poles to monumental structures. If anthropologists have already provided accounts about the politics following the erection of memorial monuments, and those of disasters in particular (Simpson 2008), the daily debates and practices leading to their conception and erection have often remained undocumented. Drawing from first hand observation and participation, this paper proposes to begin filling the gap by discussing the processes surrounding such a project in a traditional neighborhood of Japan which, having been wiped out by the tsunami in 2011, shows no signs of reconstruction three years on. In particular, I test the hypothesis (Eyre 2006) that the active participation of the victims in the memorialization of disasters increases the resilience and sustainability of the renewed communities.
Paper short abstract:
This research examines the landscape of the newly built Beichuan county town. New Beichuan is a rare and representative example of the post-disaster relocation in China’s contemporary context, for the landscapes of New Beichuan indicates and reshapes the identity of the local people.
Paper long abstract:
This paper intends to make a probe into the identity reconstruction of New Beichuan residents through analysing the landscape of the relocated town. New Beichuan has 40 thousand population, among them less than half are earthquake survivors and the others are land-lost peasants who previously lived in the area where New Beichuan were constructed. Both of the two groups have lost their original homeland, and they are now reshaped as the citizens of New Beichuan.
As a relocated town, the landscape of New Beichuan is embedded with some crucial cultural meanings that are intended to demonstrate its historical characteristics. In this paper, I would argue that there are mainly three types of landscapes of New Beichuan: 1) the memorial landscape, 2) the Qiang ethnic minority style landscape, and 3) the gratitude landscape. These landscapes exhibit New Beichuan's image in three aspects, the post-disaster relocation, the Qiang Ethnic Group Autonomous County, and as the beneficiary of aid projects and supportive policies. As a result, the collective identity of all the residents of New Beichuan is embodied in the image of its landscape.
The relocation of Beichuan county town not only relates to infrastructure construction but also involves the identity reconstruction of its residents. Two groups of people with different social and cultural backgrounds have been settled together and are presented in a same image. During this process of identity reconstruction, the history of the earthquake survivors are highlighted and the history of land-lost peasants are ignored.