| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1993: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1992: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
|
|---|
| Research Abstract |
Media articles and related resource materials which, in some aspect or other, deal with the Ainu people were compiled and analyzed. Extensively obtained materials have been processed into a 3.9 megabyte database on Macintosh OS with FileMaker II 1.1jv2 (convertible to FileMaker Pro format). The database contains 5,570 records (89% from daily newspapers, 7% from weekly/monthly periodicals, and 3% from others) covering up to the latest sources as of December 1993. Through the analysis, 245 topic categories (structured by 91 folders and 154 subfolders) have been established. Each record on the database carries 3 to 16 keywords for searching operations. Fast and unlimited combination search can be executed as to the 157 keywords of analytical priority which have respective on-screen check boxes. Obtained row materials are clipped and bound in their chronological order. Hard copies of some 2,900 records of higher rank in its informative/instructive value are filed in the topic folders.
Throu
… More
gh the period 1992 to 1993, which is marked by the UN International Year of the World's Indigenous People, Japanese mainstream media was boomed with articles and reports on the Ainus, as indicated by the large number of records mentioned above. Self-representation by the Ainu people, however, has been extremely scarce (less than 1% of the processed records). Apparently, the voices came only out of the already famous ethnic fighters, who are relatively limited in number. This means that most of the Ainus still regard it rather unsafe to make their ethnic expression on record in the ethnocratic Japanese society. Analysis of the headlines and leads has also made it clear that, despite the increased quantity of the materials relevant to the ethnic group in question, the mainstream media are inclined to hold and even intensify stereotypical images of the Ainu people, such as "traditional people", "people who live in harmony with nature", "isolated people", and so on.
Framework of the research and the outline of the database were reported at the Ethnological Society's conference at Rikkyo University, Asaka, 31 October 1993. All the obtained resource materials and the records processed through this project are open to access by interested researchers. Less
|
