| Budget Amount *help |
¥6,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥6,300,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥2,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥2,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000)
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| Research Abstract |
In this paper, I present an accumulation of life stories of slaughterhouse workers (a type of job frequently hidden within the more general meat-related industries) and leather workers such as hide-tanners, shoe-makers, and drum-builders. Through these life stories, I examine the shape and form of people's identities and the contours of present-day discriminatory attitudes, drawing connections with the lives of Hisabetu-Buraku residents, people who no longer live in Hisabetu-Buraku, and people who have never lived in Hisabetu-Buraku.
The book is comprised of two parts. The first part is an essay which works from the above problematic and examines aspects of present-day Hisabetu-Buraku. Further, this portion of the work introduces concrete aspects of workers' life histories and difficulties that individuals face. The second part is comprised of the transcripts and analyses of life story interviews of 1. employees of and people related to meat packing facilities (Meat Center), 2. leather
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tanners, and 3. cobblers.
I plan a fuller analysis of my methodology ; however, I have made a few preliminary observations I would like to share at this point. One, the discourse that symbolizes and legitimizes the avoidance of leather and meat industries has shifted from one centering on "kegare (filth)" or "environmental issues" to one centering on "educational issues" such as valuing life and protecting animals. This recent transformation has been a quiet one, intertwined with the appearance of vegetarianism and animals rights movements here and as well in the United States, a country which for a long time glorified the consumption of meat. A second observation : "Buraku industries," frequently held to be the source of discrimination, have moved out of areas that have been subjected to discrimination, and that move has revealed the continued connection between these industries and discrimination. This situation is observable in changes in the ways that meat and leather industry workers perceive discrimination. Less
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