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The Ainu indigenous people of Japan, facing the challenges of identity reconstruction

Research Project

Project/Area Number 19K13453
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Basic Section 04030:Cultural anthropology and folklore-related
Research InstitutionHokkaido University

Principal Investigator

CLERCQ Lucien  北海道大学, メディア・コミュニケーション研究院, 特任教授 (30749578)

Project Period (FY) 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,990,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥690,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
KeywordsAinu / Identity / Multiculturalism / Miscegenation / Hafu / Hybridization / Reconstruction / Nukishio Kizo / Ainu Identity / Indigenous / Multiracialism
Outline of Research at the Start

This investigation will focuss on the strategies of the Ainu for social change,reflecting their practical inventiveness and remarkable adaptability.
Using ethnology to obtain testimonies of Ainu personalities involved in cultural events will also allow me to better understand these historical moments and the contemporary claims of this ethnic group. These issues of great relevance also concern many other Aboriginal peoples throughout the world. I will highlight the important role that the Ainu of Japan have to play as a model of reinvention of identity.

Outline of Final Research Achievements

During these three years of research, we have uncovered the efforts to reconstruct socio-cultural events based on ancient Ainu rituals. We have also shown the importance of Nukishio Kizo, a writer who in 1934 wrote the first indigenous manifesto written by an indigenous person, calling for the survival and recognition of his people.
These Ainu claims and strategies show how the Ainu people have managed to reconstitute a community concerned with preserving the fundamental notion of “Ainupuri” in a context of strong racial discrimination. It is a parallel space with which they return through the practice of all traditional activities, and an animist spirituality intimately linked to the Hokkaido environment.It is indeed marked by an indigenous arrangement of vernacular places, symbolized by the presence of nusa altars revering the ancestors and the kamuy. This continuity is also used during events honoring the ainupuri to strengthen community ties by bringing the Ainu together.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

社会正義に向けたアイヌの要求は、日本社会におけるマイノリティたちの要求とも通底し、社会を構成する複数のアイデンティティを、その細かな差異と特異性と共に認めることを求めている。アイヌは、アイデンティティが完全に固定されたり決定的に閉じられたりすることはなく、伝統の更新と新たな混血によって常に変化することを教えている。また、ナショナリズムとは異質な生存戦略によって練磨されたアイヌのアニミズム的なメッセージは、自然や人の支配ではなく、穏やかでバランスのとれた関係を環境との間に保つことの重要性を教えている。多様性の尊重と地球の保全という将来的課題を考察する上でも本研究の意義は小さくないと考える。

Report

(5 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • 2019 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (19 results)

All 2023 2022 2020 2019 Other

All Journal Article (8 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 2 results,  Peer Reviewed: 8 results,  Open Access: 4 results) Presentation (3 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 3 results,  Invited: 2 results) Book (4 results) Remarks (4 results)

  • [Journal Article] 「幻想されたアイデンティティ:日本における他性、混血および人種」2022

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien ; Sakurai Norio
    • Journal Title

      國學院大學北海道短期大学部紀要

      Volume: 39 (13) Pages: 129-141

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
  • [Journal Article] 「分子の1を問い直す―「幻想されたアイデンティティ:日本における他性、混血および人種」解説」2022

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien ; Sakurai Norio
    • Journal Title

      國學院大學北海道短期大学部紀要

      Volume: 39 (13) Pages: 143-157

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
  • [Journal Article] Fantasized Identity: Multiculturalism, Multiracialism, and Otherness in Japan2020

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Journal Title

      Communications

      Volume: 107 Pages: 205-218

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Amerindian influence in the historical reappropriation of the Ainu and the construction of an indigenous Hokkaido ethnopolitics in Japan2020

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Journal Title

      Septentrional

      Volume: 5 Pages: 61-82

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] L'influence amerindienne dans la reappropriation historique des Ainous et la construction d'une ethnopolitique autochtone hokkaidoise au Japon2020

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Journal Title

      Septentrional

      Volume: 5 Pages: 61-83

    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Journal Article] Fantasized Identity : Multiculturalism, Multiracialism, and Otherness in Japan2020

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Journal Title

      Communications

      Volume: 107 Pages: 21-40

    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Journal Article] Arts and Sociocultural Appropriations: The Evolution of Ainu Crafts in Modern Primitive Art. Part I2019

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Journal Title

      Media & Communication Studies

      Volume: 72 Pages: 01-25

    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Journal Article] "Arts and Sociocultural Appropriations: The Evolution of Ainu Crafts in Modern Primitive Art. Part II"2019

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Journal Title

      Media & Communication Studies

      Volume: 72 Pages: 25-46

    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Presentation] Une autre autochtonie litteraire venue du Japon : la litterature ainoue2023

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Organizer
      Cycle de conferences sur les litteratures inuites et des Premieres Nations UQAM
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
  • [Presentation] アイヌ民族による土着的アイデンティティの再構築:北海道のアシリチェノミ―新しい鮭を迎える儀式―を例に2019

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Organizer
      20th Chitose International Forum
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
  • [Presentation] 今日のアイヌ:先住民族のアイデンティティと社会文化の再構築2019

    • Author(s)
      Clercq Lucien
    • Organizer
      日仏会館、日仏会館・フランス国立日本研究所
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Book] Assimilation et vestiges des Ainous2023

    • Author(s)
      Nukishio Kizo, Sakurai Norio, Clercq Lucien, Daniel Chartier
    • Total Pages
      288
    • Publisher
      Presses de l'universite du Quebec
    • ISBN
      9782760557888
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Book] Assimilation et vestiges des Ainous (PDF)2023

    • Author(s)
      Nukishio Kizo, Sakurai Norio, Clercq Lucien, Daniel Chartier
    • Total Pages
      288
    • Publisher
      Presses de l'universite du Quebec
    • ISBN
      9782760558120
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Book] Assimilation et vestiges des Ainous (EPUB)2023

    • Author(s)
      Nukishio Kizo, Sakurai Norio, Clercq Lucien, Daniel Chartier
    • Total Pages
      288
    • Publisher
      Presses de l'universite du Quebec
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Book] Penriuk et sa douleur2023

    • Author(s)
      Dobashi Yoshimi, Lehoux-Jobin Etienne, Gayman Jeffry, Clercq Lucien, Daniel Chartier
    • Total Pages
      248
    • Publisher
      Presses de l'universite du Quebec
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Remarks] Academia

    • URL

      https://independent.academia.edu/LucienLaurentClercq

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Remarks] CRILQ

    • URL

      https://crilcq.org/activites/conference--%C2%A0une-autre-autochtonie-litteraire-venue-du-japon---l/

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Remarks] Presses de l'universite du Quebec

    • URL

      https://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/assimilation-vestiges-des-ainous-4218.html

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Remarks] Research map : Clercq Lucien

    • URL

      https://researchmap.jp/ethnohistory/

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report 2020 Research-status Report

URL: 

Published: 2019-04-18   Modified: 2024-01-30  

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