| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OSADA Toshiki International Research Center for Japanese Studies Research Assoc., 研究部, 助手 (50260055)
SUGIOKA Tsukiko Kibi International Univ.Assoc.Profe., 社会学部, 助教授 (20259401)
SHU Sho Chukyo Univ.Assoc.Profe., 教養部, 助教授 (40235700)
TAKEI Hideo Chiba Univ.Assoc.Profe., 文学部, 助教授 (50226982)
KOMATSU Kazuhiko Osaka Univ.Assoc.Profe., 文学部, 助教授 (90111781)
TANAKA Yuko Hosei Univ.Peofe., 第一教養部, 教授 (40139390)
EGUCHI Kazuhiko National Museum of Ethnology Profe., 第三研究部, 助教授 (90045261)
堀内 勝 中部大学, 国際関係学部, 教授 (50165586)
YAMAGUCHI Masao Shizuoka Prefectural Univ.Profe., 大学院・国際関係学研究科, 教授 (60014461)
HORIUCHI Kazuhisa Chubu Univ.Profe.
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| Research Abstract |
Design- This study was made on the hypothesis that among students from different cultural backgrounds there might be some cultural differences in perception of stories about marriage between humans and animals, such stories being found occasionally in old folk-tales.Groups of high-school students were asked to listen to some stories, and later to reproduce those stories and to describe their impressions of the stories.The stories chosen for the study were "The Frog Prince", chosen as a typical European story, and "The Monkey Husband-to-be"as a typical Japanese story.
Setting and Subjects - The research was done during 1993 and 1994 in Mokolo, Marowa in Cameroon, Seoul, Taegu in South Korea, in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Kunming in China, in Taipei in Taiwan, in Denpassar in Bali, Indonesia.In each of those countries, those cities - considered large in those countries - were chosen for two reasons : firstly, in the hope that a sample of people in each city would be basically representative of
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the country as a whole, and secondly, assuming that each sample of people would also have been influenced to some extent by Western culture, which is believed to have been brought into city life and into the patterns of thought of the inhabitants of those countries.In 1995, the research was continued in Delhi in India, and in Istanbul in Turkey.
Results of Story-Reproduction - Analysis of data collected so far indicates remarkable differences in story-reproduction and in the perceptions of the stories, according to geographical location and gender.
1.In Istanbul, "The Frog Prince" (the typically European story) was more accurately reproduced by both genders.
2.In Istanbul and Kunming, temale students reproduced the story of "The Frog Prince" more accurately than "The Monkey Husband-to-be", they did not do so anywhere else.
3.In all places other than Istanbul and Kunming, "The Frog Prince" was less accurately reproduced than "The Monkey Husband-to-be".
4.In Istanbul, Kunming, Shanghai, and Taipei, male students reproduced "The Frog prince" more accurately than "The Monkey Husband-to-be".
5.In Shanghai and Taipei, there were clear differences between performance of males and females : females reproduced "The Frog Prince" better.
Kunming had the distinction of being the only city which was an active military training-camp, so care should be taken in comparing results from that city with those other cities.
Results Concerning Impressions or Interpretations of Stories -
1.Where both genders reproduced "The Frog Prince" less accurately reproduced than "The Monkey Husband-to-be", many students thought that the latter story was of their own nation, and almost all regarded it as a good, interesting story.
2.Where there was a clear gender-difference in reproduction accuracy, many students considered "The Monkey Husband-to-be" to be (a) unreasonable, and (b) not clearly distinguishing good from bad ; in short, they had generally poor opinions of the logic of the story.
3.In Istanbul, Shanghai, and Taipei, males (a) reproduced "The Monkey Husband-to-be" less accurately than " The Frog Prince", and (b) did not appreciate "The Monkey Husband-to-be" as typically Japanese, ambiguous about right and wrong ; they did not find the story easy to remember.This might be explained on the grounds that Istanbul is geographically close to "Western" civilization, and therefore might be expected to be close in patterns of thought.It is less clear whether this explanation may be extended to Shanghai and Taipei.
It is hoped that this study may in future be continued in America, Europe, and Japan, and also that further studies may be done, comparing people in rural and urban areas. Less
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