Shifting Atomic Policies as Reflected in The United States Park Service's Atomic Tourism

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K04716
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology of education
• Research Institution: Kyoto University of Foreign Studies
• Principal Investigator: HIGASHI JULIE 京都外国語大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (80269795)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 原爆投下 / マンハッタン計画 / 産業遺産 / 博物館展示 / メモリアルミュージアム / 歴史観

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Since the Smithsonian Museum exhibition that featured Enola Gay, the military aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, was cancelled in 1995, it has become clear that narratives of the atomic bomb can no longer be confined within a nation-state frame. The three primary locations (Los Alamos, New Mexico; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Hanford, Washington) involved in the making of the atomic bombs were designated as National Historic Parks in the United States in 2015. Museums in these three locations have just completed or were in the process of renewal projects to improve public understanding through interpretation of the historic resources related to the Manhattan Project. At the same time, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, too, had just undergone their exhibition renewal project. This research project attempted to analyze these exhibition projects to reveal a more universalistic approach to remembering the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Free Research Field

教育社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究成果の一部は2019年に日本で初めて開催された国際博物館会議（ICOM）総会で共有された。本研究のテーマと連動して研究代表者の東は国際専門委員会ICMEMO（公共に対する犯罪犠牲者追悼のための記念博物館国際委員会）のオフサイトミーティングのコーディネーター役を担い、広島市と公益財団法人広島平和文化センターの共催で広島平和記念資料館に於いて「グラウンドゼロからの記憶、遺構、語り」と題したシンポジウムを開催した。日米の博物館では原爆投下に関する展示内容に違いはあるが、博物館は犠牲者の追悼、遺族の痛みを伝えるだけではなく、歴史的事件の記憶を社会全体に継承していく責務があることが確認された。