The Social History of Modern Coal Miners in Kyushu and Hokkaido: Intersectionality Structure of Ethnicity, Gender and Class

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02134
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
• Research Institution: Fukuoka Women's University
• Principal Investigator: SEO AKWI 福岡女子大学, 国際文理学部, 准教授 (90447566)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 長谷川 和美 名古屋学院大学, 外国語学部, 講師 (90826562)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 炭鉱 / 集治監 / 植民地 / ジェンダー / 囚人 / 労働編成 / 衛生 / 朝鮮人

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Coal mines were a major driving force of Japan’s industrialization along with the expansion of the Japanese Empire. The coal mines have developed by absorbing people who were positioned on the periphery of the Empire and differentiated in terms of class, gender and race. This study focuses on the various dynamics of differentiation invoked in the process of labor reorganization in the coal mines, taking into account the context of technological innovation, international labor standards, and local communities. Applying global history, postcolonial studies and feminist economics as analytical framework, we examined the cases of Korean and female miners in Chikuho coal fields in Northern Kyushu, and prizeners in the Horonai coal mine in Hokkaido on the following aspects: (1) coal mine labor structure and management, (2) coal mine-related policies and public opinion, and (3) coal mine workers' perceptions and experiences.

Free Research Field

社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

差異化の相関（intersectionality）という、西欧の労働研究では標準になっている分析視点を援用することで、日本の炭鉱研究の発展に寄与する。第一に、炭鉱労働に従事する多様な社会的カテゴリーの相互関係を明らかにした。第2に、炭鉱労働における身体規律の考察から、「未熟練ゆえに低廉」とされる労働力および身分の形成について、戦前からの連続性と非連続性を通時的に捉える視野を提示し、現代日本における身分的な労働編成について歴史的な角度から知見を提供した。