A Study of Collective Memory in Renascence of Disaster Areas and Regeneration of Mass Casualty Sites

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13897
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 08010:Sociology-related
• Research Institution: Osaka Metropolitan University (2022); Osaka City University (2020-2021); Kwansei Gakuin University (2019)
• Principal Investigator: HAMADA Takeshi 大阪公立大学, 大学院文学研究科, 都市文化研究センター研究員 (60814465)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 集合的記憶 / 社会的忘却 / 災後復興 / 再生 / 保存現象 / 広島 / 長崎 / 沖縄

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to clarify what kind of emotions, thoughts, and perceptions have been created and how people and societies have dealt with the scars of destruction and carnage after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which created a future of catastrophic destruction and carnage never before experienced by humankind.
Specifically, we have empirically examined how the meaning of the symbols of the A-bomb damage, such as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and the A-bomb Dome, registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has shifted from a consciousness of removal and erasure as nightmare scars to a place of memorial and remembrance for the victims, and then to a sacred site to bring peace to the world. The process of the transition of the meaning given to the site has been empirically verified.

Free Research Field

社会学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

原爆投下や地上戦というカタストロフィ後の社会と人々の対応は、実は、例えば1995年の阪神淡路大震災や、東日本大震災の後に出てきたさまざまな議論とも通底するものである。それは破滅的危機を経験した人々が、その記憶と向き合う辛い過程とも重なり合う。
現代社会に生きる人々は多くのリスクと共に生きている。そうした人々の生き方の創造のありようを広島、長崎、沖縄のカタストロフィの経験から探求することに本研究の意義がある。