Toward Constructing a Theory of Postvernacularity

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23520990
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology/Folklore
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: OTA Yoshinobu 九州大学, 比較社会文化研究科(研究院), 教授 (60203808)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ポストヴァナキュラー論 / アイデンティティ / 言語復興 / 先住民性 / 脱植民地化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project has begun with questioning the assumption that during the Twentieth century the controlling metaphor for establishing a nation-state had been n model based on vernacular language, the idea in which the relations among language, culture and identity had been coterminous. Although this metaphor still remains influential, this project has noted an emergence of phenomena, not analyzable in terms of a model of vernacular language mentioned above. The project has paid attention to three historically and culturally different locations where different peoples reside, fighting to maintain their identities: the Japanese immigrants in the state of Hawai’i in the United States, the Ryukyuans in Okinawa prefecture, and the Ainu, the indigenous people, in Hokkaido, Japan.

Free Research Field

文化人類学