| 研究実績の概要 |
The aim of this research is to explore the sociological meaning of practising history in the reproduction of contemporary societies. For this purpose, I have been examining the transition of narratives about Hijikata Toshizo of Shinsengumi, Ned Kelly the Australian bushranger, forced and indentured labour in the remote village of Shumarinai in Hokkaido, and Indigenous Australians from stories marginalised from national histories to histories at the margins of nation-states.
There were two major progresses in my research into the role of history in the reproduction of social relations. Firstly, I refined and strengthened my theoretical framework to examine “minor histories”, a set of narratives that reconstruct aspects of the past deemed trivial, tangential and/or inconvenient for the production of authorised histories of nation-states. By establishing a definition of “minor histories”, I discovered a means to compare the effect of socio-cultural and political differences between Australia and Japan on the social function of history-telling practices.
Secondly, I could wrap up my ethnographic research of Japanese cases and locate suitable interview subjects for the Australian cases. One of the major hurdles to this research has been finding research subjects because socio-political differences as well as different ethics requirement in Australia and Japan makes it almost impossible to compare how colonial histories are being discussed in respective countries. This problem was overcome by focusing on discussions about history in the context of private education.
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