Anthropological Study about the collection of the war dead in WW2

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K16900
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Mie University
• Principal Investigator: FUKADA JUNTARO 三重大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (70643104)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 遺骨収集 / 戦没者 / 記憶 / DNA鑑定 / ソロモン諸島

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, I have clarified the transition and present situation of the collecting activity of the ashes of overseas war dead in the World War 2 through literature research and fieldwork. The dead, who cannot speak their own voice, appear through the activities of living people, such as the activity of collecting their bones. They have fluctuated between the two forms of "persons" and "collective war dead" according to the living people who approach them.
The bereaved or companions in arms who knew the war dead directly asked for "persons" with their own faces and names. But since the 1990s, when a generation that had no direct relationship with the war dead became involved in the activities, there was a tendency for the war dead to be treated collectively or as "digits". With the introduction of DNA testing in recent years, it seemed that there has been a resurgence of "persons". But this has come to be different from the former "persons" of someone as a family or friend.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

太平洋戦争の海外戦没者の遺体は戦後70年経った現在も現地に残されている。今後のこの問題への取り組みを考える上で、これまで、そして現在遺骨収集がどのように行なわれ、そこでは戦没者がどのような存在として捉えられているのかを理解することは極めて重要である。本研究では、遺骨収集の現場でフィールドワークを実施し、そこに携わる人々へのインタビューを通して、戦没者＝遺骨が、多様な生者との関わりの中で、顔と名前を持った個人としての存在から、数で数えられる集合的な存在まで、さまざまに異なる意味を帯びることを明らかにした。