An Anthropological study on the articulation of locality and nationality in the contemporary utilization of Jomon Culture(s)

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K03287
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: FURUYA Yoshiaki 九州大学, 比較社会文化研究院, 教授 (50183934)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 縄文文化 / 先史文化の利用 / 文化遺産 / ローカリティ / ナショナリティ / 地域振興

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently in Japan, especially since the beginning of the second decade of this century, there are quite a few cases of making use of Jomon culture(s) and artifacts from the Jomon era for various purposes: from the promotion of a set of Jomon archaeological sites for the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List to the growing interest in “dogu” (prehistoric figurines from the Jomon period) among lay people. By means of on-site anthropological fieldwork and online research I made clear multi-layered nature of those cases. On the one hand, one “Japanese nation” inheriting a single Jomon culture is consistently emphasized; on the other hand, local or regional grassroots identities are constructed with reference to cultural diversity in the Jomon period. Therefore, in each individual case, the local, regional or national level Jomon culture is differently foregrounded and articulated with each other in diverse ways.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

日本列島において1万年以上続いた縄文文化については、三内丸山遺跡など20世紀後半に相次いだ注目すべき発見を受けて、今世紀に入り、縄文遺跡群の世界文化遺産登録推進運動、縄文文化による町興し、土偶ブームなど「縄文文化の現代的利用」と呼び得る多様な関心が考古学界のみならず一般社会においても生じている。本研究が各地の遺跡や博物館における実地調査を中心とする文化人類学的調査を通じて明らかにしたのは、縄文文化のナショナルな単一性が広く当然視される一方で、草の根レベルのローカルな縄文文化（の遺跡や遺物）への愛着が見られ、そこに縄文時代の文化の地域的多様性つまり縄文文化の複数性の反映を見て取れることである。