Women's Self-help Organizations and Disasters in Patan, Nepal: 2015 Nepal Earthquake and Covid-19 Pandemic

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22043
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0104:Geography, cultural anthropology, folklore, and related fields
• Research Institution: Nanzan University
• Principal Investigator: TAKEUCHI Ai 南山大学, 人類学研究所, 研究員 (00804387)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 2015年ネパール大地震 / 新型コロナウイルス / 女性自助組織 / コミュニティ復興 / 災害レジリエンス / ネワール民族 / パタン / 農民カースト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study analyzed the unique recovery process from disasters by Misa Puchas, women's self-help organizations of the Newar ethnic group, through cultural anthropological research, and envisioned a new theory of disaster gender that focuses on women's self-help organizations as "reconstruction actors" rather than women as "vulnerable" disaster victims.
Patan suffered a compound disaster of the Covid-19 pandemic during the reconstruction process of the 2015 earthquake, but Misa Pucha has flexibly responded to the disaster and shown leadership to reconstruct the community. Since the 2000s, Misa Puchas have been established by local women, one after another, on their own initiative, and have attached great importance to community activities. Misa Puchas have also been working in a way that is in line with the traditional social order, and have gained the credibility of men as well, and therefore have been bringing about a gender structural change.

Free Research Field

文化人類学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

研究成果の学術的意義や社会的意義としては、第一に、伝統社会における開発には「集団」の視点が重要であることを明らかにした点である。従来の開発理論において「個」のケイパビリティが強調され、「個」の自立を目指すことを目的としてきたが、ネワール独特の発想では、家族・親族という「集団」の発展が目指され、開発本来の活動と地元女性の考え方に齟齬が生じていることが明らかとなった。第二に、災害とジェンダー研究において、開発途上地域の女性は「災害弱者」として論じられてきたが、本研究では、女性自助組織が「復興主体」となっており、女性たちが地域活動を行うことで災害レジリエンス能力を高めてきたことを解明した点である。