Signifying Ainu Space: Reimagining Shiretoko's Landscapes through Indigenous Ecotourism 1 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Rethinking Ainu heritage: a case study of an Ainu settlement in Hokkaido, Japan
International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2005
With the colonisation of Hokkaido since the Meiji era, Western technologies were introduced to Japan, but the indigenous inhabitants'-the Ainu people's-ways of life were negatively affected because of the assimilation policy. Since the late 1950s, ethnic tourism in Ainu settlements has grown and Ainu hosts in traditional costumes were often seen in various tourist destinations in Hokkaido; Lake Akan was not exceptional. In this paper, the historic development of an Ainu settlement is explained, and the contested meanings of Ainu traditions and the social construction of Ainu culture in post-war Japanese society from the cultural-political perspectives is investigated. With the focus on the Ainu settlement at Lake Akan, the paper looks closely into the changing indigenous living environments and relevant activities held during the last several decades in order to discern how Ainu heritage has been preserved and promoted as well as the social transformation that Ainu people have undergone in the face of globalising Japanese society.
In 2011, the State of Hawai‘i completed a 630-meter conservation fence around Ka‘ena Point, with the stated purpose of keeping out predators to protect endangered wildlife. However, lawai‘a (fishers), who are Native Hawaiians and non-native locals who have fished at Ka‘ena for generations, see the fence differently: as part of a strategy of displacement to make the space amenable for tourism. Based on ethnographic research with lawai‘a, this article argues that indigenous paradigms premised on interdependent relationships between humans, the environment, and spiritual realms reveal significant capacity to shift the structures and logics of enclosure and displacement. As a result, security strategies contain the possibility of noncapitalist economies predicated on indigenous self-organization. Theorizing the compromise between local efforts for environmental self-determination and state imperatives to control land, this article introduces the concept “carceral conservationism:” a practice and ideology that partitions living space with the stated aim of resource protection while criminalizing existing populations in order to displace them. Regulating land-based relationships, carceral conservationism secures land to advance the twin projects of militarization/war and tourism/capitalist accumulation. In contrast, lawai‘a demonstrate the potentiality of place-based identity to forge broad alliances against carcerality and displacement on a global scale.
Bharne, Vinayak and Sandmeier, Trudy (eds.) 2019, Routledge Companion of Global Heritage Conservation. Routledge, Abington Oxen U.K, 2019
The mountainous villages of Shirakawagō and Gokayama are well known for the unique architecture of their " Gassho " farmhouses and were enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995. These villages with their Gasshostyle houses subsisted on the cultivation of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. The large houses with their steeply pitched thatched roofs are the only examples of their kind in Japan. Due to the difficulty of access until recent times, the relations between this area and the outside world were very limited. This long isolation gave rise to the unique culture and traditional social systems, folklore, and customs, which have maintained their continuity. Taking people participation, environmental assessment, and behavioural approach, this chapter throws light on the deeper heritage values, their role in nature conservation and crosscultural and comparative studies. The chapter also reflects on the personal experiences during December 2004, the time when the Tokai Hokuriku Jidosha Do, the national highway passing nearby, was opened.
Culture in Nature: Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Environmentalism in Kihnu
From a fieldwork among marine biologists appeared that in Estonia there is a conflict between natural scientist and coastal inhabitants, who claim that environmentalists are killing tradtional way of living in Estonian coastal villages. It took me to the question of my final thesis; how environmental restrictions and prohibitions are affecting traditional culture? In my presentation I will consider locals arguments in Kihnu island, that contemporary environmental restrictions are destroying traditional culture in Kihnu. Kihnu, a small island in southwestern Estonia, is for the reason that Kihnu Cultural Space is listed in UNESCOs list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a good place where to study cultural changes. I will focus on one important aspect in Kihnu culture - seal hunt. Seals play major role in local narratives, ceremonies and islanders memories thus can be considered as cultural keystone specie. It is a prominent specie that shape the identity of local people. However, due the environmental changes and human activity, seals in Baltic Sea are listed under red list and seal hunt in Estonia is not allowed. Islanders claim that this has big effect on their traditional culture. Moreover, they say that because of the recovered seal population they should be allowed to continue traditional relationship with nature. Through extensive observation of an area where islanders live, they have gained traditional ecological knowledge. Traditional ecological knowledge forms a part of relationships with nature and should be acknowledged as a contributor to contemporary environmentalism. Despite that, there is no dialogue between locals and environmentalists, who believe that best way to protect nature is to separate humans from it. Kihnu people are being pushed away from their traditional territories and Kihnu cultural space is shrinking. The main findings are that although traditional ecological knowledge is dissapering among islanders, it is been used alike traditional culture, that is a way to seek recognition and support from international and national institutions.
Mākua Valley: An anthropocenic story of restoration and reconnection
2020
This article focuses on ecological restoration and Indigenous re-claiming practices in the Valley of Mākua, on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i, an area currently occupied by the US military. The island ‘welcomes’ an average of 6 million tourists a year seeking the socalled, ‘aloha experience.’ However, staging “Paradise” comes with a cost, the denial of a colonial past and an exploitative present. The aim of this article is to analyse Indigenous sovereignty eco-cultural practices through the activities of the Mālama Mākua association in the Valley of Mākua, which propose a new kind of relationship with the land a new ‘experience’ based on responsibilities and obligations rather than enjoyment and consumption.
Disregard for the Conservation of Ainu Culture and the Environment
AlterNative, 2013
Despite the decision of the Nibutani Dam Case that stated the Ainu, who have inhabited Hokkaido and its neighbouring islands since time immemorial, were entitled to have the right of enjoyment of culture as indigenous people, the Biratori Dam Project is underway in the heart of Ainu culture in Hokkaido. The legal system which includes the Environmental Impact Assessment and the Amended River Act allows the authorities to give priority to river development. In 1997, the Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act, which represented the Japanese assimilation policy, was replaced by the New Ainu Law. However, Japan’s current Ainu policy has yet to take firm steps toward the protection of Ainu indigenous rights. This paper looks at the legal system surrounding the Saru River Development Project in light of the conservation of both Ainu culture and the environment. Further, the current Ainu policy is discussed in its domestic and international contexts.
Commerce and Conservation: An Asian Approach to an Enduring Landscape, Ohmi‐Hachiman, Japan
International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2009
The historic region of Ohmi-Hachiman, located in central Japan, is an example of a Continuing Landscape in an Asian setting. With a differing perspective on what may constitute authenticity, a planning exercise is now underway looking for a sustainable future for the city and surrounding countryside that is both a popular tourist attraction and a working agricultural area. Ohmi-Hachiman combines two areas ICOMOS has declared as under-represente d-an Asia heritage site and an agricultural landscape. This region is a Japanese case study that shares many planning and policy traditions with the West. It is the product of a long industrialised and developed nation, yet the site is quintessentially Asian with rice paddies and small villages sharing an ethos with the rest of this part of the world. It is an ethos that includes a philosophical and practical approach to this Japanese Continuing Landscape which dramatically diverges from conventional Western practices and challenges the accepted ideas of authenticity. It is an approach worthy of close scrutiny by those overseeing heritage landscapes in the rest of the world who may also be facing the uncomfortable clash of commerce and conservation.
走向世界：阿伊努族文化在日本 (A Path to World Culture: The Politics of Ainu Heritage in Japan).
This paper will discuss the intangible heritage conservation and questions why performing arts representing a kind of national dominant culture has been prioritized Japan's nominations of intangible heritage to UNESCO in the previous years instead of other areas such as including oral tradition, ritual, social practices concerning festive events and craftsmanship. I will examine the social construction of Ainu heritage in the postwar Japanese society, and look into the emergency of both marimo festival and Ainu Yukar Theatre in Lake Akan, Hokkaido in order to shed light on contested meanings of Ainu traditions being overlooked as an important world culture. Marimo festival-being invented for the inheritance of the spiritual values of Ainu towards the nature and Ainu Yukar Theatre-being created to be staged for tourists, are examples demonstrating the reasons why both of these local traditions in Lake Akan are considered not "authentic" weakening the justification for making Ainu culture internationally recognized as intangible heritage in Japan.