Ainu Articulations and the Japanese State: On the Interrelation of Indigenous and Majority Articulations on Hokkaidō (original) (raw)

The Ainu are the indigenous inhabitants of Hokkaidō, Japan’s northernmost part. Throughout the past centuries, the relations between Ainu and ethnic Japanese (wajin) has been one of unequal agency and domination by the wajin. In this paper, I want to focus on the mutual construction of articulations of identity. Articulation here follows James Clifford (2013), describing a dynamic, performative concept of identity which can be self-defined, but also embodies the potential of outside ascription. In the interchange of ascribed articulations (imposing an identity upon) and self-articulations, I seek to demonstrate the interrelation of articulations in asymmetrical actions and the potentials of appropriating discursive fields for taking control of self-determination. Starting with a discussion of the trifold construction of Japanese identity articulation within the literary genre of nihonjinron (“theories of Japaneseness”), I follow wajin determinations of Ainuness before looking at how the Ainu have dealt with these ascriptions and used them to formulate their own discourse of cultural revitalization. In the end, I argue for a larger, inclusive framework transcending the mere Ainu-wajin relations to hint at commonalities towards a more inclusive framework of becoming with. I implement this by using salmon as a guide throughout the entangled histories of Hokkaidō and Ainu international connections.