Applying universal themes, this book analyses the discrimination faced by and the (re)construction of the Buraku people during Japan’s modernization. State and capital have created the ongoing plight of the Buraku. This book demonstrates that Buraku discrimination has been a springboard for domination, both during and after Japan’s colonial rule in Asia and has been an important function of governance in Japan. Buraku discrimination is reproduced in both cities and towns, forcing many Buraku people to suffer silently. To combat this situation, there are Buraku resistance movements, studied in depth here.
Akira Kobayakawa (Ph.D.) is the Director of the Institute of Social Theory and Dynamics, and the Director of the Hiroshima Buraku Liberation Institute. He researches modern and contemporary Buraku issues. He lives in a Buraku and is a Buraku Liberation Movement activist.
Acknowledgments List of Illustrations and Tables Abbreviations Notes on Contributors
Prologue Akira Kobayakawa
1 Burakumin as a Strategic Minority: Buraku Discrimination and Nation-Building in Modern Japan Hideo Aoki
2 Constructing and Reconstructing Buraku in Military Cities: State, Capital, Violence, and Subjectification of Power Akira Kobayakawa
3 Buraku Liberation Movements and Denunciation Eiji Okada
4 The Imperial System and the Buraku Issue as Mental Structure Midori Kurokawa
5 Buraku Discrimination in Postwar Japan Reorganized by Administrative Power, and Dowa Policy in Postwar Japan Constructed through Exclusion Risa Kumamoto
6 Buraku Liberation and Literacy Movement: Memoir against Discrimination Shinji Sakamoto
7 The Entrenchment of Disparities in Buraku Areas and De-problematization Shingo Tsumaki
8 Stagnation and Silence in Small Buraku: Elimination of Existence and Violence Akira Kobayakawa
Epilogue Akira Kobayakawa
Appendix: a Photographic Story of Japan’s Buraku
Index
This book is intended for researchers and students at universities, libraries, and research institutions who are interested in the study of Buraku issues, minority studies, social exclusion, discrimination, and capitalism.