Beyond the Buraku: The Negotiation of Burakumin Identity in Contemporary Japan

FAIN: FO-50118-10

Christopher Bondy
DePauw University (Greencastle, IN 46135-1736)

The burakumin, an "invisible" Japanese minority, present a paradox about Japanese identity, with implications for the study of stigmatized identities more generally. My longitudinal project examines how youth learn of their buraku background, and explores the negotiation of identity from youth to adulthood. The first completed stage, based on interviews with 40 youth, examined the role of school and community in shaping a buraku identity. In the second stage of research, I will resume interviews with the 40 informants (now in their early 20s) and pay particular attention to issues surrounding marriage and employment, where previous research suggests discrimination is at its most severe. I will use the remaining time to complete the book manuscript. Providing a study of how minorities manage a stigmatized identity over time broadens the audience of the work beyond Japanese studies to a wider social science audience.

Associated Products

Voice, Silence, and Self: Negotiations of Buraku Identity in Contemporary Japan (Book)
Title: Voice, Silence, and Self: Negotiations of Buraku Identity in Contemporary Japan
Author: Christopher Bondy
Abstract: The Burakumin. Stigmatized throughout Japanese history as an outcaste group, their identity is still “risky,” their social presence mostly silent, and their experience marginalized in public discourse. They are contemporary Japan’s largest minority group—between 1.5 and 3 million people. How do young people today learn about being burakumin? How do they struggle with silence and search for an authentic voice for their complex experience? Voice, Silence, and Self examines how the mechanisms of silence surrounding burakumin issues are reproduced and challenged in Japanese society. It explores the ways in which schools and social relationships shape people’s identity as burakumin within a “protective cocoon” where risk is minimized. Based on extensive ethnographic research and interviews, this longitudinal work explores the experience of burakumin youth from two different communities and with different social movement organizations.
Year: 2015
Publisher: Harvard University Asia Center
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780674088405
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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