본문 바로가기
  • Home
Basic Search

Ainu Mythology and Today’s Sustainability Paradigm

  • Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies
  • Abbr : JAPS
  • 2022, 29(2), pp.31-53
  • DOI : 10.18107/japs.2022.29.2.002
  • Publisher : Institute of Global Affairs
  • Research Area : Social Science > Social Science in general
  • Received : May 10, 2022
  • Accepted : June 13, 2022
  • Published : June 30, 2022

Seokhee Kim 1

1경희대학교(국제캠퍼스) 국제지역연구원

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The United Nations’ sustainability ideas and the Ainu’s worldview surprisingly coincide. It is not difficult to find ideas like the end of poverty, end of starvation, clean water, clean environment, climate action, justice, peace, and cultural diversity in the Ainu’s orally handed-down mythology. Still, the value of sustainability suggested today was actually not suggested from the Ainu’s perspective, but by the United Nations and their Western-oriented way of thinking. Chapter 26 of Agenda 21 (a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development) also mentions the support for indigenous people under the premise of “traditional and direct dependence on renewable resources and ecosystems.” In 1997, the Law for the Promotion of the Ainu Culture and for the Dissemination and Advocacy for the Traditions of the Ainu and the Ainu Culture was enacted in Japan. Considered a revolutionary event by many, it basically tore down the myth of Japanese homogeneity. From that point forward, the Ainu people were officially recognized by the Japanese state and a policy was undertaken to promote Ainu Culture. And yet the policy had limitations in that the Japanese government did not apologize for its role in the Ainu’s forced assimilation and that the Ainu people’s political rights were excluded in the execution of the policy. In fact, this policy started in very limited ways by pigeonholing Ainu people’s culture to nothing more than a “tradition.” While only the memory of their culture of living with nature was chosen to be emphasized, the political and economic independence issues in Ainu culture were not properly taken into account. Under the banner of promoting a multicultural symbiosis, Ainu culture was integrated into the diverse “cultures of Japan.” It certainly has meaningful value to preserve the Ainu culture of the past as well as the value of an ethnic minority. However, the political issue that is included in its sustainability should be more closely examined.

Statistics

  • 411 Viewed
  • 263 Downloaded

Tools

Issue List

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
Basic Search Advanced Search