|
Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers >
Graduate School of International Media, Communication and Tourism Studies / Research Faculty of Media and Communication >
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc >
Ritual, Resistance, Rebellion? Disaster Volunteer Experiences in Northeastern Japan
| Title: | Ritual, Resistance, Rebellion? Disaster Volunteer Experiences in Northeastern Japan |
| Authors: | Klien, Susanne Browse this author →KAKEN DB |
| Issue Date: | 2017 |
| Publisher: | Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew J. Strathern |
| Journal Title: | Journal of Ritual Studies |
| Volume: | 31 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Start Page: | 1 |
| End Page: | 10 |
| Abstract: | Contemporary Japanese society is undergoing a gradual shift of values and modes of work and life. Deriving smallscale
temporary happiness from activities that make sense to individuals has replaced stability secured by lifetime
employment. Disaster volunteer narratives and lifestyles illustrate this change. Drawing on ethnographic data from
fieldwork in Miyagi and Iwate Prefecture, this study explores the broad range of meanings that doing pro-social
work in the area devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 holds for those engaging in it. I
contend that volunteers are caught between the rigid rules pervading daily volunteer routine and their aspiration
to break out from mainstream society. Drawing on Bell’s definition of ritual practice as self-interested appropriation
which affords its participants some flexibility in negotiating the terms of their involvement (1992), this ethnography
exposes the inherent difficulties volunteers face in making the tropes of “being good”, “doing good” and “feeling
good” compatible. Furthermore, the study documents the ambiguous position volunteers find themselves in by
applying the theory of liminoid states, i.e. the concept developed by Turner to describe the playful experiences
sought by members of postindustrial societies as an escape from the constraints of daily routine (1979). |
| Publisher URI: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/44988485 |
| Type: | article |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2115/77143 |
| Appears in Collections: | 国際広報メディア・観光学院，メディア・コミュニケーション研究院 (Graduate School of International Media, Communication and Tourism Studies / Research Faculty of Media and Communication) > 雑誌発表論文等 (Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc)
|
Submitter: Susanne Klien
|
