https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3978-057X
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Lisa Mueller, Toward an intersectional Burakuness: regional discontinuities in Japan’s Buraku-focused museums, Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 28, Issue 1, Winter 2025, jyaf006, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyaf006
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Abstract
The (hi)story of the Buraku minority group in Japan is complex and fragmented, variously tied to living space or profession, the Edo-era mibun caste system or post-liberation migration, personal identification, or family lineage. Japan’s Buraku-focused museums are charged with delineating this multi-layered (hi)story, particularly as it relates to discrimination, a focal point in Buraku notions of identity. Through quantitative content analysis, this paper reveals significant regional differences in where Japan’s Buraku-focused museums locate the root of this discrimination, demonstrating that stigma in western Japan and eastern Japan is attached to Buraku neighborhoods and professions, respectively. This divergence often results in reification of this identity fragmentation. However, occasionally museums demonstrate an intersectional perspective including both space-based and profession-based understandings of Burakuness, hinting at opportunities for richer curatorial storytelling. This research also indicates that the museums in both regions see their educational role as a spiritual one, “purifying” these stigmas. Leveraging this commonality for interregional dialogue may provide further opportunities for intersectional engagement. This paper contributes to Japanese Studies literature by connecting regional understandings of Buraku discrimination to contemporary discontinuities in Buraku identity perception. It also contributes to museum literature by highlighting the importance of considering regional differences in intersectional curatorial practice.
