Doctoral Dissertation Research: Community Organization After Major Disasters

当代对重大灾害的深刻影响的研究表明，除了造成可观的物质损失外，灾害是影响社区如何理解其作为受害者、公民和活动家的社会角色的时刻。在这一背景下，抗议和其他形式的集体行动是灾难造成更大社会后果的最明显证据之一。该项目调查重大灾难如何影响社会运动的实践，重点是2011年3月11日开始的福岛核灾难，当时9.0级地震引发了毁灭性的海啸，福岛第一核电站的多个反应堆熔毁。我们的项目是研究日本的反核和反种族主义社会运动，以及2011年的灾难如何塑造这些社区组织如何理解和回应人权、公民身份和种族不平等等关键问题。该项目特别探讨了自2011年以来反核抗议活动的复兴如何为最近反种族主义活动的兴起奠定了基础，这在一定程度上是对日本日益增长的反韩和反外国人仇恨言论的回应。通过参与者观察、访谈和社交媒体数据分析，该项目试图更好地理解重大灾难后的社区如何在面对长期存在的社会不平等和歧视结构的同时，组织起来应对更高的政治风险。本研究采用人种志、访谈和社交媒体内容分析的混合方法，研究反核和反种族主义的社会运动网络如何在灾后日本积极协商围绕“公民身份”的文化意义。我们的分析依赖于在东京(2014年6月至2014年7月；2015年8月至2016年7月)和大阪(2014年9月至2015年3月)总共20个月的人种学研究，以及社交媒体内容分析。我们选择东京和大阪作为实地考察地点的原因如下：1)它们是日本最大的城市地区，2)它们是反核和反种族主义活动的最大场所，3)共同国际已经建立了研究联系和机构联系。东京的反核和反种族主义社会运动具有全国影响力，并由密集和复杂的网络组成。这项研究的结果将有助于就重大灾难后的社会不平等和种族歧视问题进行人权政策辩论。

Contemporary research on the profound impacts of major disasters has demonstrated that, in addition to creating sizable material damage, disasters are influential moments that shape how communities understand their social roles as victims, citizens, and activists. Within this context, protests and other forms of collective action are among the most visible evidence of the larger social consequences of disasters. This project investigates how major disasters influence the practices of social movements, focusing on the case of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which began on March 11, 2011 when a 9.0 earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami and multiple reactor meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Our project is a study of anti-nuclear and anti-racism social movements in Japan and the ways that the 2011 disaster has shaped how these community organizations understand and respond to the key issues of human rights, citizenship, and racial inequality. In particular, this project examines how the revival of anti-nuclear protests since 2011 has laid the groundwork for the recent growth of anti-racism activism, which has emerged in part as a response to an increasing trend of anti-Korean and anti-foreigner hate speech in Japan. Using participant observations, interviews, and social media data analysis, this project seeks to better understand how communities organizing after major disasters navigate heightened political stakes while confronting longstanding structures of social inequality and discrimination.This study employs a mixed methodology of ethnography, interviews, and social media content analysis to examine how anti-nuclear and anti-racism social movement networks actively negotiate cultural meanings around "citizenship" in post-disaster Japan. Our analysis relies on a total of twenty months of ethnographic research in Tokyo (June 2014 to July 2014; August 2015 to July 2016) and Osaka (September 2014 to March 2015), as well as social media content analysis. We have selected Tokyo and Osaka as field sites for the following reasons: 1) they comprise the largest urban areas in Japan, 2) they are the largest sites for anti-nuclear and antiracism activities, and 3) the co-PI has already established research contacts and institutional affiliations. Anti-nuclear and anti-racism social movements in Tokyo have national influence and are comprised of dense and complex networks. Findings from this study will contribute to human rights policy debates on the issues of social inequality and racial discrimination following major disasters.