Based on the author's ethnographic research at the Karakuwa fishing community in
Japan, this thesis explains a cultural process of the local people's synthesis of the values they
place on nature and their everyday behavior in a modern industrial world. Explicated by
ethnographic narrative, this study focuses on a revitalization movement similar to others
attempted by fishermen in other parts of Japan. These revitalization movements embody
values, held by fishermen for centuries, that nature should be respected. These movements
also serve as symbolic activities to resurrect natural resource users' visions of nature, that
emphasize the connectedness of all parts of nature including humans. In the specific
revitalization movement studied here, the activists insist on the fishermen's knowledge of the
connection between reforestation upstream on a coastal river and the coastal fishing ground.
This study also demonstrates how significant it is to know the insiders' points of view
and their cultural values when we try to understand the relationship between humans and
nature. By studying what kind of traditional knowledge the Karakuwa fishermen have utilized
to support the fishermen's reforestation activities and what has been dismissed, we can gain
insight into the process of value transformation that takes place side by side with the actual
environmental degradation and economic changes experienced by the local fishermen. In this
study, the conclusion is that local people manage with those contradictions by categorizing
events along a continuum between "reality" and "ideal." This study contributes to the local
people in the Karakuwa fishing community as a source of cultural information extending their
knowledge about their indigenous identity and furthering their understanding of how they
revitalize their local traditions yet modernize in this era of globalization. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/28464 |
| Date | 17 April 2002 |
| Creators | Takahashi, Tokiko |
| Contributors | Rosenberger, Nancy |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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