往昔的暗流：日本博物館的殖民遺緒與策略反思，1977-2017

Abstract

This thesis focuses on how a colonial discourse formulated in the late nineteenth and twentieth century in modern Japan and evolved and changed in the subsequent decades, continues to impact the representation of former and current (colonial) subjects. By relying on historical, museological, and anthropological literature, it sets out a discussion on the conceptualization of museums and how they came to be and continue to be in Japan from 1872 onwards. By focusing on historical literature, it sets out to formulate the dynamics of colonial discourses regarding the Ainu and Koreans in pre- and post-war Japan. This research argues for a multi-layered understanding of such a framework, as a reflection upon the Japanese self-concerning Western countries and others, while at the same time legitimizing control. By applying a qualitative case study-approach and comparing the representation of the Ainu and Koreans in the Tokyo National Museum (TNM) and the National Ethnographic Museum (Minpaku) between 1977 and 2017, it argues that evolved forms of colonial discourses interplay through the continuation of the vocabulary of colonial discourses, negatively affecting modes of representation. However, this research argues against the notion that this is a static progress, as space is slowly provided for new interpretations through a focus on agency. Lastly, through the application of anthropological theory and a focus on changes in the cultural and political domain in Japan and other former colonizing nations, it tries to construct tools for challenging the presumptions of the colonial discourse. This research argues that we need to understand the interaction of museums and society or politics as a two-way or three-way street, but rather as intersection; museums need to play a crucial role of ‘broker’ for the objects on display, revealing the social context and all its discrepancies.