University of Alberta The quest of Shiman-chu: Questioning the absolutes of language, culture, and Being by Satoru Nakagawa A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Indigenous Peoples Education Department of Educational Policy Studies ©Satoru Nakagawa Spring 2013 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Dedication For Tokunoshima islanders past, present, and future. For the love of island ways and island Being, and island knowing. For Hanika and Tyrone, so that they will know and love the island too. For the ancestors, who supported us and brought us to this time and place, and who continue to sustain us. Most importantly, for the island, the land, the ocean, the rivers, the streams, the mountains, the valley, the rocks, the birds, the animals, the reptiles, the fish, the trees, the wind, and the everlasting, ever-patience of her essence. Abstract Undertaken on Tokunoshima, an island colonized by Japan in the 17th century, this research speaks to the critical question of the loss of Indigenous languages and the resultant loss of ethnic pluralism. In general, people on Tokunoshima claim that Shima-guchi (language), Shima-culture, and Shiman-chu identity on Tokunoshima are being lost (language, culture, and identity or LCI shift). In order to gauge the accuracy and implications of these claims, LCI shift was investigated using a combination of surveys (N=3509) and interviews (N=40). In keeping with the fact that Tokunoshima people are an Indigenous people within a colonized territory, this mixed methods study was undertaken within and shaped by an Indigenous Tokunoshima research paradigm, one which honours the voices of the participants and elicits particular reciprocities and obligations on the part of the Indigenous researcher, necessitating multiple return trips over a four-year period. Overall, the survey and interview results alike showed a positive correlation between participants’ age and their Shima-guchi fluency, practice, and knowledge of Shima-culture. Interviewees, many of them leaders, seniors, and experienced educators expressed the importance of passing down “Shima no kokoro.” Translated as “the heart of the island,” this refers to island life as expressed in language and culture. This study concludes that while residents of Tokunoshima are losing Shima-guchi and culture, Shiman-chu identity remains strong. Finally, it is clear that the majority of participants in the study want to retain Shima-guchi and Shima-culture for their own and future generations. Acknowledgement I would like to thank all of the people of Tokunoshima who agreed to help me with this project, particularly my parents Kouzo and Chiemi Nakagawa. They endlessly opened doors for me. I hope that I have respected their trust in me, all islanders’ trust in me. I would like to thank Dr. Makere Stewart-Harawira, my advisor, who pushed me to do my best and allowed me to do it my way, and who supported me through everything. Thank you to my committee, Dr. Jerry Kachur, Dr. Joe da Costa, and Dr. Evelyn Steinhauer, for their insightful comments and reviews, and for their endless support, and to Dr. Ali Abdi who chaired both my proposal defense and my defense. Thank you to examiners Dr. Teresa McCarty and Dr. Kent den Heyer for their probing questions, comments, and observations. I am grateful for the doctoral fellowship support I received from the Killam Foundation and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada that made my work possible. I am also grateful to the University of Alberta for the many scholarships and travel grants that enabled me to continue to do my work and to share it with others. Finally, I would like to thank my family, my wife Sandie, my daughter Hanika, and my son Tyrone. I have not been easy to live with (or to live without) over the past few years. I could not have done it without them. The quest of Shiman-chu: Questioning the absolutes of language, culture, and Being Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE FRAMEWORKS 1 My Island, My Self 2 Who am I? 5 Locating myself 6 Geographical context 7 Historical contexts 8 Writing records 10 Contested histories 12 The traditional life of the Amami people 15 Traditional (or not) activities 15 Traditional beliefs 17 Undoing Tradition 18 The assimilationist education system 20 Assimilationist language use 22 Context (revisited) to Research Question 24 What is Encoded into Language, Culture, and Identity? 24 Worldviews 25 Sustainability 26 Identifying the Issues in Tokunoshima LCI Shift 27 The Research Question 28 CHAPTER 2: INDIGENOUS/ISLAND RESEARCH PARADIGMS AND THE INDIGENOUS ACADEMIC 30 Views from the Literature: Indigenous Research Paradigms 32 Principles of Indigenous Research 35 Authenticity in Indigenous research 40 One View from One Island: Integrity and Intent in Indigenous Research 43 Intent: What the community wants 43 Intent: Combating dominant culture ideologies 44 Integrity: how to measure positionality 48 Integrity: Whose consequences? 51 Integrity: What is ethical conduct? 52 Locating Myself as an Indigenous Researcher in Tokunoshima 56 Theoretical Framework 63 Thesis Layout 70 CHAPTER 3: INTERROGATING THE LCI LITERATURE 72 Definitions of Language 73 Statistics on threatened languages 74 Language diversity and Indigenous peoples 75 Language revitalization 78 What is language? 80 Language shift and change 81 Forms of language shift 84 Perceptions of language shift 86 Power languages 87 Definitions of Culture 88 Common sense understanding of culture 89 Formal definitions of culture 91 Culture conflated with language 92 Categorizing culture 93 Culture shift and culture change 95 Defining Culture Indigenous-ly 96 Culture and land 98 Reference points for defining culture 100 Culture as hegemony 101 Writing culture 103 Definition of Identity: (What is Identity?) 104 Formal definitions of identity 105 Identity as analytic concept 106 Categorizing identity 107 Identity shift 110 Identity and Being 110 Defining Identity Indigenously 113 Identity and culture 114 Identity and self 115 LCI Shift and Ideology Shift 116 Scientific ideologies 118 Summary 121 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 123 Research Method 123 Mixed methods 124 Quantitative methods in this project 127 Pilot study and main study: Survey question design 129 Developing the pilot study 130 Final survey form 131 Modifications to the survey 133 Participant selection 134 Survey data sources and collection 136 Survey data analysis 137 Caveat to quantitative research design 146 Qualitative Methods in my Research 147 Interview participant selection 152 Data source: Interview protocol 153 Data collection: access and entry 154 Interview data analysis 155 Interview transcripts to testimonies 155 From data to discussion 156 Data Management and Results Dissemination 157 Doing What Looks Like Western Research Indigenous-ly 158 Of spheres, not binaries 159 A Tokunoshima research paradigm 162 Summary 166 CHAPTER 5: SURVEY AND INTERVIEW FINDINGS 167 Participant Results 167 Descriptive results for independent variables 168 Overall descriptive results 168 Descriptive results from non-student data 169 Descriptive results from the student data 171 Overall Findings From the Survey 172 Simple descriptive analyses 172 Age 172 Sex 173 Generation 173 Shima-guchi 174 Japanese 175 Town 175 Occupation 175 Shiman-chu identity 176 Section by section summary 176 Generation-based questions 177 Self-identity 179 Individuals’ thoughts about Tokunoshima 180 Individuals’ thoughts about Japanese 182 Industry on Tokunoshima 182 Life on Tokunoshima 184 Personal explanations and summary of results 186 Compiling Interview Questions from Survey Data 187 Findings from Qualitative Interviews 194 Demographic results from interviews 194 Individual Question Results 202 Question 1 202 Question 2 204 Question 3 and 3a 205 Question 3b 215 Question 3c 215 Question 4 216 Question 5 218 Question 6 222 Question 7 229 Question 8 232 Question 9 237 Question 10 240 Question 11 243 CHAPTER 6: TESTIMONIALS: “IN THEIR OWN WORDS” 244 Testimonies 244 Testimonial 1106 249 Testimonial 1107 252 Testimonial 1108 253 Testimonial 1109 256 Testimonial 1110 258 Testimonial 1111 260 Testimonial 1112 263 Testimonial 1113 271 Testimonial 1114 274 Testimonial 1115 274 Testimonial 1116 277 Testimonial 1117 279 Testimonial 1118 282 Testimonial 1119 286 Testimonial 1120 289 Testimonial 1121 291 Testimonial 1122 292 Testimonial 1123 294 Testimonial 1124 297 Testimonial 1125 300 Testimonial 1126 303 Testimonial 1127 304 Testimonial 1128 307 Testimonial 1129 309 Testimonial 1130 309 Testimonial 1131 313 Testimonial 1132 316 Testimonial 1133 319 Testimonial 1134 320 Testimonial 1135 323 Testimonial 1136 325 Testimonial 1137 328 Testimonial 1138 330 Testimonial 1139 333 Testimonial 1140 336 Testimonial