Constructing Oyama Rural Community Capacity, Policy Structures and Change
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Constructing Oyama rural community capacity, policy structures and change By Naomi Stenning 61109616 March 2013 Dissertation presented to the Higher Degree Committee of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Asia Pacific Studies ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all those who helped me in conducting this research and producing this dissertation. I would like to thank Professor Koichi Miyoshi for his encouragement, advice, patience, and for believing in me. Thank you for seeing my potential and giving me so many opportunities to further develop both professionally and personally. I will always be able to proudly assert that I am a graduate of the Miyoshi School for rural development studies and I look forward to our continued cooperation and my participation in future projects and initiatives wherever I can add value. I would also like to express my gratitude to the people of Oyama especially Kurokawa Teruko and her late husband Hirofumi, Koda Kazumi and the Mori fufu for opening their homes and sharing much more than their stories. I hope that I can return the favour when you visit me. Thank you to Okabe Yumiko for supporting me both in the field and out. Also Cindy Banyai – I enjoyed the mutual support we showed each other. I learned a lot from you and grew as a person as a result of our friendship. I hope that you can forgive the cantankerous temperament, selfishness and oddities that I displayed over the years. I look forward to a time when we can travel and work together again and have new adventures. This research was also made possible by the Japanese Government and the very generous financial support I received through the Monbukagakusho Scholarship program. Without this program it is unlikely that I would have ever ended up in Japan for my post- graduate studies in the first place. I also received support from my employer, the Australian Government’s Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, with paid study leave and extended recreation leave from work for writing up the dissertation. I should mention, however, that this dissertation is entirely my own views and in no way reflects the position of the Department or the Australian Government. I thank my colleagues, managers and staff there for putting up with my distant mind and tired face over the last few months of 2012 leading up to the submission of the dissertation. I also benefited greatly from the helpful attitudes and strong administrative support from numerous administrative staff at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, in particular staff of the Academic and Research Offices. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my family, friends, classmates, teachers and others who supported me in various ways both through the writing process and in my journey to reaching this point. There are too many people to list, but especially Ruth Stenning (for being so understanding while I have not been fulfilling my duties as a big sister – I am sorry), Susan Lee, Matt Simpson, Phil Daniels, Will Chun, Rika Tsuchida, Suzuki Sensei and Sorin Sensei. And a special thank you to Seth Mansfield for your sacrifice and understanding through this – you are my greatest inspiration. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES ................................................................................................... i ABBREVIATIONS AND GLOSSARY .......................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Research Problem ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Objectives of The Research ......................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Significance of The Research ....................................................................................................... 2 1.5 Scope and Limitations of The Research ....................................................................................... 3 1.6 Outline of The Study .................................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Research Paradigm ..................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Methodological Philosophy and Strategy of Enquiry .................................................................. 6 2.3 The Case of Oyama ..................................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Practitioner’s Approach to Research ........................................................................................... 9 2.5 Construction of Narrative .......................................................................................................... 10 2.6 Contribution of the Research .................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 3 FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Community ................................................................................................................................ 16 3.2 Community Capacity Development and Policy Structure Model ............................................... 18 3.3 Characteristics of Community Capacity .................................................................................... 22 3.3.1 Sense of community ............................................................................................................. 22 3.3.2 Commitment ......................................................................................................................... 23 3.3.3 Ability to set and achieve objectives .................................................................................... 23 3.3.4 Ability to recognise and access resources ............................................................................ 24 3.4 Strategic Elements .................................................................................................................... 24 3.4.1 Human resource development ............................................................................................. 25 3.4.2 Leadership ............................................................................................................................ 25 3.4.3 Organisations ........................................................................................................................ 28 3.4.4 Networks .............................................................................................................................. 28 3.5 Community Policy Structure ...................................................................................................... 30 3.6 Community Functions ............................................................................................................... 33 3.7 Community Capacity Development ........................................................................................... 34 3.8 Chapter 3 Summary .................................................................................................................. 35 CHAPTER 4 FROM THE BEGINNING ...................................................................................................... 37 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 37 4.2 Oyama Before ........................................................................................................................... 39 4.3 Oyama Before – Foundations for Development ........................................................................ 46 4.3.1 Yakuba .................................................................................................................................. 47 4.3.2 Nokyo .................................................................................................................................... 52 4.3.2.2 Establishment of the Nokyo in Oyama .............................................................................. 53 4.3.2.3 Nokyo – current structure ................................................................................................. 54 4.3.3 Yahata Harumi: The Father of Oyama .................................................................................. 57 4.3.3.1 The emergence of a leader ................................................................................................ 59 4.3.3.2 Yahata’s approach as a leader ........................................................................................... 60 4.3.3.2.1 Intellectual stimulation and high performance expectations