University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2018 Raça, Jinshu, Race: Whiteness, Japanese-ness, and Resistance in Sūkyō Mahikari in the Brazilian Amazon Moana Luri de Almeida University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, and the International and Intercultural Communication Commons Recommended Citation de Almeida, Moana Luri, "Raça, Jinshu, Race: Whiteness, Japanese-ness, and Resistance in Sūkyō Mahikari in the Brazilian Amazon" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1428. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1428 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. RAÇA, JINSHU, RACE: WHITENESS, JAPANESE-NESS, AND RESISTANCE IN SŪKYŌ MAHIKARI IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON __________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Social Sciences University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________ by Moana Luri de Almeida June 2018 Advisor: Christina R. Foust ©Copyright by Moana Luri de Almeida 2018 All Rights Reserved Author: Moana Luri de Almeida Title: RAÇA, JINSHU, RACE: WHITENESS, JAPANESE-NESS, AND RESISTANCE IN SŪKYŌ MAHIKARI IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON Advisor: Christina R. Foust Degree Date: June 2018 Abstract This dissertation presented an analysis of how leaders and adherents of a Japanese religion called Sūkyō Mahikari understand and interpret jinshu (race) and hito (person) in a particular way, and how this ideology is practiced in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon. The teachings of Sūkyō Mahikari classify humanity into five races (yellow, white, red, blue/green, black/purple) and five religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism). In this classification, the original humans – hito, the kingly race ōbito, and the God-given supra-religion sūkyō – deteriorated into ningen (people), the other races, and shūkyō (religions) along an evolutionary timeline. I argued that this organization developed an overrepresented and ideal hito who is a wajin (predominant ethnicity of Japan), kumite (Sūkyō Mahikari practitioner), Japanese citizen, cisgender heterosexual male, middle- to higher-class, anti-Marx, rational and modern Man (Wynter). This instantiation of Man is based on a form of racism and systemic oppression centered on Japanese supremacy to which I have given the term Japanese-ness. My objective is to present the concept of Japanese-ness and analyze case studies of oppression in Sūkyō Mahikari in Japan and Brazil. The methodology, framework, and research commitment is anti-racism, whereas the methods used to analyze the religious experience and texts are: representation analysis of its official literature (Hall), autoethnography (Ellis et al.; Jones), auto-archaeology (Fox; Harrison and Schofield), ii and participant observation (Bernard) to describe my insights first when I was a follower, and then in the role of ethnographer. This study has contributed to the expansion of Communication Studies and Religious Studies by deepening research on Whiteness, religious racism, jinshu sabetsu (racism), and Brazilian racismo. To achieve this contribution, I directly challenged Euro- U.S.-centrism and Abrahamic-centrism. Key words: Sūkyō Mahikari, Japanese-ness, religious racism, hito, Brazilian Amazon. iii Acknowledgements I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my committee chair Dr. Christina R. Foust, who was supportive throughout the four years of my PhD program. Without her kind guidance and understanding, I would not have managed to finish this dissertation. I would like to thank my committee member Dr. Armond Towns, who counseled me through hard times and introduced me to the scholarship of some of my favorite scholars. I would like to thank my committee member Dr. Santhosh Chandrashekar, who supported my interest in race and religion in the Third World. In addition, a thank you to Dr. Rafael Ioris, whose commitment to social justice in Brazil inspires me. Finally, I am indebted to Dr. Shinsuke Eguchi, who suggested me to further elaborate on the differences between Whiteness and Japanese-ness, as well as on the fact that most Japanese people consider themselves non-religious, and consider Sūkyō Mahikari a cult rather than a religion. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my mother, who nurtured my curiosity from an early age and has always been by my side even if only in spirit. iv Table of Contents List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 What is Sūkyō Mahikari? ........................................................................................ 6 Race and religion theory review ........................................................................... 13 Race and religion, racialization of religion, and religious racism ............ 14 Literature on Sūkyō Mahikari ................................................................... 26 Brazilian Whiteness Studies and Japanese-Brazilian Studies ................... 29 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 33 Chapters outline .................................................................................................... 35 Chapter One: Japanese-ness .............................................................................................. 37 1.1. Definitions of racism, systemic oppression, proto-racism or racialism, Whiteness, and Japanese-ness ............................................................................... 38 1.2. Slavery in Japan ............................................................................................. 45 1.3. Caste system in Japan .................................................................................... 47 1.4. Physical determinism and beauty: physiognomy and bihaku ........................ 49 1.5. The Meiji Era: State Shinto and jinshu sabetsu ............................................. 53 Chapter Two: Representation analysis of Goseigen, the holy book ................................. 63 2.1. Introduction to Goseigen ................................................................................ 63 2.2. Constituting hito in Goseigen ........................................................................ 69 2.3. Implications of the Mahikari constitution of hito .......................................... 89 Chapter Three: Golden Teachings, Youth Who Shine, and Prayer Book ...................... 100 3.1. Hito as a Japanese citizen ............................................................................ 105 3.2. Hito as kumite .............................................................................................. 115 3.3. Hito as a cisgender heterosexual male ......................................................... 121 3.4. Hito as anti-Marx ......................................................................................... 124 3.5. Hito as middle- to higher-class .................................................................... 128 3.6. Hito as rational and modern ......................................................................... 131 Chapter Four: Other texts ................................................................................................ 137 4.1. Textbooks ..................................................................................................... 137 4.2. Personal notes .............................................................................................. 147 4.3. Pamphlets ..................................................................................................... 151 4.4. Hymn book................................................................................................... 159 4.5. Magazines .................................................................................................... 161 Chapter Five: Autoethnography and auto-archaeology .................................................. 169 5.1. Memories as a kamikumite .......................................................................... 169 5.2. Memories as an ethnographer ...................................................................... 193 v 5.2.1. June 2016 ...................................................................................... 194 5.2.2. July and August 2016.................................................................... 196 Final remarks: Summary and direction for future research ............................................ 206 Contributions ...................................................................................................... 207 Direction for future research ............................................................................... 210 Criticizing Sūkyō Mahikari critics without redeeming Mahikari ....................... 211 Works Cited ...................................................................................................................