Discussion
On March 14th 2023, No.273 Japan Specialist Seminar was held in GSIS (Bldg 140) GL Room in hybrid format. With 10 participants on spot and 15 participants online, Professor Hirooka Kiyonobu, Associate Professor, Research Center for Human Rights, Osaka Metropolitan University gave a presentation titled “A Critical Study on Law for Promoting the Elimination of Buraku Discrimination ── Biopolitics Denying the Assimilation Problem ” (同和問題」を否認する生政治──部落差別解消推進法をめぐる批判的検討) . The below is the summary of the presentation.
The presenter first briefly explained the village problem in Japan, and then introduced the term 'the Assimilation Problem'. Subsequently, while reviewing the "Act on the Promotion of Resolving Buraku Discrimination" enacted in December 2016, the Ministry of Justice criticized that politics can be read from thoroughly avoiding words such as "the Assimilation Issue" and "Assimilation district." Recently, he tried to criticize the phenomenon while paying attention to the relationship with the neoliberal policy of local administration surrounding the village of urban discrimination in Kansai.
After the presentation, there was a Q/A. There was a question about the extent to which the general social awareness has been improved about buraku discrimination. In response, the presenter emphasized that, of course, awareness has improved a lot compared to 30-40 years ago, and that people who affirm buraku discrimination have become a minority, but buraku discrimination is being conducted without using the word "buraku."
In addition, the seminar was concluded after discussions on the case of establishing individual identity in a different direction, marriage issues of people from the buraku, and the case of Kyoto City, rather than participating in the buraku discrimination campaign.
