著者

SMITH Ian

出版者

北海学園大学

雑誌

北海学園大学人文論集 (ISSN:09199608)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, pp.175-234, 1995-03-31

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This paper compares and contrasts aspects of identity among modern-day Ainu and Scottish Gaels. The Ainu are the native inhabitants of Hokkaido, in the north of the Japanese archipelago, who were gradually displaced by Japanese immigration from the mainland and were given Japanese citizenship (but not separate, ethnic recognition) after Hokkaido's incorporation into the Japanese nation. The Gaels are the Celtic-descended inhabitants of north-west Scotland, in the northern British Isles, who still have a knowledge of the ancient Scottish Gaelic language: once spoken throughout the Highland region of the Scottish mainland, Gaelic has largely disappeared from there, so that today most true Gaels are considered to live in the Western Isles, the island chain off Scotland's north-western coast. By 'aspects of identity', I mean the elements by which the communities view themselves as being distinctive or which have special significance in their cultures (for example, their languages and their relationships with nature); and also those elements-for example, history, tourism and symbolism-by which 'outsiders' have created popular images or stereotypes of those communities, whether or not they correspond to the 'insiders' perceptions. Finally, I will look at the common identity-or lack of one-that the Ainu and Gaels feel they share with the larger cultures around them.