著者

ましこ ひでのり

出版者

日本教育社会学会

雑誌

教育社会学研究 (ISSN:03873145)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.48, pp.146-165, 1991-06-05

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In any border district, in this case the Ryukyu Islands, "nation states" run the risk of being vulnerable to various separatist movements. In order to combat this vulnerability, "national" education, the conscriptive and compulsory educational system, plays the role of an assimilative apparatus used by the "national states" in order to stabilize their own hegemonic rule. In particular, the educational system assimilates and unifies the diverse cultures represented in minority or regional groups. This is achieved largely through the imposition and/or replacement of the primary reference group, or "imagined community", where membership in the traditional or local community becomes membership in the "national state". In important ways, the "imagined community" of the "national state" is a function of the internalization of the "communications market" by abstracted intellectuals whose primary concern is the securing of their own better life chances. In this process, the intellectuals become a part of the hegemonic leadership and play a prominent role in the reproduction of the "communications market" and the legitimation of the "state language" for following generations. Ultimately, it is this mechanism that is responsible for the replacement of any local or traditional community by the hegemonic "imagined community" of the "national state". This paper discusses this historical process in detail as it is manifest in the case of the Ryukyu Islands during the pre-war period.