La minorité aïnoue dans le Japon moderne et contemporain. D’« anciens indigènes », de nouveau(x) autochtones (1869-2019)

Abstract

Since the annexation of Hokkaidō and assimilation of its indigenous Ainu people, their official status in Japan has evolved to adapt to the diplomatic, ideological, political and economic stakes. Initially designated as “former aborigines” and forcibly assimilated, the Ainu disappeared from official discourse on the eve of WW2. After the war, Japan’s image as a monoethnic nation grew and the Ainu minority was commoditised for the booming tourism industry. Ainu voices, scattered and with only a local range in the 1920s and 1930s, united and undertook a discursive reappropriation, first locally and culturally, then nationally and judicially. Ultimately, it was the Ainu’s involvement in supranational bodies and utilising of Japan’s image abroad that allowed them to be recognised as an indigenous minority.

Keywords

• Ainu
• Japan
• Hokkaidō
• Indigenous
• Aborigines
• Minority