Political Ecologies of Displacement

More-than-Human Commoning through Women’s Kokorozashi Business for Collective Well-being: A Case from Aging and Depopulating Rural Japan

“…The simplified, idealistic notion of rural women as caring instruments who can improve economic stagnation in rural Japan with appropriate support (Amano, 2001) 5 is built into state narratives about aging and depopulating rural communities (Iwashima & Sato, 2022) and prejudices research. However, studies focusing on gender and power relations (Elmhirst & Darmastuti, 2015;Sato & Alarcón, 2019;Tsuru, 2007) have found that women are often expected to sacrifice themselves, to take on an increased burden to mitigate negative impacts on others to ensure collective well-being (Fujii, 2011;Fujimoto, 2004;Hara-Fukuyo & Ôchi, 2012;Watanabe, 2009). The essentialist construction of women as caring saviors coupled with blindness to women's self-sacrifice could, directly contrary to intent, both exacerbate gender inequalities and reduce collective well-being.…”

“…These tropes have rarely reported on the suffering of these women. Existing studies in and out of Japan (Elmhirst & Darmastuti, 2015;Sato & Alarcón, 2019;Tsuru, 2007) have found women's tendency to self-sacrifice by taking on an increased burden to mitigate negative impacts on others and to ensure collective well-being (Fujii, 2011;Fujimoto, 2004;Hara-Fukuyo & Ôchi, 2012;Watanabe, 2009). The very virtues of altruism and self-sacrifice that are celebrated in state narratives and in some studies, as indicated by members' reaction to ceasing cultivation of soba made visible in our study and could both exacerbate gender inequalities and reduce collective well-being.…”

“…State narratives and most studies, in summary, tend not to see how women enact diverse ethical subjectivities that work towards collective well-being derived from dynamic intersecting socioecological relationships that are both contingent and ambivalent. They tend to highlight the altruistic aspect, which masks the suffering and challenges involved in women's attempts to produce livelihoods and collective well-being (Elmhirst & Darmastuti, 2015;Sato & Alarcón, 2019;Tsuru, 2007).…”