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The Ainu, Meiji Era Politics, And Its Lasting Impacts: A Historical Analysis Of Racialization, Colonization, And The Creation Of State And Identity In Relation To Ainu-Japanese History, Bri Lambright

History Summer Fellows

On March 2nd, 1899, the Meiji government of Japan passed the Hokkaido Former Natives Protection Act. At its core, the act stripped the Ainu of their indigenous identity, labeling the group as ‘former aborigines’ and forcing every member into Japanese citizenship. In an instant, the Ainu became erased in an official capacity from the consciousness of the state and its people, a condition that would last well over 109 years when in 2008 the Japanese state finally acknowledged the Ainu as an indigenous group. What is often not acknowledged is that the implementation and subsequent enforcement of the Protection Act …

Land, Language, And Liberation: The Politics Of Ainu Self-Representations, Kevin James Cohen

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Four Poems From To Young Utari By Yaeko Batchelor, Laurel Taylor

Transference

Translated from Ainu and Japanese by Laurel Taylor:

• Wild stag...
• Had I even...
• Raised on...
• My utari...