和歌山県新宮市における同和対策事業による公営住宅の建設過程と部落解放運動

1953～75年

抄録

This paper is a case study of the Dowa districts in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. It attempts to describe the processes by which residents and their organizations transformed their living space under the Dowa Assimilation Projects and focuses on the social relations among agencies related to these projects. An important theme in human geography is the understanding and analysis of the roles of agencies in spatial transformation. A case study of the Dowa districts will contribute to the exploration of this theme.
The Buraku Liberation League (BLL) is a private agency whose purpose is to liberate the "burakumin", an outcaste group formed in the feudal Tokugawa Era. As part of its policy, the BLL constructed a theory that ascribed such discrimination to governmental administration and thus developed a methodology for governmental assistance for the improvement of their living spaces. With this methodology, the physical aspects of the Dowa districts have bgen dramatically improved.
In 1955, the Shingu Branch of the BLL was organized. The Branch participated in the Dowa Projects, building connections with local communities and local governments. This paper describes the development of two Dowa Projects-the Local Improvement Project and the Model Districts Project in order to illustrate the relations of the BLL with local communities and local governments. In Shingu City, the Local Improvement Project was implemented before the BLL was organized. In 1953, public housing for the burakumin was constructed for the first time in Shingu City. This implies that Local Improvement Projects by the city government controlled the buraku liberation movement in the city.
The Model Districts Project was carried out from 1961-62 and was severely criticised by the BLL headquarters at that time. However, the Shingu Branch accepted the implementation of the project but the stance of the branch was inconsistent. While the Shingu Branch had relations with the BLL headquarters concerning the movement, it maintained relations with members of the city assembly and the city government, and these latter relations were more effective in promoting the projects. However, the projects promoted the suburbanization of the Dowa districts and negatively influenced the buraku liberation movement. It was after 1975 that the Shingu Branch mobilized residents for the liberation movement and thereafter reduced this negative outcome.