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Buraku Problem Basic

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Buraku Problem Basic

Buraku Dispersion Theory

This is the theory that “Buraku discrimination occurs because Buraku people live together in concentrated groups. If they were to disperse, that discrimination would disappear.” This is a simplistic approach that has been common for a long time among the general public as well; it is not a systematically or logically developed approach. More often than not, this thought is coupled with injunctions such as “Buraku should not be so closed,” “Stop relying so heavily on people within Buraku, get out of the area,” “Hide the fact that you’re from Buraku,” or “Don’t worry so much about being discriminated against.” As such, it puts the responsibility for the continuation of discrimination on those who face discrimination.

The mistakes underlying this approach are visible from multiple angles. First, one cannot rob another person of his or her desire to live in an area that, being born and raised there, he or she has come to love; where someone lives is not a matter for other people to decide. Second, there are in reality many people who have left their Buraku to live elsewhere. However, when they attempt to get married or hired, there are people who check their backgrounds and discriminate against them when they find they are originally from a Buraku. Buraku discrimination is simultaneously discrimination against a neighborhood and against people. Third, the “Buraku Dispersion Theory” presupposes that Buraku are closed. However, Buraku are quite open; they routinely accommodate people moving in from other neighborhoods. Fourth, Buraku are areas in which poor people can live easily. Those who lack sufficient social resources can assist each other and create systems to ameliorate the instability they face in daily life. The dispersion of these people is also the dismantling of these systems of mutual aid. Fifth, previously, even though people might have had the desire to leave their Buraku, they lacked the economic or social foundation to be able to. Nowadays, those people have decreased in number, and the educated classes and young people are moving out. Sixth, it is desirable to have a wide variety of people – poor and rich, with individuality and different kinds of jobs – for the sake of community. Recently there has been an increase in community building programs that aim at increasing the appeal of Buraku to entice people who have left to move back.

The push to solve social issues simply by “dispersing” them is visible in all places and all times; at base, it amounts to avoiding the root causes of the problem.

(Noguchi Michihiko)