CALL FOR PRESENTERS: Details here.
Tuesday, November 10 at 6 p.m. (JST)
Muddied Memories: Narratives of Minamata Disease in Contemporary Museums
Yotam Gazit
Minamata disease is the official name of the mass methylmercury poisoning that took place in the coastal city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, caused by heavy industrial pollution by a local chemical factory producing fertilizer between 1951 and 1968. This ecological disaster, along with its victims’ struggle for recognition and compensation against both the private and public sectors, has become a significant and controversial issue in contemporary Japanese history and politics. In Minamata, two museums are dedicated to the disease and its victims: the Minamata Disease Museum, a private institution run by a victims’ association NGO Soshisha and supported by donations; and the Minamata Disease Municipal Museum, a public museum run and funded by the municipal government. While both institutions generally agree on the core historical facts, each presents its own narrative describing the story of Minamata disease. The private museum describes it as a political struggle of an underprivileged community against government neglect and societal bigotry, while the municipal museum focuses on the story of Minamata’s rebirth into a global hub of ecological and environmental reform.
This presentation, which is based on field research conducted in Minamata for an upcoming journal paper, will discuss the differing and often contradictory narratives displayed in both museums and how their competition over the public memory of the disaster affects the survivors as well as the city at large, and how the municipal museum’s “victory” has influenced both general public perception and government policy regarding industrial pollution and ecological sustainability.
MJHW meets in Building 10, Rm. 301 at Sophia University's Yotsuya Campus.
The closest station is Yotsuya on the JR, Tokyo Metro Namboku, or Marunouchi Lines. For more access information, see: https://www.sophia.ac.jp/eng/aboutsophia/access/campus/