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Beyond Mitigation: The Emotional Functions of Natural Disaster Folklore in Japan

Jania, Alexander Edward
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436922622

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Studies.
In contemporary Japan folk and religious explanations of natural disasters, rooted in pre-modern beliefs about the environment, continue to persist despite the understanding of modern day science. Previous scholars have examined these folk/religious beliefs in relation to their ongoing effects on scientific fields like seismology, and their continued influence has been characterized as ahistorical and detrimental. However, scholars have not asked the important question of why these beliefs continue to have cultural currency. Through examining pre-modern Japanese literature, early modern print culture, and the modern folktale “The Rice Bale Fire,” I argue that the continuity of folk and religious explanations of disasters is due to their emotional functions as coping mechanisms for an unpredictable and destructive natural environment. Natural disaster folklore achieves this by being both a vehicle for the portrayal of, as well as a tool utilized in, moral emotional practices. Ultimately this indicates, like modern science, culture was used to order and understand nature and humanity’s relationship to it.
Philip Brown (Committee Co-Chair)
Ying Zhang (Committee Co-Chair)
Katherine Borland (Committee Member)
99 p.
Asian Studies; Folklore; History
Folklore; Emotion; Morality; Religion; Natural Disaster; History; Environmental History; Japan; Tsunami; Earthquake

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Jania, A. E. (2015). Beyond Mitigation: The Emotional Functions of Natural Disaster Folklore in Japan [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436922622

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jania, Alexander. Beyond Mitigation: The Emotional Functions of Natural Disaster Folklore in Japan. 2015. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436922622.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jania, Alexander. "Beyond Mitigation: The Emotional Functions of Natural Disaster Folklore in Japan." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1436922622

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1436922622
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.