Creating the Unity of a Community through Collective Memory

This study shows the way in which collective memory is used as a constituent part of community cohesion, especially after the occurrence of a disruptive event. For this, the works of Bergson (1896) and Halbwachs (1925) on memory have been explored. The results of the study are obtained through fieldwork in Miyakojima, a remote island of Okinawa, Japan.

Miyakojima is an island, one from the group of Japanese Southwestern Islands. The government plans to deploy the ground arm of the Self-Defense Forces in this island. Nobaru where the construction of facilities is planned is a rural settlement in which about 300 households live. During the Second World War, a Japanese fortress was built on the hills above this settlement, and the inhabitants were at war. After the war, it was handed over to the US military for use as a base station, and the air branch of the Self-Defense Force was deployed here, even after the island was returned to Japan in 1972. The pros and cons of accepting further facilities were discussed throughout the region, and a refusal of acceptance was declared at a briefing session with the government. The rejection came about because the reasoning of the government in favor of the base was inadequate, and residents were already struggling with noise from the existing air base. Though regional history has been published, and traditional festivals are also popular, due to the island’s declining population, the collective memory of the area is diluted. Collective memory, which had been gradually fading, has clearly revived due to the prompting from the outside in the form of the planned Self-Defense Forces base.

Thus, the community keeps its unity in various ways. However, the key element is collective memory. It can clearly revive, given the stimulus of an external force.