“I saw fathers and mothers at their gatherings saying their prayers…singing and dancing full of joy all night. At those moments, they could confirm their identity as Ainu.”
Shizue Ukaji (she-zay kah-jee)
embroidery artist
IMAGE SOURCE: Nami Takata. “Ainu activist near Tokyo uses traditional cloth art to show her people are 'right here'”. The Mainichi. 27 Apr. 2021. | TEXT SOURCE: “A Quest for What We Ainu Are.” Indigenous Efflorescence. ANU Press. 2018.
QUOTE CONTEXT: ”Under Japan’s long colonial rule and its assimilationist policy towards them, our ancestors were losing the proud spirit of the Ainu. In my childhood, however, I saw fathers and mothers at their gatherings saying their prayers …But now, these celebrations have become a thing of the past.”
QUOTE QUESTION: What celebration help you to affirm your identity?
IMAGE CONTEXT: "I wished to express with cloth art that Ainu people are right here," said Ukaji, while explaining that her resentment toward the national government had driven her to take up the needlework.
IMAGE QUESTION: What causes you to take up the mike?
MEDIA LITERACY CONTEXT: The quote is from a book about cultural expression in Indigenous communities. The photo is from a mainstream Japanese newspaper.
MEDIA LITERACY QUESTION: What are the relative advantages of publishing in books and newspapers?
LEARN ABOUT THE AINU: https://www.ainu-assn.or.jp/english/ainupeople.html
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