Abstract

This article explores heterotopic selves by examining the practices and trajectories of urbanites in their thirties and forties who have relocated to rural areas, some of them as rural revitalization volunteers (chiiki okoshi kyōryokutai). Funded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, this program started in 2009 and has been highly popular with urbanites. Participants have a one- to three-year period to engage in activities in cooperation with the local government that promote rural revitalization and create a niche livelihood for themselves in structurally disadvantaged areas. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research across Japan, I highlight how urbanites perceive their roles in their new places of residence, how their values and identities are impacted by the move, how they approach insecurity, risk, and challenges, and how they envisage their place in the community and in society at large. I argue that urbanites play ambiguous roles between uncertainty, aspiration, hope and precariousness. I examine what strategies and measures individuals use in making efforts to create heterotopic entities in their chosen places of residence. By doing so, the article aims for a more nuanced approach to heterotopia as relational space.

摘要

本文通过考察 30 多岁和 40 多岁的都市人搬迁到农村地区的实践和轨迹来探索异位自我，其中一些人是乡村振兴志愿者（chiiki okoshi kyōryokutai））。该项目由总务省资助，于 2009 年启动，深受都市人的欢迎。参与者有 1 至 3 年的时间与当地政府合作，参与促进乡村振兴和在结构性落后地区为自己创造小众生计的活动。借鉴日本广泛的民族志研究，我强调都市人如何看待他们在新居住地中的角色，他们的价值观和身份如何受到搬迁的影响，他们如何应对不安全感、风险和挑战，以及他们如何设想自己在新居住地中的位置社区和整个社会。我认为都市人在不确定性、渴望、希望和不稳定之间扮演着模棱两可的角色。我研究了个人在努力在他们选择的居住地创建异位实体时使用的策略和措施。通过这样做，本文旨在对异托邦作为关系空间进行更细致入微的处理。