Managing the cultural promotion of indigenous people in a community-based Museum: the Ainu Culture Cluster Project at the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum, Japan

摘要

In the District of Nibutani, Town of Biratori, Hokkaido, Japan, the inheritance ofAinu culture has been in a critical condition recently, despite the long-termstruggle of a famous Ainu, Kayano Shigeru. From 2002 to 2005, the towndeveloped the Ainu Culture Cluster Project under the auspices of the NibutaniAinu Culture Museum. The Project's goals were hiring local unemployed peopleto acquire traditional skills and encouraging local residents to inherit Ainu culture.This project is interesting because it demonstrates not only the ways andprocesses to develop, represent, promote, and inherit Ainu culture, but also therelation between the museum and the community and local residents. This paperdiscusses both the positive and negative aspects of the Ainu Culture ClusterProject, and explores the roles of a community-based museum for indigenouscultural promotion in contemporary society