大学共同利用機関法人 人間文化研究機構　国立民族学博物館

Major objectives

This anthropological research is designed, through on-the-spot investigations as well as data based on documents, to shed light on how the spread of democracy has progressed in various societies in Asia and Africa, in terms of how people at the grassroots level have responded to democratization from above and decentralization, and the kinds of social changes have been experienced. People living in local societies are not just objects affected by systemic changes; they have also been engaged in resistance to former social values and the creation of new commonalities. In addition, local NGOs and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) have emerged as effective actors in relation to the distribution of various social and economic resources. This research will examine the operations of social movements in the broad sense of the term and should contribute to further development of traditional research on social change in individual regions and ethnographic research concerning development phenomena.

Global society today shows a greater inclination to respect the independence and equality of individuals, but conversely conspicuously engages in the exclusion and expunction of individuals who are symbolized as not self-reliant and autonomous. This research group plans to highlight the suffering that results from placement outside the ethos of democracy, and engage in critical consideration concerning the spread of grassroots democracy in Asia and Africa, not laying democracy down as an axiom.