Poststructuralist political ecology: Cultural and ecological destruction and modern discourses in the case of colonization and development of the Ainu and Hokkaido

Ecological and cultural destructions of indigenous societies have often been associated with ideas and practices of modernity. Traditional systems of knowledge and activities have been replaced by modern regimes of knowledge and practices. This thesis will explore the case of colonization of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido, as one example of diverse modernization processes, namely regional discursive formations of modernity.;I will apply the theoretical framework of poststructuralist political ecology into this case study. Political ecology provides great insights for the analysis of political economy and its cultural and ecological consequences. Political ecology's attention to discourses allows cultural and ecological studies to maintain a theoretical coherence despite their emphasis on temporal and spatial specificity. Through the analysis of modern discourses in colonial and development contexts, it is possible to grasp relatively stable structures of modernity, the way modern knowledge and reason dominate traditional regimes of knowledge. Moreover, poststructuralist political ecology not only explicates the representational aspect of modern knowledge but also acknowledges the material aspects and consequences of modern discourse.;This thesis aims to provide a critical view of modernization through the historical case study of Hokkaido colonization and development. The understanding of similar structures among modernization processes will provide further opportunities to examine diverse processes and cases of modernity through the coherent theoretical view.