Format:
20 Seiten
ISBN:
978-3-9812131-6-4
Content:
Disaster Volunteers in Tōhoku: Purpose in Life, Strategy, Self-Complacency? This ethnographic study examines disaster volunteers in Tohoku aged between 20 and 40 years old. The empirical data obtained from fieldwork between April 2011 and April 2013 point to an inherent link between volunteering and personal transformation. Ethnographic analyses of individual volunteer experiences are rare (Stevens 1997, Ozawa 2001, Nakano 2005). Contrary to the conventional belief that volunteering is primarily about altruism and empathy I argue that most volunteers pursue their own interests while helping others. The aim of this study is the qualitative exploration of the multiple experiences and changes of selected younger volunteers: some seek to overcome their social aversion through volunteering, some hope to reintegrate into society and consider their activities as their »first career«. Others have abandoned their stable well-paid jobs in Tokyo and aspire to new professional challenges and thus pursue their volunteering activities as their »second career«. My empirical data obtained from fieldwork and semi-structured interviews suggest that regardless of the various motivations of individuals social work constitutes a context where individuals position themselves vis-à-vis society rather than retreating from it (Stevens 1997, Nakano 2005). Volunteering is depicted as a milieu where individual identities are re-framed and the changes of Japanese society as such becomes evident, especially its transition from lifelong employment to self-determined project work and new forms of living.
In:
Japan 2013 : Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 2013, (2013), Seite 255-274, 978-3-9812131-6-4
In:
year:2013
In:
pages:255-274
Language:
German
Keywords:
Tohoku
;
Katastrophenhilfe
;
Helfer
;
Ehrenamtlicher Mitarbeiter
;
Motivation
DOI:
10.48796/20231011-024
URN:
urn:nbn:de:0308-20231011-024-0
Author information:
Klien, Susanne 1972-
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