Gilligan’s work in a different voice (1982) has received a wide range of responses from feminists in various fields (Okano, 2016), but the potential of “ethics of care” has not been fully explored in understanding women’s contribution to sustainable recovery in disaster contexts (Hayes and Jackson 2020). The disaster literature tends to focus on women as victims/or actors, seeing disaster as gendered labour reinforcement or as opportunity for social change. This research aims to draw on the theory of ‘ethics of care’ to contextualize gender disaster experiences through the narratives of the Okami (traditional Japanese inn owners) in post-disaster Japan. It seeks to understand how the ethics of care are constructed and implemented during the process of disaster reconstruction, shedding light on the women’s role to sustainability. The research was conducted between 2016 and 2023 using a longitudinal ethnographic approach (a prolonged motorcycle ethnography 2016 and collaborative ethnography 2023) and multiple methods for data collection to ensure data “thickness”.
The findings of the narrative analysis suggest that the traditional image of Okami (women owners) as “a producer of Japanese identity” (Guichard-Anguis, 2008) has been reshaped from being a stereotype of cultural carrier of femininity to being a proactive dynamic care ethics mobiliser in the process of disaster reconstruction. The disaster context provided the context for their public engagement with post-disaster stakeholders, which saw them as acting for change and legitimating a notion of care that goes beyond the stereotypical one. We found that ethics of care was manifested by Okami as an interplay between values and actions to respond to the suffering beyond the “Omotenashi” culture (Japanese concept of wholehearted hospitality). They contributed to sustainable post disaster reconstruction through 1) using their contextualized experiences/local knowledge and social relations to develop a more inclusive approach toward social sustainability, 2) ensuring that their organisation (Japanese inn/ryokan) became a space for “care practice” aimed at regenerating social connections to develop a more sustainable living environment.
References
Guichard-Anguis, S. (2008). Japanese inns (ryokan) as producers of Japanese identity. In Japanese tourism and travel culture, Routledge.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard university press.
Hayes, P., & Jackson, D. (2020). Care ethics and the responsible management of power and privacy in digitally enhanced disaster response. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 18(1), 157-174.
Okano, Y. (2016). Why has the ethics of care become an issue of global concern? International Journal of Japanese Sociology, 25(1), 85-99.
