We are proud to share that Nanako Nakamura of the Rural Sociology Group will be defending her PhD thesis titled “The ethics of care and well-being in more-than-human community economies: Older women’s local business in rural Japan” on Monday, September 22, at 15:30 in the Omnia Auditorium, Wageningen.
When: September 22, at 15:30 PM
Where: Omnia, Wageningen University
Summary
This PhD research explores how an older women’s community-based business in Shizuoka, Japan, contributes to collective well-being in an ageing and depopulating rural community. These women face challenges in maintaining livelihoods, social ties, and natural resource management due to labour and skill shortages. Yet, they have collaboratively launched a local business driven by kokorozashi – meaning ‘wish’ or ‘aim’ – to promote food safety, cultural practices, care for abandoned fields, and enhanced elder care. Their kokorozashi fosters diverse values in business practices, including more-than-human interdependence, emotions, and ongoing collective efforts. The research illuminates their everyday practices in an ethical space where they care for interdependence among people, government officers, plants, animals, machines, and landscapes. It also highlights the relational dimensions of gender, age, and rurality that shape older women’s everyday realities. The findings call for greater analytical attention to intersecting social relations, contributing to development policies that move beyond market-based neoliberal approaches.
Centre for Space, Place and Society 