“What could be spoken?”: Lessons on disaster memories and narratives from the case of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

When we discuss the generation and sharing of narratives concerning disaster memories, it is essential to consider various issues such as the stereotyping of stories due to the media discourses and the focus thereof, the discarding of narratives for the authors’ framings, and the issues on overlooking of “what will not be spoken.” This paper examines the possibilities and perspectives of drawing out “what could be spoken” on disaster, which are often discarded in the formation of descriptions and discourses on disasters, considering discussions and practices related to the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on the March 11, 2011 (3.11). This paper will discuss effects of changes of realities, media framings, power of authors, and structural inability to speak for the discourses on disaster. And then, I will consider the possibility of accumulating and describing of “what will not be spoken” on disaster and their public values for disaster memories and lessons through analysis of archive practices of discourses and experiences on 3.11.