Scientists and remaking heritage: the case of shiitake cultivation in a globally important agricultural heritage system in Japan

ABSTRACTA growing number of traditional agricultural systems around the world have been designated Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), as they are exemplars of the accumulated wisdom of human communities and their close relationship with the local ecology. Heritage inscription is a strategy used to conserve and increase awareness of this inheritance. However, the role of scientists in the construction and inscription of the agricultural heritage has been understudied. Through a qualitative methodology and participatory-observation research, this study examines biocultural heritage construction in a GIAHS in the Kunisaki Peninsula of Oita, Japan. Drawing on actor-network theory and based on the experience of scientists who specialise in traditional log-cultivated shiitake farming, this study demonstrates the role of non-human actors – a fungus-covered chip and shiitake, in particular – in the heritagisation process and the role of scientists in stabilising and destabilising the heritage network. I find that the heritage inscription process of the tradition of log-cultivated shiitake farming has created a new form of identity and moral capital associated not only with the conservation of Japanese food and agricultural heritage but also with the continued existence of local rural villages, protection of national food security and global environmental health.KEYWORDS: Agricultural heritageKunisaki peninsulashiitakeheritage processactor-network Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1. For the term ‘sustainable’, I follow the principles used by Howard et al (Citation2008).2. One reason that log-cultivated shiitake are healthier than shiitake cultivated by other methods is that the former have higher B12 content. According to Kisaku Mori (Citation1974), large trees with roots deep in the soil can take B12 from deeper layers. Shiitake mushrooms, which grow in the wood of dead trees, take vitamins such as B12 from their hosts.3. Unless otherwise stated, I use science to denote ‘knowledge about the structure and behavior of the natural and physical world, based on facts that you can prove, for example by experiments’ (Oxford Advanced American Dictionary Citation2023)4. See Welsch (Citation1999) on the reflexification of the term ‘culture’, which they argue should be revised to ‘transculture’.5. Through out the research, I have followed the American Anthropology Association ethical guidelines (American Anthropological Association Citation2023). I have disclosed myself as a researcher, guaranteeing anonymity, and offering an opt-out option, and have the informed consent forms being signed. Since my informants would like to have their names mentioned, I have used their real names instead of using pseudo-names.6. In this article, I adopt the definition of FAO (Howard et al. Citation2008 for sustainability, which includes criteria such possessing financial and economic viability, and sustainability over the long term, possessing system flexibility and resilience, and adaptive capacity to cope with changing environmental or socioeconomic conditions, stresses or opportunities, and sustainability of human-environmental relations and trends in the long term, in the ecological and social sense (such as the nutrient cycles and demography)7. The pronunciation was verified with the people in Longquan, Qingyuan and Jinling during author’s fieldtrip in these three places in August, 2023.8. On cultural governance, Foucault has shown how different narratives and appropriations of places where governmental and disciplinary regimes imbricate would involve power.9. See the MAFF website for further details (https://www.maff.go.jp/e/index.html).10. My study of the shiitake heritage network supports the claim that actors and their networks are simultaneously defined, doing away with the macro/micro distinction (Law and Hassard Citation1999).Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the This study is supported by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China under Grant UGC/FDS15/H06/21 [RGC Project Ref. No. UGC/FDS15/H06/21].Notes on contributorsVeronica Sau-Wa MakVeronica Sau-Wa Mak is Associate Professor, Department of Sociology at the Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Her research interests focus on food, technology and heritage politics in Japan, China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.