Burakumin

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Burakumin (Japanese: 部落民, lit. "hamlet people") are a historically marginalized social group in Japan. Their ancestors were outcastes of the pre-modern era who were associated with occupations considered impure or tainted by death, such as executioners, undertakers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. This group resided at the bottom of the traditional social hierarchy, and were segregated into their own hamlets and neighborhoods. Although legally liberated in 1871 with the abolition of the feudal caste system, burakumin have since faced persistent discrimination and prejudice. Their total modern population is estimated to be between 1.5 and 3 million. The history of the burakumin is often presented as a "master narrative" that assumes a direct, continuous line from pre-modern outcastes to the modern-day community. However, scholars such as Timothy D. Amos have challenged this view, arguing that the modern burakumin identity is a more recent, discursively constructed category...

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