The Structural Architecture of Marginalization: Internal Colonialism, Militarization, and The Persistence of Discrimination Against Okinawans

Abstract

This research investigates the systemic mechanisms of discrimination against the Okinawan people by shifting the analytical lens from individual prejudice to structural power dynamics. Utilizing Michael Hechter’s theory of internal colonialism and the framework of militarized modernity, this study deconstructs how the Japanese central government and U.S. military interests have historically converged to marginalize the Ryukyu archipelago. Through an operational historical method and critical discourse analysis of primary legal documents, educational materials, and oral testimonies, the study identifies three primary catalysts of discrimination: state-driven dispossession during the Ryūkyū Shobun, the ‘cultural division of labor’ established under Meiji-era Japanization, and the contemporary spatial hegemony of U.S. military bases. The findings indicate that discrimination in Okinawa is not a residual historical artifact but a functional component of the U.S.-Japan security alliance, institutionalized through the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and commodified through ‘militourism.’ This research contributes to the field of postcolonial studies by elucidating how internal colonial structures persist within a modern democratic state, necessitating a fundamental renegotiation of Okinawan sovereignty and indigenous rights.