No.6 The Identity and Networks of Uchinanchu in the 7th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival－Based on the Survey on Festival Participants ―

The Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival, Okinawa Prefecture’s largest international convention, brings together descendants of Okinawan emigrants from across the globe to reconnect with their cultural roots and interact with both local Okinawans and fellow members of the diaspora. The main purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of festival participants attending the 7th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival, held during the COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire survey was administered to festival participants to examine the key concepts underpinning the festival: Okinawan descent identity and the development and expansion of the Uchina-network through the festival. A total of 665 valid responses were received, comprising 257 overseas, 65 out-of-prefecture, and 343 in-prefecture participants. A characteristic of the festival participants was that many were from the US, with many also third-generation descendants. While the primary purpose of participation was to interact with Uchinanchu from around the world and other Okinawans, little networking was accomplished in terms of expanding new Uchina-networks during the actual festival. Regarding identity, overseas, out-of-prefecture, and in-prefecture participants had high levels of Okinawan identity. Among overseas participants, Okinawan identity was high across generations, but differences in the structure of identity by generation were also observed. For overseas participants, Okinawan identity remained high across generations, but there were also differences in the structure of identity by generation. In particular, hybrid identities were common among the third and later generations, who comprise the core of the current immigrant generation. As for regional differences, identification with the country or region of immigration was high in Hawai’i, while in South America, participants demonstrated strong attachments to both their Okinawan and Nikkei identities.

Keywords: Uchinanchu , Okinawa, Identity, Network, Ethnicity, Migration