Although there have been very few research seminars in Japan related to the informal sector in the area of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, and despite the fact that the concept of the informal sector is still vague and problematic, some research which falls under this heading has emerged from the Middle East, most notably from Egypt.
Here, in addition to examining the present state and basic issues involved in research on the informal sector in the Middle Eastern Islamic world, and thus inquiring into possibilities for expanding it, we would like to take the first step beyond the Islamic world and think about how we can construct a comparative framework for these issues.
Further, we would like to use a variety of different disciplines to examine problems such as those related to development, environment, (or colonialism and symbiosis) from different points of view such as Geography, Sociology, Economic History, Social History Anthropology and Religious Studies to see if we can come up with new answers.
Explanation of the new project, Islamic Area Studies by GOTO Akira
Firstly, OHTOSHI Tetsuya explained the objectives of the seminar. He overviewed many issues such as the different points of view arising out of the background of economic development aid and the changes in the informal sector's definition started by the ILO.
Then KANO Hiromasa gave an overview of three approaches (socially marginal, state control, small enterprise) to study the informal sector in the Middle East and gave examples of how these approaches are used on the internet. He also showed us an example from Ankara based on his previous social survey.
In TANADA Hirofumi's report, he gave us the example of garbage collectors (Zabbalin) in Cairo, Egypt. Firstly, after explaining the garbage collection system and its historical development, he reported on conditions and functions of various organizations known as gamaiyya which currently carry out recycling business in Manshiyat Naser, an area where Coptic Christians live.
OHTOSHI Tetsuya, in response to TANADA's report, gave a slide presentation which compared garbage collection, garbage collectors and pig farming in the Coptic area of Manshiyat Naser with that of Muslim villages, and discussed the life histories of garbage collectors. In addition, he spoke about issues related to traditional techniques of leather tanning, pottery, plaster making, and the slaughtering of livestock in Old Cairo.
In response to these presentations, NAGASAWA Eiji commented on the issue of the agriculturization of urban areas and pointed out the necessity not only of research on the informal sector in urban areas, but also research concerning its development in rural areas, in the case of Egypt.
In the second half of the seminar, KUMAGAI Keichi gave a detailed report on Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. This began with an explanation of the cities in Papua New Guinea and included a report on the activities and possibilities for growth of the informal sector. In addition, he clarified changes in lifestyles of villages located in areas shared by different tribes. Furthermore, he pursued the debate on shared poverty and reviving agriculture within urban area and brought up extremely important issues concerning the informal sector asserting its relationship to activities and powers outside the status quo.
Next, in his presentation, UEDA Gen brought up many important issues in Kenya which show the weaknesses of previous research on the informal sector from a historical and spatial point of view. Then UEDA substituted the term informal sector with micro enterprise and after rethinking the term within the context of the state-society relationship, pointed out the danger of studying each enterprise separately, expansionism of enterprise, and abstraction of the relationship between production and employment as important issues in the study of micro enterprises in Kenya. In order to better understand these issues, a research survey was conducted on open-air automobile repair shops in the city of Nyeri.
After reviewing these two reports, ONJO Akio commented on them and offered a comparison with the situation in Ghana. He gave many examples of how the Hausa Muslims in Northern Ghana who have migrated into cities (in this case Agra) are related to the informal sector.
Later, the discussion turned to the term 'informal sector' itself and issues related to the concept, the appropriateness of its use and how we should define the term. Special consideration was given to whether we should emphasize management scale and behavior patterns or its position outside of the power structure. In addition, it was discussed whether the informal sector, which has been in existence since before modern times should be viewed separately from that of early modern times or if it should be understood simply as traditional industries. It was also argued that the reason that research on the informal sector in the Middle East in general is not very popular revolves around the question of whether such research is of any great value or not.
In addition, it was discussed whether useful discussion would arise by prefixing Informal Sector Studies with the Middle East and Islamic Studies. The same question may be asked of Islamic Area Studies. In this sense, this discussion was nothing more than a preliminary one.
Lastly, to point out two problems with the proceedings of the seminar, it was noted that the characteristics of the informal sector of the Middle East that we covered in the first part and the informal sector of Africa and Papua New Guinea covered in the second part were very different. The former easily finds its focus in slums and poverty. However, Informal Sector Studies in Africa seem to be aimed at a wider range of subjects based on more detailed analysis. The opinion was expressed that rather than deciding which of these approaches is flawed, it would be more effective to look into the different aspects of Informal Sector Studies which emerge from various contexts.
The other problem with the seminar was that it was held in an area rather remote from Tokyo during a busy period and as a result, there were few participants from outside of Kyushu.
At the end of the seminar, GOTO Akira, the leader of Group 5, gave an overall explanation of the new Islamic Area Studies program to those who were participating for the first time and they indicated their interest in cooperating with the program.
There were a total of 24 participants. Among them were:
KANO Hiromasa (Tsuda College), TANADA Hirofumi (Waseda University), KUMAGAI Keichi (Ochanomizu University), UEDA Gen (Daito Bunka University), NAGASAWA Eiji (University of Tokyo), ONJO Akio (Kyushu University), GOTO Akira (University of Tokyo), TANAKA Tetsuya (Fukuoka University), SHIMIZU Kosuke (Kyushu University), OHTOSHI Tetsuya (Kyushu University)
Report by OHTOSHI Tetsuya
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