Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-century Japan

Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-century Japan PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781597346320
Category : Ainu
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
"In this study, David L. Howell looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Howell illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs - hairstyle, clothing, and personal names - served to distinguish the "civilized" realm of the Japanese from the "barbarian" realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcastes." "In addition to examining the way Japanese concepts of ethnic homogeneity were formed, Howell investigates the Meiji state's construction of entirely new social categories after the imperial restoration, largely from the rubble of early modern ones. This inquiry covers such topics as the translation of feudal occupations into modern livelihoods, the murderous violence against former outcastes, and the attempt to turn the Ainu people of Hokkaido into petty farmers. In the process, the author exposes the many levels of anxiety inherent in the Meiji state's redefinition of status."--Jacket.

Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-century Japan

Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-century Japan PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781597346320
Category : Ainu
Languages : en
Pages : 261

Get Book

Book Description
"In this study, David L. Howell looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Howell illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs - hairstyle, clothing, and personal names - served to distinguish the "civilized" realm of the Japanese from the "barbarian" realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcastes." "In addition to examining the way Japanese concepts of ethnic homogeneity were formed, Howell investigates the Meiji state's construction of entirely new social categories after the imperial restoration, largely from the rubble of early modern ones. This inquiry covers such topics as the translation of feudal occupations into modern livelihoods, the murderous violence against former outcastes, and the attempt to turn the Ainu people of Hokkaido into petty farmers. In the process, the author exposes the many levels of anxiety inherent in the Meiji state's redefinition of status."--Jacket.

Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan

Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan PDF Author: David L. Howell
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520930878
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In this pioneering study, David L. Howell looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Howell illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs—hairstyle, clothing, and personal names— served to distinguish the "civilized" realm of the Japanese from the "barbarian" realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcasts.

Values, Identity, and Equality in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Japan

Values, Identity, and Equality in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Japan PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004300988
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
The chapters in this volume use diverse methodologies to challenge a number of long-standing assumptions regarding the principal contours of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Japanese society, especially regarding values, social hierarchy, state authority, and the construction and spread of identity.

Blind in Early Modern Japan

Blind in Early Modern Japan PDF Author: Wei Yu Wayne Tan
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472055488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
A history of the blind in Japan that challenges contemporary notions of disability

Into the Field

Into the Field PDF Author: Miriam L. Kingsberg Kadia
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503610624
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
In the 1930s, a cohort of professional human scientists coalesced around a common and particular understanding of objectivity as the foundation of legitimate knowledge, and of fieldwork as the pathway to objectivity. Into the Field is the first collective biography of this cohort, evocatively described by one contemporary as the men of one age. At the height of imperialism, the men of one age undertook field research in territories under Japanese rule in pursuit of "objective" information that would justify the subjugation of local peoples. After 1945, amid the defeat and dismantling of Japanese sovereignty and under the occupation and tutelage of the United States, they returned to the field to create narratives of human difference that supported the new national values of democracy, capitalism, and peace. The 1968 student movement challenged these values, resulting in an all-encompassing attack on objectivity itself. Nonetheless, the legacy of the men of one age lives on in the disciplines they developed and the beliefs they established about human diversity.

Intimate Distance

Intimate Distance PDF Author: Michelle Bigenho
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822352354
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This is a book about Andean music, its reception in Japan, and the resultant transcultural connection. Michelle Bigenho toured Japan with Bolivian musicians and dancers and describes how the two nationalites connected with each other through song and dance.

A Concise History of Japan

A Concise History of Japan PDF Author: Brett L. Walker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316239691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
To this day, Japan's modern ascendancy challenges many assumptions about world history, particularly theories regarding the rise of the west and why the modern world looks the way it does. In this engaging new history, Brett L. Walker tackles key themes regarding Japan's relationships with its minorities, state and economic development, and the uses of science and medicine. The book begins by tracing the country's early history through archaeological remains, before proceeding to explore life in the imperial court, the rise of the samurai, civil conflict, encounters with Europe, and the advent of modernity and empire. Integrating the pageantry of a unique nation's history with today's environmental concerns, Walker's vibrant and accessible new narrative then follows Japan's ascension from the ashes of World War II into the thriving nation of today. It is a history for our times, posing important questions regarding how we should situate a nation's history in an age of environmental and climatological uncertainties.

From Country to Nation

From Country to Nation PDF Author: Gideon Fujiwara
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501753940
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
From Country to Nation tracks the emergence of the modern Japanese nation in the nineteenth century through the history of some of its local aspirants. It explores how kokugaku (Japan studies) scholars envisioned their place within Japan and the globe, while living in a castle town and domain far north of the political capital. Gideon Fujiwara follows the story of Hirao Rosen and fellow scholars in the northeastern domain of Tsugaru. On discovering a newly "opened" Japan facing the dominant Western powers and a defeated Qing China, Rosen and other Tsugaru intellectuals embraced kokugaku to secure a place for their local "country" within the broader nation and to reorient their native Tsugaru within the spiritual landscape of an Imperial Japan protected by the gods. Although Rosen and his fellows celebrated the rise of Imperial Japan, their resistance to the Western influence and modernity embraced by the Meiji state ultimately resulted in their own disorientation and estrangement. By analyzing their writings—treatises, travelogues, letters, poetry, liturgies, and diaries—alongside their artwork, Fujiwara reveals how this socially diverse group of scholars experienced the Meiji Restoration from the peripheries. Using compelling firsthand accounts, Fujiwara tells the story of the rise of modern Japan, from the perspective of local intellectuals who envisioned their local "country" within a nation that emerged as an empire of the modern world.

International Law and Japanese Sovereignty

International Law and Japanese Sovereignty PDF Author: Douglas Howland
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137567775
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
How does a nation become a great power? A global order was emerging in the nineteenth century, one in which all nations were included. This book explores the multiple legal grounds of Meiji Japan's assertion of sovereign statehood within that order: natural law, treaty law, international administrative law, and the laws of war. Contrary to arguments that Japan was victimized by 'unequal' treaties, or that Japan was required to meet a 'standard of civilization' before it could participate in international society, Howland argues that the Westernizing Japanese state was a player from the start. In the midst of contradictions between law and imperialism, Japan expressed state will and legal acumen as an equal of the Western powers – international incidents in Japanese waters, disputes with foreign powers on Japanese territory, and the prosecution of interstate war. As a member of international administrative unions, Japan worked with fellow members to manage technical systems such as the telegraph and the post. As a member of organizations such as the International Law Association and as a leader at the Hague Peace Conferences, Japan helped to expand international law. By 1907, Japan was the first non-western state to join the ranks of the great powers.

A Malleable Map

A Malleable Map PDF Author: Kären Wigen
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520259181
Category : Cartography
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
"A Malleable Map is a striking example of what a historically deep, learned, and meticulous examination of maps and geographical place-making can teach us. Wigen's compelling analysis and stunning graphics set a new standard for understanding the production of spatial identity." --