Dominant narratives of colonial Hokkaido and imperial Japan : envisioning the periphery and the modern nation-state / Michele M. Mason.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mason, Michele.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Japanese literature--Japan--Hokkaido--History and criticism.

Japanese literature.

Imperialism--Social aspects.

History.

Imperialism.

Hokkaido (Japan)--Civilization.

Hokkaido (Japan).

National characteristics, Japanese.

Imperialism--Social aspects--Japan--History.

Japan--History--Meiji period, 1868-1912.

Japan.

Japan--Hokkaido.

Physical Description:

viii, 232 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Palgrave Macmillan, [2012]

Summary:

The first literary-cultural studies project on modern Hokkaido, this study examines the problematic ways dominant narratives cast Japanese as the main characters, agents, and even victims of the 'modernization' process, perpetuating a number of intransigent and troubling erasures. Michele M. Mason recasts the commonly dismissed colonial project pursued in Hokkaido during the Meiji era (1868-1912) as a major force in the production of modern Japan's national identity, imperial ideology, and empire. Critical readings of the textual and historical foundations of the (his)stories illustrate how representations of the island's colonization both obfuscate the devastating consequences on the indigenous Ainu and define the nascent nation-state of Japan as a timeless, unified, civilized entity. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: Peripheral visions: reimagining colonial Hokkaido

Harvesting history: modern narratives for patriotic pioneers and the imperial military

Writing Ainu out: the nature of Japanese colonialism in Hokkaido

Penal colonies and political protest: narrating the transformation of national identity and literature

A pantheon of promises: fantasies of freedom and capitalist dreams

Contested sites of an enduring colonial past.

ISBN:

9781137289759

1137289759

OCLC:

795175393