From white to yellow : the Japanese in European racial thought, 1300-1735 / Rotem Kowner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kowner, Rotem, author.

Series:

McGill-Queen's studies in the history of ideas ; 63.

McGill-Queen's Studies in the History of Ideas ; 63

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Race--Social aspects--Europe--History.

Race.

Public opinion--Europe--History.

Public opinion.

Japan--Foreign public opinion, European--History.

Japan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxv, 678 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Montréal, Québec : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When Europeans landed in Japan they encountered people they perceived as white-skinned and highly civilized, but these impressions did not endure. Gradually the Europeans' positive impressions faded away and Japanese were seen as yellow-skinned and relatively inferior. This book traces racial roots of the modern clash between Japan and the West.

Contents:

Phase One. Speculation : Pre-Encounter Knowledge of the Japanese (1300-1543). 1. The emergence of "Cipangu" and its precursory ethnography ; 2. The "Cipanguese" at the opening of the age of discovery

Phase Two. Observation : A Burgeoning Discourse of Initial Encounters (1543-1640). 3. Initial observations of the Japanese ; 4. The Japanese position in contemporary hierarchies ; 5. Concrete mirrors of a new human order ; 6. "Race" and its cognitive limits during the phase of observation

Phase Three. Reconsideration : Antecendents of a Mature Discourse (1640-1735). 7. Dutch reappraisal of the Japanese body and origins ; 8. Power, status, and the Japanese position in the global order ; 9. In search of a new taxonomy : botany, medicine, and the Japanese ; 10. "Race" and its perceptual limits during the phase of reconsideration

Conclusion : The discourse of race in early modern Europe and the Japanese case.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed December 18, 2014).

ISBN:

9780773544550

0773544550

9780773596849

0773596844

9780773596832

0773596836

OCLC:

1055364882