Dominant narratives of colonial Hokkaido and imperial Japan
Subtitle: envisioning the periphery and the modern nation-state
By: Michele M. Mason
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 232
ISBN-13: 9781137289759
Subjects: History; Civilization; Japanese literature; Japanese National characteristics; History and criticism; Imperialism
Description: 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.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Peripheral visions: reimagining colonial Hokkaido; title: Harvesting history: modern narratives for patriotic pioneers and the imperial military; title: Writing Ainu out: the nature of Japanese colonialism in Hokkaido; title: Penal colonies and political protest: narrating the transformation of national identity and literature; title: A pantheon of promises: fantasies of freedom and capitalist dreams; title: Contested sites of an enduring colonial past.