Synopses & Reviews
"Deeply researched and elegantly written,
Primitive Selves reaches beyond the confines of the colonial era to the present Japanese preoccupation with Korea. This is an absolute must-read for students and scholars of East Asia."and#151;Sabine Frand#252;hstand#252;ck, author of
Uneasy Warriors: Gender, Memory and Popular Culture in the Japanese Army"A gem to be consulted by all students of anthropology, history, ethno-musicology, and colonial studies."and#151;Hyung Il Pai, author of Constructing "Korean" Origins: A Critical Review of Archaeology, Historiography, and Racial Myth in Korean State Formation Theories
"The hallmark of Atkins' scholarship is his ability to take something seemingly marginaland#151;Japanese jazz, Koreanaand#151;and use it as a lens to explore cultural practices, national sensibilities, and modern ideologies. In doing so, this book uncovers the anxieties about authenticity that underlie the Japanese fixation with Korean culture across the twentieth century. This is a great example of how to write the empire into the history of modern Japan."and#151;Louise Young, author of Japan's Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime Imperialism
Review
and#8220;Atkins succeeds in illustrating the many anxieties and self-contradictions that shaped the Japanese reception, handling and discussion of Korean traditional and popular culture throughout the official, anthropological, curatorial and popular spheres.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;An asset not only to scholars of Japanese and Korean studies but to readers interested in colonial histories, postcolonial studies, racial studies and cultural studies in general, thanks to its comparative interdisciplinary approach.and#8220;
Review
and#8220;The author is to be commended for amassing a wide range of cultural productions . . . and shaping them into a more general claim about the relationship between colonialism and culture within the context of modernity.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Atkinsand#8217;s study offers a refreshing new perspective.and#8221;
Review
“Atkinss study offers a refreshing new perspective.” Todd Henry - Korean Studies
Synopsis
This remarkable book examines the complex history of Japanese colonial and postcolonial interactions with Korea, particularly in matters of cultural policy. E. Taylor Atkins focuses on past and present Japanese fascination with Korean culture as he reassesses colonial anthropology, heritage curation, cultural policy, and Korean performance art in Japanese mass media culture. Atkins challenges the prevailing view that imperial Japan demonstrated contempt for Koreans through suppression of Korean culture. In his analysis, the Japanese preoccupation with Koreana provided the empire with a poignant vision of its own past, now lost--including communal living and social solidarity--which then allowed Japanese to grieve for their former selves. At the same time, the specific objects of Japan's gaze--folk theater, dances, shamanism, music, and material heritage--became emblems of national identity in postcolonial Korea.
Synopsis
This remarkable book examines the complex history of Japanese colonial and postcolonial interactions with Korea, particularly in matters of cultural policy. E. Taylor Atkins focuses on past and present Japanese fascination with Korean culture as he reassesses colonial anthropology, heritage curation, cultural policy, and Korean performance art in Japanese mass media culture. Atkins's new perspective challenges the prevailing view that imperial Japan demonstrated unrelenting contempt for Koreans through a dogged suppression of Korean culture. In Atkins's insightful analysis, the Japanese preoccupation with Koreana provided the empire with a poignant vision of its own past, now lost-including communal living, social solidarity, and cultural integrity-which then allowed Japanese to grieve for their former selves. At the same time, the specific objects of Japan's gaze-folk theater, dances, shamanism, music, and material heritage-became emblems of national identity in postcolonial Korea.
About the Author
E. Taylor Atkins is Professor of History at Northern Illinois University and the author of Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
Introduction
1. A Long Engagement
2. Ethnography as Self-Reflection: Japanese Anthropology in Colonial Korea
3. Curating Koreana: The Management of Culture in Colonial Korea
4. The First K-Wave: Koreaphilia in Imperial Japanese Popular Culture
Epilogue: Postcolonial Valorizations
Notes
Bibliography
Index