Nationalisms of Japan: Managing and Mystifying Identity: Asia/Pacific/Perspectives Brian J. McVeigh Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Nationalisms of Japan

Managing and Mystifying Identity

Nationalisms of Japan

Managing and Mystifying Identity

Description

In this fresh and original analysis, Brian J. McVeigh confronts both the demonizers and apologists of Japan. He argues persuasively that far from being unique, Japanese nationalism becomes demystified once 'management' and 'mysticism'-the same processes and practices that operate in other national states-are taken into account. Stripping away Orientalist-inspired misconceptions, the author stresses the variety and relative intensity of nationalisms, ranging from economic, ethnic, and educational to cultural, gendered, and religious. He moves beyond state-centered ideologies to explore the linkages between official and popular nationalisms and the complex interplay of ethnocultural, ethnopolitical, and ethnoracial forms of identity. The ambiguity and everydayness of nationalism, McVeigh contends, explain its enduring power. He concludes that modern Japan is imbued with a deeply rooted legacy of 'renovationism' or 'reform nationalism' that accounts for its streamlined state structures, guarded economic nationalism, and highly scrutinized relationship with the rest of the world. Highlighting the pluralism of identity among Japanese, this book will be an invaluable corrective to recent works that glibly proclaim the emergence of 'globalization,' 'internationalization,' and 'convergence.'

Part 1 Purposes and Perspectives
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 The Ambiguity, Domains, and Degrees of Nationalism
Chapter 4 Historical Background of Japan's Nationalisms
Chapter 5 Renovationist Nationalism: The Self-Reinforcing Logic of Modernity and Japaneseness
Chapter 6 Nationalizing the State and Statizing the Nation
Part 7 State and Official Nationalisms
Chapter 8 Economic Nationalism: Developmentalism and Capitalist Nationalism
Chapter 9 Educational Nationalism: Reproducing Educational Dualism
Chapter 10 Ethnos Nationalism: State, Nation, and "Race" in a House of Mirrors
Chapter 11 State Cultural Nationalism: Cultural Policy-Aestheticizing the Nation and Nationalizing Aesthetics
Part 12 Popular and Nonofficial Nationalisms
Chapter 13 Popular Cultural Nationalism: Linking Ethnos, Aesthetics, Citizenship, and Progress
Chapter 14 Postimperial Ethnos Nationalism: Homogeneity, Uniqueness, and Peace
Chapter 15 Gendered Nationalism: Producing "Good Wives-Wise Mothers"
Chapter 16 Mainstream and Marginal Nationalism: The Paradox of "Japaneseness" in the Mahikari Religious Movement
Part 17 Final Thoughts
Chapter 18 Japan's Legacy of Modernity and Issues of Citizenship
Chapter 19 Internationalism, Extra-Nationalism and Renovationism
Part 20 Appendix A Types of Corporations and Their Relevant Laws
Part 21 Appendix B Procedure for Establishing a Public-Service Corporation
Part 22 Appendix C Organization of Corporations

Product details

Published	Nov 19 2003
Format	Paperback
Edition	1st
Extent	352
ISBN	9780742524552
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Dimensions	229 x 150 mm
Series	Asia/Pacific/Perspectives
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

McVeigh . . . explicitly debunks the myths of Japanese uniqueness advanced both by romantics and by those who want to demonize Japan.

Lucien Pye, Foreign Affairs
A timely study that deserves to be read by anyone interested in contemporary Japanese culture or politics.

Kevin M. Doak, Georgetown University
McVeigh's ingenious study contributes to our understanding of both Japan and nationalism. A very important book.

Chalmers Johnson, Japan Policy Research Institute
[A] fascinating study of nationalism in Japan. . . . By the end [of the book], readers have a much more complex and nuanced sense of what it means to be Japanese, as well as what it might mean for a non-Japanese outsider to study Japan. Highly recommended.

Choice Reviews
A masterful, comprehensive analysis of nationalism in Japan, whose methodology should be an example for the study of nationalism anywhere.

Harumi Befu, Stanford University, Journal Of The Royal Anthropological Institute
[A]n ambitious attempt to synthesize and critique this large body of scholarship [on Japanese diversity], to reveal the workings of the ideological fields that continue to sustain myths of Japanese exceptionalism. This is a theoretically rich book that crosses the boundaries of discipline and area studies.

The Journal of Japanese Studies