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The Gender of Nationalism: Competing Masculinities in Meiji Japan
Citation:
Karlin, Jason G. 2002. “The Gender of Nationalism: Competing Masculinities in Meiji Japan.” Journal of Japanese Studies 28 (1): 41-77.,/span>
Author: Jason G. Karlin
Abstract:
This essay examines gender symbolism in competing representations of nationalism in Meiji Japan. Through an analysis of contesting images of masculinity, it reveals how questions of national identity were articulated in the idiom of gender. In response to the perceived threat of the feminization of culture represented by the intensification of consumption, fashion, and artifice, a vigorous masculinity asserted itself that rejected Western materialism and instead extolled notions of primitivism, national spirit, and imperialism. These two opposing representations of masculinity, a "masculinized" and "feminized" masculinity, each constituted differing responses to the problem of modernity.
Topics: Gender, Women, Men, Masculinity/ies, Femininity/ies, Nationalism Regions: Asia, East Asia Countries: Japan
Year: 2002
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