University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Empire of Fashion: Taste, Gender, and Nation in Modern Japan

Karlin, Jason Gregory

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/84630

Description

Title
The Empire of Fashion: Taste, Gender, and Nation in Modern Japan
Author(s)
Karlin, Jason Gregory
Issue Date
2002
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
  • Kevin M. Doak
  • Toby, Ronald P.
Department of Study
History
Discipline
History
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Literature, Asian
Language
eng
Abstract
"Following from the work of Henri Lefebvre, I emphasize how the impact of capitalism and the intensification of fashion created a new awareness of the concept of everyday life in modern Japan. I analyze the way in which a peripheral elite disaffected with the government criticized the excessive Westernizing tendencies of the Japanese state and promoted the congruity of everyday life and national culture through the ""invention of tradition."" In this way, they constructed an aesthetic of everyday life as a cultural tradition to reinforce a shared sense of national identity. My analysis thus centers on a process of contesting nationalisms, whereby the cultural nation was imagined in opposition to the modern, rational state. As a consequence, a shared cultural identity was invented through the commercialization and consumption of tradition and the aestheticization of the culture of everyday life."
Graduation Semester
2002
Type of Resource
text
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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/84630

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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - History
Graduate theses and dissertations in the Department of History