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

"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."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Karlin, Jason Gregory

Contributors dc:contributor

• Kevin M. Doak
• Toby, Ronald P.

• Literature, Asian

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3044134

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/84630