Voiced and Voiceless in Asia
Voiced and Voiceless in Asia
Author(s): Annegret Bergmann, Pia Eskelinen, Letizia Guarini, Noriko Hiraishi, Kamila Hladíková, Fumi Inoue, Bhavana Kumari, Martin Lavička, Madhu Madhu, Rafael Vinícius Martins, Nikolaos Mavropoulos, Robert Ono, Silvia Picchiarelli, André Pinto Teixeira, Martina R. Prosperi, Rune Steenberg, Freya Terryn, Robert Tsaturyan, Jessica Uldry, Halina Zawiszová
Contributor(s): Halina Zawiszová (Editor), Martin Lavička (Editor)
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Gender Studies, Studies of Literature, Recent History (1900 till today), Security and defense, Health and medicine and law, Victimology, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Politics and Identity, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
Keywords: Asia; China; Japan; India; Taiwan
Summary/Abstract: This volume consists of 19 chapters that reflect the titular theme - Voiced and Voiceless in Asia - from a variety of angles, making use of diverse scholarly approaches and disciplines, while focusing specifically on China, India, Japan, and Taiwan. The chapters are broadly divided into two parts: (1) Politics and Society, and (2) Arts and Literature, although the texts included in the second part also deal with social themes. In addition to historical topics, such as Japanese colonialism or Chinese agricultural reforms in the 1950s, the volume also addresses current issues, including restrictive Chinese policies in Xinjiang, Japanese activist movements against gender-based violence and discrimination, or the problems of migrant laborers in India and performing arts in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, it provides insight into satirical woodblock prints from the Boshin War period or works of literature produced in Japanese leprosariums in the first half of the 20th century, as well as into selected topics in contemporary Chinese, Japanese, and Sinophone Tibetan literature. Collectively, the chapters comprised in this volume narrate the multifaceted relationship between 'voice' and 'power,' thus highlighting the fact that the question of 'voice' is closely intertwined with a variety of social, political, and cultural issues.
- E-ISBN-13: 978-80-244-6270-7
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-80-244-6269-1
- Page Count: 552
- Publication Year: 2023
- Language: English
Dalit Activism, Social Media, and Transnational Advocacy
Dalit Activism, Social Media, and Transnational Advocacy
(Dalit Activism, Social Media, and Transnational Advocacy)
- Author(s):Madhu Madhu
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Globalization
- Page Range:25-52
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:Dalits; social media; transnational advocacy; discrimination; identity;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper argues that social media engagement and strategy offers Dalits to not only construct their own identity as an empowered Dalit but also offers them opportunities to unite and forge transnational ties with other marginalized communities across the globe to fight against caste-based discrimination. This paper highlights the assertion of Dalits using social media pages like Roundtable India, Velivada, and YouTube channels like Dalit Camera, and Dalit organizations such as National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN), Equality Labs, etc., in India and abroad for voicing their opinions, mobilizing, and fighting a pitched battle in the contested public sphere. The paper explores the question of how subalterns are using new media technologies by analyzing reports of various Dalit organizations, pamphlets, and social media posts.
An Analysis of India’s Uncalled Migrant Labor Crisis during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Study of Bihar
An Analysis of India’s Uncalled Migrant Labor Crisis during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Study of Bihar
(An Analysis of India’s Uncalled Migrant Labor Crisis during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Study of Bihar)
- Author(s):Bhavana Kumari
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Migration Studies
- Page Range:53-84
- No. of Pages:32
- Keywords:India; COVID-19; lockdown; migrant laborers; Bihar;
- Summary/Abstract:The chapter discusses the migrant labor crisis in India that surfaced because of the lockdown imposed during the first wave of the SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) in 2020. Despite several relief measures, there have been lapses that resulted in unwelcome consequences to the fate of migrant laborers. This chapter attempts to find the reasons behind the unfortunate consequences and offers an in-depth analysis of India’s COVID-19 lockdown and its effects on the socio-economic challenges of domestic migrant laborers. Neoclassical Migration and Dual Labor Market theories are applied to understand the nuanced situations of migrant laborers in India. This research makes an inductive and qualitative analysis. The chapter uses official empirical data available for study, and takes Bihar, a central eastern state of India, as a case study for a better understanding of the issue.
Buraku Discrimination in Contemporary Japan: The Dichotomy between Discursive Practices and Identity
Buraku Discrimination in Contemporary Japan: The Dichotomy between Discursive Practices and Identity
(Buraku Discrimination in Contemporary Japan: The Dichotomy between Discursive Practices and Identity)
- Author(s):André Pinto Teixeira
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology
- Page Range:85-105
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Japan; burakumin; discrimination; discourse; identity;
- Summary/Abstract:The buraku discrimination issue in Japan has been discussed in different ways, both at an academic and activist level. Despite divergences in discourse throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the traditional interpretation of the problem is postulated by Inoue (1969) under the “trinity of buraku” model, which is, hitherto, the most widely used framework. However, it is not clear whether this conceptual framework is applicable to buraku discrimination or buraku empowerment in contemporary Japanese society. With that in mind, this paper will begin by reviewing and discussing Inoue’s (1969) “trinity of buraku,” comparing its three core roots of discrimination with contemporary accounts retrieved from secondary sources. Subsequently, we will move on to the question of identity building and presentation within the burakumin communities, referring back to the seminal works of Worchel and Giddens to garner conceptual support. Lastly, this paper will assert the rights of buraku discrimination victims’ through a multivocal approach that does not replicate discriminatory discourses.
“Soft” Resistance in Rural China: The Silent Voice of the Powerless
“Soft” Resistance in Rural China: The Silent Voice of the Powerless
(“Soft” Resistance in Rural China: The Silent Voice of the Powerless)
- Author(s):Silvia Picchiarelli
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Social history, Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
- Page Range:107-131
- No. of Pages:25
- Keywords:Chinese peasants; resistance; Maoist era; unified system of purchase and sale
- Summary/Abstract:In 1953, the Chinese government introduced a monopoly on trade in grain, known as the “unified system of purchase and sale.” Although often underestimated by the academic world, the effects of this policy on the countryside were nothing less than devastating. Challenging conventional wisdom which deems the Chinese peasants completely powerless and subservient, this paper seeks to show that in fact they unswervingly resisted it. However, as my comparative analysis of primary sources dating from 1953 to 1955 and relating to villages in Shanxi province (northern China) has shown, the peasants rarely resorted to violent, large-scale rebellions to express their discontent. They were more inclined to employ invisible and unorganized resistance strategies, which were very similar to those identified by the American scholar James Scott in his study of a Malaysian village and defined as “everyday forms of peasant resistance.”
Hukou, Land Tenure Rights, and Chinese Rural Women
Hukou, Land Tenure Rights, and Chinese Rural Women
(Hukou, Land Tenure Rights, and Chinese Rural Women)
- Author(s):Pia Eskelinen
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology
- Page Range:133-154
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:land rights; rural women; China; hukou; household registration system; women’s rights;
- Summary/Abstract:Land is a powerful asset, and it has a social function as its economic and social aspects are central in advancing gender equality. Legal control of land as well as the legal and social recognition of women’s uses of and rights to land, can provide catalytic effects of empowerment, increasing women’s influence and status in their homes and communities. The main aim of this article is to investigate and analyze the difficulties rural women face in land tenure rights when changing their hukou, which is the household registration system. During past decades, changes in the practices of the Chinese hukou legislation and land tenure rights have brought important incentives for rural developments, including farmer income and living standards. Even though both men and women face difficulties in rural areas due to the hukou system and its clashes with land rights, women are more vulnerable and more at risk of facing poverty and abuse. Women remain more likely to become landless after changing their hukou. The lack of recognition for women’s land-use rights deprives them of their chances of surviving in rural China. They become legal ghosts.
Religious and De-extremization Regulations and Their Dissemination in the XUAR
Religious and De-extremization Regulations and Their Dissemination in the XUAR
(Religious and De-extremization Regulations and Their Dissemination
in the XUAR)
- Author(s):Martin Lavička
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Ethnic Minorities Studies
- Page Range:155-177
- No. of Pages:23
- Keywords:Xinjiang; Uyghurs; propaganda; religious policy; ethnic policy;
- Summary/Abstract:The current situation of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is considered by many as one of the most pressing human rights violations of the last few decades. The Uyghurs, being an ethnic minority in China, are voiceless under the current political leadership, which suppresses anything deviating from the official course set up by the Party leaders in Beijing. The legal guarantees, stipulated by Chinese law, are nothing more than a pretend world in which the Uyghurs are only second-class citizens. This chapter looks at one of the Chinese government channels employed to raise public awareness among Uyghurs about the new laws and regulations. It discusses the content of an officially published Uyghur-written booklet Din esebiyliki ademni nabut qilidu (Religious extremism kills/destroys people) and analyses in what way legal regulations are explained to the “common” Uyghurs. This chapter also identifies various propaganda strategies within the official narrative of the Chinese government.
Personalized Propaganda: The Politics and Economy of Young, Pro-government Minority Vloggers from the XUAR
Personalized Propaganda: The Politics and Economy of Young, Pro-government Minority Vloggers from the XUAR
(Personalized Propaganda: The Politics and Economy of Young, Pro-government Minority Vloggers from the XUAR)
- Author(s):Rune Steenberg, Tenha Seher
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Ethnic Minorities Studies
- Page Range:179-205
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:XUAR; Uyghurs; state propaganda; personalized propaganda; social media;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper introduces a new genre of Chinese online propaganda about the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) that we call personalized propaganda. It takes the shape of personal vlogs and short videos by young minority people showing their lives and debating political topics in line with the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The paper describes and contextualizes this phenomenon and argues that, unlike what the videos seek to portray, these political influencers are supported and coordinated by the government while also deriving much incentive from the private market of media platforms that help turn such videos into business opportunities. We see the phenomenon of personalized propaganda as a synthesis of state propaganda, social media, the gig economy, and the commercialization of personal space. The videos analyzed for this paper are similar to those of other young vloggers and influencers using social media platforms to earn money in China and elsewhere. What is special about them is their explicit political content and close alignment with CCP narratives and that they are produced by young minority people in Xinjiang at a time when the region is under massive pressure from the government and security apparatus. Based on an analysis of seven ethnic minority vlogger accounts with a total of over 2,000 videos, their videos and the personal interconnectedness of the vloggers in question, we argue that these schemes of personalized propaganda are likely to have been started by state-sponsored programs that subsequently help facilitate commercial success on social media platforms. We also hope to make a contribution to the establishment of an epistemological frame and an analytical set of tools for the online ethnography of places with limited access, high surveillance and securitization.
Japanese Militarism in Early Colonial Taiwan:
Japanese Militarism in Early Colonial Taiwan:
(Japanese Militarism in Early Colonial Taiwan:)
- Author(s):Nikolaos Mavropoulos
- Language:English
- Subject(s):19th Century, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919)
- Page Range:207-233
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:Meiji Japan; colonial Taiwan; militarism; Japanese colonialism;
- Summary/Abstract:Through the examination of Taiwan’s early colonial administration and the Isawa and Takano study cases, we will clarify the nature and purposes of the colony’s acquisition. In addition, we will be able to disperse the outdated economy-centered and demographic theories that many historians espoused to explain Japan’s drive for colonies. This study, through an examination of secondary and primary sources, makes a contribution to colonial studies. Thus, the aim of this paper is to fill the gap and enrich the content, context, and the general understanding of the dynamics and events of the Age of New Imperialism and beyond.
Rethinking the Power of the Voiceless:
Rethinking the Power of the Voiceless:
(Rethinking the Power of the Voiceless:)
- Author(s):Fumi Inoue
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Recent History (1900 till today), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
- Page Range:235-261
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:contemporary Okinawa-Japan-U.S. relations; Cold War history; extraterritoriality; human rights; social activism;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper rethinks the power of the voiceless by interrogating Okinawans’ resistance to extraterritorial American military justice in the mid-1950s. Despite the long history of, and continuing public attention to, the issue of American military legal immunity from local jurisdiction, historians have not yet traced the genealogy of protest movements against it in U.S.-occupied and post-reversion Okinawa. This paper sheds new light on the islanders’ 1955 protest against the murder of a local girl by a U.S. military service member by defining it as a pivotal moment for the rise of popular human rights activism in contemporary Okinawa. This case study attests that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) empowered the locals, whose legal status was reduced to being treated as the “voiceless” under the San Francisco System, by allowing them to demand the occupied people’s equal status as the peoples of sovereign nations and the protection of their human rights.
Playful Pictures as Satire:
Playful Pictures as Satire:
(Playful Pictures as Satire:)
- Author(s):Freya Terryn
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Communication studies, Social history, 19th Century
- Page Range:265-292
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:ukiyo-e; Boshin War; Utagawa Hiroshige III; satire;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper is concerned with the satirical depiction of the Boshin War (戊辰戦争 Boshin sensō, 1868–1869) in the woodblock prints of the artist Utagawa Hiroshige III (三代歌川広重, 1842–1894). It employs his prints to examine the relationship between those that govern and those that are governed, in particular how the print medium capitalized on a shifting position in political power in the late 1860s. It aims to provide a broader perspective from which to consider the relationship between politics and art, the rulers and the ruled, and censorship and satire during a time when the visual expression of contemporary events and ruling classes was banned. By taking Hiroshige III’s prints as a case study, this paper reveals how Hiroshige III used humor and satire as mechanisms to provoke shared laughter over the pro-imperial and pro-shogunal forces fighting over power.
Echoes of Slavery: An Analysis of Aimé Humbert’s Depiction of Courtesans in Le Japon Illustré (1870) and His Artistic Approach
Echoes of Slavery: An Analysis of Aimé Humbert’s Depiction of Courtesans in Le Japon Illustré (1870) and His Artistic Approach
(Echoes of Slavery: An Analysis of Aimé Humbert’s Depiction of Courtesans in Le Japon Illustré (1870) and His Artistic Approach)
- Author(s):Jessica Uldry
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Cultural history, Sociology, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, 18th Century, 19th Century
- Page Range:293-330
- No. of Pages:38
- Keywords:Aimé Humbert; Edo period; illustration; prostitution; travel book;
- Summary/Abstract:Aimé Humbert was a prominent political figure in Switzerland whose account of his trip to Japan awakened renewed academic interest following the 2005 reissue of his monograph Le Japon illustré. Tales of his travels, along with illustrations of Japan, were published in 1870, providing one of the very few Swiss testimonies of the remarkable wave of illustrated works produced in the 19th century. This paper centers on an analysis of a select group of engravings related to sex work in Japanese society. Following the chronology of the narrative, this paper aims to deconstruct Humbert’s rhetoric, highlighting his creativity on a visual and textual basis. With a methodology derived from both art history and literary analysis, this analytical essay reveals the subtlety of Humbert’s critique on prostitution in Japan, where he expresses singular concerns regarding Westerners’ behavior as well as his more general position on Human Rights.
Female Writers and Autonomy in Love:
Female Writers and Autonomy in Love:
(Female Writers and Autonomy in Love:)
- Author(s):Noriko Hiraishi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Studies of Literature, Sociology of Literature
- Page Range:331-351
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Japanese female writers; adultery; Paolo and Francesca; true love; autonomy;
- Summary/Abstract:This study explores the voices of women in modern Japanese literature, focusing on female writers’ desire for autonomy in love during the beginning of the 20th century. Interestingly, female writers of this period often depict unfaithful wives. To explain this phenomenon, we examine the Japanese enthusiastic pursuit of European literary trends, such as the romantic reception of Paolo and Francesca in Dante’s Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), which glorifies adultery in the name of “true love.” In the Japanese literary world, empathy with the romantic concept of love idealized a longing for true love and overcame negative feeling towards adultery. Under these circumstances, female writers raised their voices for independence in love and marriage. Exemplifying the writers who adapted European literary and philosophical trends into their works to confront the laws and customs of Meiji Japan, this study clarifies that the trends paradoxically endorsed and created an explosive freedom for women to explore the concept of love.
Illness in the Echo Chamber:
Illness in the Echo Chamber:
(Illness in the Echo Chamber:)
- Author(s):Robert Ono
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Social Sciences, Studies of Literature, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), Sociology of Literature
- Page Range:353-378
- No. of Pages:26
- Keywords:leprosy literature; Hōjō Tamio; Kawabata Yasunari; censorship; eugenics;
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter will assess the quick rise of “leprosy literature” in Japan during the latter half of the 1930s using much of the primary sources available, including diaries and letters privately penned by Hōjō Tamio, a young writer who was at its epicenter. I will begin by taking a look at the collection of “confessions” compiled by the government in 1921 to see how the authorities manipulated the voices of patients before the boom. Then I will focus on Hōjō, who was uniquely ambitious to join the mainstream literary establishment, while many residents of the leprosarium were reluctant to have their voices heard knowing that public scrutiny would only make them vulnerable in a society brimming with eugenic ideals. Finally, some discussion from a wider historical and cultural context should facilitate a clearer understanding on different forms of power that sought to control and sometimes aggravated the situations surrounding Hōjō and other patients.
Voiceless Witnesses:
Voiceless Witnesses:
(Voiceless Witnesses:)
- Author(s):Martina R. Prosperi
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature, Sociology, Sociology of Literature
- Page Range:379-406
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:Chinese literature; Lu Xun; Ba Jin; A Yi; Agamben;
- Summary/Abstract:Thinking of China in the early 20th century and China today, one tends to highlight the great transformations dividing past and present. However, Chinese literature offers evidence of interesting thematic continuities, too. The figure of the beggar, an extremely significant yet voiceless outcast of society, is just one remarkable example. Represented by modern characters such as the protagonists of Lu Xun’s “Kong Yiji” (1919) and of Ba Jin’s “Dog” (1931), the beggar continues to appear in contemporary narratives, including A Yi’s short story “An Accidental Murder” (2010) and his novel Wake Me Up at 9:00 in the Morning (2014). Which continuities are traceable among these works? If literature has the power to voice the voiceless, what do the outcasts portrayed by these authors reveal to their readers? Drawing on Agamben’s reflections on the concept of testimony and on psychoanalytic categories, this chapter offers a comparative analysis of four case studies.
“Poetry of Anguish, Poetry of Praise”: A Study of Wang Jiaxin’s Poetry and Translation
“Poetry of Anguish, Poetry of Praise”: A Study of Wang Jiaxin’s Poetry and Translation
(“Poetry of Anguish, Poetry of Praise”: A Study of Wang Jiaxin’s Poetry and Translation)
- Author(s):Robert Tsaturyan
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature, Translation Studies
- Page Range:407-433
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:Wang Jiaxin; contemporary Chinese poetry; translation; anguish;
- Summary/Abstract:The representation of trauma in contemporary Chinese poetry is a complex and multilayered phenomenon that resists purely aesthetic, historical, and especially political readings. It conflates all of them. Among the poets that have exemplified remarkable perseverance in their exploration of personal and collective traumas over the past four decades, Wang Jiaxin (王家新, 1957–) is an important voice. This article studies the characteristics of Wang’s earlier and later works and the subtilities of his translation-dialogues with primarily Soviet Russian and Eastern European poets. What is the relationship between poetry and translation in working through suffering and coming to terms with the suppressed memories of the past? How does translation render the mourning voice of a poet that is cosmopolitan yet has historical particularities? Situating the poet in the sociohistorical conditions of his time, this paper explores the vicissitudes of one voice against these larger issues.
Voiceless Tibet? Past and Present in Tibetan Sinophone Writing by Tsering Norbu
Voiceless Tibet? Past and Present in Tibetan Sinophone Writing by Tsering Norbu
(Voiceless Tibet? Past and Present in Tibetan Sinophone Writing by Tsering Norbu)
- Author(s):Kamila Hladíková
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Literature
- Page Range:435-460
- No. of Pages:26
- Keywords:Chinese literature; Tibetan literature; Xizang wenxue; minority literature; Tsering Norbu (Ciren Luobu); postcoloniality;
- Summary/Abstract:As a culturally and linguistically hybrid product emerging from specific historical and political conditions, Sinophone Tibetan literature has been often overlooked in Western academic and literary circles. Still, as argued in this article, it is a plausible voice coming from within Tibet, shedding more light on the present lived reality of the region and its inhabitants and forming a multilayered minor discourse of self-representation vis-á-vis the major Han Chinese discourse regarding not only Tibetan history and culture, but, more generally, literary creation. By analyzing the various representations of present-day Tibet in short stories by Tsering Norbu, this paper provides insights into the formation of collective historical memory and transformation of Tibetan society following the economic development of the region after the year 2000. While responding to the official call for a realistic representation of the lives of ordinary people, the author has come up with effective counterhegemonic narrative strategies of resistance to the dominant forces of ideology and brutal commercialization by including elements of religion, suppressed historical memory, and social problems in contemporary Tibetan society.
Voices against Gender-based Violence in Contemporary Japanese Literature:
Voices against Gender-based Violence in Contemporary Japanese Literature:
(Voices against Gender-based Violence in Contemporary Japanese Literature:)
- Author(s):Letizia Guarini
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology of Literature
- Page Range:461-490
- No. of Pages:30
- Keywords:Japanese literature; gender-based violence; feminist movements; Kaoruko Himeno; Aoko Matsuda;
- Summary/Abstract:While the #MeToo movement has not gained much popularity in Japan, in recent years, several individuals and organizations have spoken out against gender discrimination and gender-based violence. At the same time, literature is also a place where women address these issues. The aim of this paper is to explore feminist voices in Japanese contemporary literature vis-à-vis recent feminist movements. The first part of this paper examines recent examples of gender-based violence in Japan and the actions initiated by women in response to them. The second part focuses on two novels: Kanojo wa atama ga warui kara (It’s Because She’s Stupid, 2018) by Kaoruko Himeno, and Jizoku kanō na tamashii no riyō (The Sustainable Use of Our Souls, 2020) by Aoko Matsuda. Through an interdisciplinary approach, this study aims to explore the connection between activism and literary studies, looking at literature as a feminist act of resistance.
Gender and Violence in Sakuraba Kazuki’s Red X Pink:
Gender and Violence in Sakuraba Kazuki’s Red X Pink:
(Gender and Violence in Sakuraba Kazuki’s Red X Pink:)
- Author(s):Rafael Vinícius Martins
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Gender Studies, Studies of Literature, Sociology of Literature
- Page Range:491-517
- No. of Pages:27
- Keywords:gender studies; light novel; Japanese contemporary literature; database consumption theory; otaku subculture;
- Summary/Abstract:Sakuraba Kazuki is a former light novel writer whose literature shows awareness of issues of gender, with narratives about violence, power, and identity. This chapter provides an analysis of her light novel, Red x Pink, a story narrated by three protagonists who participate in a girls’ clandestine wrestling show, each of them performing a different type of character: the youthful Mayu, the dominatrix Miko, and the boyish Satsuki, whose narrative arc unveils a process of self-discovery and coming out as a transgendered man. The analysis of this work, informed by Azuma Hiroki’s concepts of database consumption and manga/anime-like realism, will clarify how Sakuraba expresses the gendered experiences of violence and exposes the consequences of oppression, appropriating the popular form of male-oriented media to narrate stories of oppressed young women and sexual minorities.
Performing Artists’ Voices Remain Unheard:
Performing Artists’ Voices Remain Unheard:
(Performing Artists’ Voices Remain Unheard:)
- Author(s):Annegret Bergmann
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Health and medicine and law, Sociology of Culture, Sociology of the arts, business, education, Social Norms / Social Control
- Page Range:519-542
- No. of Pages:24
- Keywords:Japanese theater production; opera; kabuki; COVID-19 pandemic; Japanese culture policy;
- Summary/Abstract:This article elucidates the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on performing art productions and the insufficiency of financial assistance programs from the government during the first months of the pandemic 2020 in Japan. By taking an opera production and kabuki productions as examples, the reactions of the management of Biwako Hall and the commercial theater production company Shōchiku to the pandemic crisis are described; how they implemented innovative and new production measures and incorporated digital tools to compensate for financial losses, as well as to retain their old audience and attract new audience. It becomes clear how insignificant the Japanese government perceives the performing arts and how little public financial support they receive. Furthermore, the indispensable role that corporate support and commercial production companies play in theater productions in Japan is illuminated.