De-demonising Japan? Transitioning from war to peace through Japan’s cinematic post-war cultural diplomacy in UNESCO’s<i>Orient</i>project 1957–1959

Huttunen, Miia

doi:10.1080/10286632.2017.1375479

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…Scholars have noted that newly postcolonial states may engage in cultural exchanges to affirm their independence and sovereignty (Cohen, 2019;Lindsay, 2012), while well-established states find that culture is a useful way to engage with diasporic communities (Isar, 2017). States also use cultural diplomacy to improve international understanding (Huttunen, 2017), to cement good relations and demonstrate international affinities (Fisher & McDonald, 2016;Jordan, 2013) and to advance geopolitical agendas (Bleiker & Butler, 2016;Vorano, 2016). Subnational entities may pursue international cultural activities as part of a politics of recognition (Fisher & McDonald, 2016;Mark, 2010).…”

Section: Inuit Art In Cultural Diplomacymentioning

confidence: 99%

The art of Inuit administration: Post-war Canada, cultural diplomacy and northern administration

Stern,

Arslan

2024

Polar Record

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In this paper, we expand on existing studies of Canadian Inuit art in the international arena by examining ways in which this new art served domestic purposes, focusing primarily on the 1950s and 1960s. The Canadian government developed and promoted Inuit art as part of its project to transform Inuit from semi-independent hunters into modern Canadian citizens. In this effort, Canada took up and assimilated Inuit art as a genuine Canadian cultural product, presenting it as diplomatic gifts and for other forms of international cultural diplomacy. Previous studies of Canadian Inuit art from that era have noted the ways that the promotion of Canadian Inuit art supported the young nation’s claims to a deep history, while simultaneously marking the country’s distinction from both the United States and the United Kingdom. In the context of the Cold War, the promotion of Canadian Inuit art also asserted Canada as an Arctic power. Labelled as “primitive modernist” fine art, Inuit sculpture and prints provided a stark contrast to the contemporaneous socialist realist art of the Soviet Union and its allies. We argue that the success of the Inuit art program sustained a belief among government officials that their programme to remake Inuit lives and livelihoods would succeed. Inuit art likely deflected attention from the many things that were going wrong with that northern modernisation project.

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Section: Inuit Art In Cultural Diplomacymentioning

confidence: 99%

The art of Inuit administration: Post-war Canada, cultural diplomacy and northern administration

Stern,

Arslan

2024

Polar Record

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“…Japan has been a member of UNESCO since 1952. In fact, joining the organization was one of the first steps taken to restore Japan's status in the international community after World War II, signaling the state's commitment to world peace and the part cultural relations could play in achieving it (Huttunen, 2017). UNESCO's heritage programmes, especially, have been widely utilized by Japan to secure its international position through the recognition of its national heritage's significant universal value, and to indicate the state's dedication to the organization's principles (Lincicome, 2020).…”

Section: The Politics Of Contested Heritagementioning

confidence: 99%

Heritage for sustainable peace: the politics of contested histories and the Nanjing controversy at UNESCO

Huttunen

2024

Front. Polit. Sci.

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This article explores the politics of heritage of the 2015 Sino-Japanese confrontation resulting from the controversial inclusion of the “Documents of Nanjing Massacre” in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, which promotes the preservation of archival documents as humanity's common heritage. Through an analysis of the Chinese nomination form proposing the inclusion of the documents in the register and the Japanese response to it, reflected against the principles of the register, this article examines how the seemingly apolitical and universal understanding of heritage and its links with sustainable peace proposed by organizations such as UNESCO fails to hold its ground when linked to the interests of a nation that claims ownership of it. Through an exploration of the Nanjing debate as a point of friction in the interplay of international ideals and national interests, it makes a case for an understanding of the interaction between the supranational and the national as a two-way street through the example of UNESCO's somewhat peculiar understanding of sustainable peace and its exploitation for political purposes. The article concludes that the idealistic effort to preserve archival heritage and to increase recognition of its significance seems to have become overshadowed by the MoW register's unintended facilitation of competing nationalistic narratives, leaving the door open for the exploitation of the register for purposes that contradict the very principles it was founded upon. Thus, while this case surfaces practical issues with the adoption of UNESCO's “heritage for sustainable peace” agenda seriously calling into question the realizability of such an idea, the mere fact that both China and Japan sought to seek ruling on their bilateral dispute through UNESCO implies a display of faith in the organization and its mission.

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“…However, even in the American context some still preferred alternative forms of words, such as 'cultural policy abroad' (Frankel, 1965). Elsewhere, Japan has used the term, although with shifting meanings, since the 1930s (Huttunen, 2017). By the 1970s, cultural diplomacy was a label that had gained sufficient recognition in international organizations to be the subject of an extensive report published by the Council for Cultural Cooperation within the Council of Europe (Haigh, 1974).…”

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confidence: 99%

Cultural Diplomacy

Clarke¹

2020

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies

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Cultural diplomacy designates a policy field, in which states seek to mobilize their cultural resources to achieve foreign policy goals. The nature of those goals, and of the cultural resources mobilized to achieve them, has been subject to historical change, and a range of terminology has been used to designate this kind of policymaking in different national and historical contexts. Nevertheless, the term cultural diplomacy is a viable one for designating this particular area of foreign policy, which is often understood as one component of a state’s broader public diplomacy or, following Joseph Nye’s terminology, its “soft power.” Cultural display and exchange have arguably always played a role in the relations between peoples. With the emergence of the modern state system in the early modern period, such display and exchange became an expression of formal diplomatic relations between courts, yet it is only in the 19th century that we see the emergence of cultural diplomacy in the sense it is understood today: It is no longer a matter of communication between rulers, but rather an expression of national identity directed at an international public. Throughout the 19th century, cultural diplomacy was closely associated with the rivalry of the Great Powers, particularly in the colonial context. However, following the end of the First World War, cultural diplomacy increasingly came to be understood as a means to pursue ideological competition, a trend that became central to the cultural diplomacy of the Cold War. Nevertheless, scholarship’s focus on the cultural dimensions of the confrontation between the two Cold War superpowers has drawn attention away from other varieties of cultural diplomacy in the “Third World” or “Global South,” which sought to establish forms of solidarity between postcolonial nations. The post–Cold War world has been characterized by a shift in the rhetoric surrounding cultural diplomacy, which now frequently contains an economic dimension, as states compete for markets, investments, and attention in the context of neoliberal globalization. Nevertheless, we also see a pluralization of strategies of cultural diplomacy, in which a range of actors tailor their approach to cultural foreign policy according to their own perceived position in a multipolar world. Nevertheless, despite the continued popularity of cultural diplomacy in policymaking circles and the significant attention it has received from researchers in the 21st century, the assessment of the impact of cultural diplomacy remains a challenge.

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De-demonising Japan? Transitioning from war to peace through Japan’s cinematic post-war cultural diplomacy in UNESCO’sOrientproject 1957–1959

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

The art of Inuit administration: Post-war Canada, cultural diplomacy and northern administration

The art of Inuit administration: Post-war Canada, cultural diplomacy and northern administration

Heritage for sustainable peace: the politics of contested histories and the Nanjing controversy at UNESCO

Cultural Diplomacy

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