The Discursive Construction of Japanese Identity and its Haunting Others

Yamada, Yasuhiko

doi:10.25148/etd.fi13042314

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 100 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…Several considerations guided our case selection. First, in contrast to other cases, such as the USA (Campbell, 1998; Cha, 2015), Germany (Banchoff, 1999; Kirste and Maull, 1996) or Japan (Hagström, 2015; Yamada, 2014), Switzerland has not received much attention in the (English-language) IR literature, nor in the more specific literature on identity. This is regrettable as the Swiss case is particularly rich and abundant.…”

Section: Studying (Bundles Of) Identifications: Methodological Considerations and Research Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting ‘identity’ in International Relations: From identity as substance to identifications in action

Bucher

Jasper

2016

European Journal of International Relations

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In recent years, the concept of identity has become central to International Relations theory. Opposing rational actor assumptions, constructivist and post-structuralist identity scholarship has argued that preferences and interests are tied to actors' identities, which, in turn, explain action. While we welcome the attempt to move beyond rationalist and materialist accounts of state action, we argue that identity scholarship conceptualizes identity in methodologically individualist and causal terms. However, understanding identity in this way hinders us from grasping how actors are situated and continually develop within complex networks of social interdependencies. We suggest an approach that draws on processual-relational thinking and figurational sociology, and that shifts analysis from searching for identity to analysing identification processes. Contrary to the notion that identities inform action, we argue that specific sets of identifications are temporarily and incompletely stabilized in decision-making, and do not precede or inform action. To this end, we develop a model for empirical research that makes agency in identification processes visible and apply it to Swiss foreign policy decision-making. We suggest that non-foundationalist research revisit and discuss how identity is conceptualized and used in research, lest it reproduce the pitfalls of rationalist and materialist approaches.

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Section: Studying (Bundles Of) Identifications: Methodological Considerations and Research Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting ‘identity’ in International Relations: From identity as substance to identifications in action

Bucher

Jasper

2016

European Journal of International Relations

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“…3 Broadly, it is a context of limited comprehension and expression emanating from his literature in various ways. Yamada (2011) notes that, in early fiction such as the novels Sayônara, gyangu tachi (Sayonara, Gangsters, 1982) and Jon Renon tai kaseijin (John Lennon vs The Martians, 1985), Takahashi's dissident activism of his participation in the student protests of the late 60s (and his ten-month-long incarceration in 1970), takes the shape of a literary rebellion to 'renew political and literary sign systems as a means of resisting the limitations imposed by the state, the media, and even literary criticism' (2011:…”

Section: Postwar Shadowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crisis of Time! The Tyranny of the Immediate and Community in Two Literary Works by Takahashi Gen'ichirō

Cervelli

2021

Japanese Studies

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In his fiction, Takahashi Gen'ichirô often portrays crises of contemporary life where characters do not identify with shared ideologies or communities, resorting to repetitive actions to survive in their empty daily existences. This article argues that a central factor for such crises is a shattering of perceptions of orders of time, predicated on problematics linked to the lingering postwar Japanese context, and leading to an overextended present as the only dimension that matters. Characters can only focus on acting in their proximate realities, without critically confronting themselves with others or with wider issues in society. Often, this type of compulsive action is in response to sudden violent stimuli, also of a sexual nature. Ultimately, a possible way out of the never-ending cycles of the present is to reconstitute a community based on mutual understanding. The article examines these occurrences of the dominating immediate and community in the salient examples of the novel Godira and the stories in Kimi ga yo wa chiyo ni yachiyo ni. Through this analysis, the article shows the relevance of the theme in Takahashi's fiction and how it contributes to the broader field of Japanese literary studies, especially vis-à-vis the discourse on post-Fukushima productions.

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The Discursive Construction of Japanese Identity and its Haunting Others

Cited by 2 publications

References 100 publications

Revisiting ‘identity’ in International Relations: From identity as substance to identifications in action

Revisiting ‘identity’ in International Relations: From identity as substance to identifications in action

Crisis of Time! The Tyranny of the Immediate and Community in Two Literary Works by Takahashi Gen'ichirō

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