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VisArt_08


has 1 film 1
Legacies of empire: memory and identity in Japanese post-war movie productions / representations of colonial others and the post-imperial self 
Convenor:
Jasmin Rückert (University of Düsseldorf)
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Format:
Panel
Section:
Visual Arts
:
Auditorium 4 Jaap Kruithof
Sessions:
Friday 18 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels

Short Abstract:

This panel discusses post-war Japanese cinema and the complex ways in which it incorporates traces of imperialism and deimperialisation. How is 'Japaneseness' reformulated in movies? What roles are attributed to 'ethnic' others? (How) Can Japanese cinema confront and escape Japan's imperial legacy?

Long Abstract:

This panel engages with traces of Japanese imperialism in post-war visual culture and with representations of identity categories shaped by - and standing in vexed relationships to - the Japanese imperial project. The papers in this panel explore topics of race, colonialism and occupation by analysing diverse and complicated visions of the inclusion and exclusion of former imperial subjects and territories in post-war Japanese film productions.

Epistemic practices of ethnic category-building were an important aspect of Japan's colonial and imperial history. The panel provides examples of the aftermaths of such practices, discussing cinematic productions which explicitly or implicitly show how national and ethnic identity can be denied or enforced on human bodies, and can be gained or lost as a result of Empire. It shows how intersections of experience, memory, and history are inscribed in acts of cinematic storytelling and serve to erode or mobilise heterogenous ethnic identities. The panel argues that it is crucial to open up the discussion on Imperial legacy and complicate our understanding of the 'boundaries of Japaneseness' by introducing hitherto under-researched cinematic narrations and by investigating the remnants of ethical categories proposed during different stages of imperialism.

The individual contributions of this panel take up Ainu, Mongolian and overseas Japanese settler representations in Japanese film, arguing that the stories surrounding them play a vital role in creating cultures of memory. The movies discussed reflect upon modes of inclusion into the imperial project through a paradoxical blend of othering and assimilation (of and for the Ainu), through the evocation of Pan-Asianism (for Mongolians) and—on the other end of imperialism's spectrum—on how a carefully crafted 'Japanese' identity could be lost or tainted as a result of Imperial policies of expansion (for Japanese war orphans remaining in China).

The panel's contributions further consider how cinematic productions may, despite in some ways working to reinforce the racist legacy of Japan's imperialism, also potentially help challenge ethno-nationalist discourses and prompt ethical questions of colonial/imperial responsibility.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Friday 18 August, 2023, -
Panel Video visible to paid-up delegates