Short Abstract

This panel explores the rise and fall of Japan's proletarian cultural movement, along with its (represented) spaces. It examines multilingual workers’ theater, language education media for the proletariat, as well as the novellas that criticized the East Asian Community discourse in Korea.

Long Abstract

This panel will explore the rise and fall of Japan's proletarian cultural movement during the interwar period, along with its physical and represented spheres and spaces. The examination will focus on the fields of theater, language, and literature.

Hagiwara will undertake an exploration of the works of Senda Koreya, a Japanese actor and director. Senda resided in Germany circa 1930, engaging in the study of workers' theatre and creating performances for agitprop troupes whose members came from various backgrounds. He then applied his experience in Japan, sometimes with agitprop troupes consisting of people with Korean descent. Senda's activities demonstrate the multicultural nature of the sphere of workers' theatre.

Kamimura's presentation will focus on the concept of language as manifested in proletarian educational media. These media, designed to encourage children to engage in a proletarian revolution while criticizing imperialism, saw active involvement from proletarian writers and Esperantists. These initiatives, which included activities such as composition and debate, as well as theater and Esperanto courses, aimed to cultivate children's linguistic environment and foster a sense of international solidarity.

Lee will finally explore the spaces described in the Korean-language novellas of Kim Namcheon, circa 1940. As a former key figure of the Korean proletarian cultural movement, Kim provided a critical perspective on the ‘East Asian Community’ discourse and the conversion policy in colonial Korea. Lee will focus on the space of a particular apartment building in Keijo (modern-day Seoul) depicted in the novellas, as a symbolic space where these complex ideologies intersected.

The interwar proletarian cultural movement in Japan developed within the context of the colonial policies of the Empire of Japan, unfolding while keeping in view its multicultural and multilingual reality. Within it were people who oscillated between different cultures and languages, holding up the ideal of a world where all people could understand one another. This panel seeks to imagine the spaces they lived in or envisioned, in the city of Poznań/Posen — a city that likewise oscillated between the cultures and languages of Poland and Germany.