Katsube
Fakultäten » Philosophische Fakultät » Ostasiatisches Seminar » Japanologie » Prof. Dr. Raji C. Steineck » Katsube
Current research project
| Title / Titel | Narrative Semiotics of Aesthetic Nationalism: Decoding Okakura Kakuzô’s History of Japanese Art through the Actantial Model of A.J. Greimas | ||||
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| Abstract (PDF, 14 KB) | |||||
| Summary / Zusammenfassung | This research examines how Okakura Kakuzô (1862-1913, known as Tenshin) adopted, re-interpreted and expanded Hegelian aesthetics in formulating a Japanese art history into a narrative of linear national development to distinguish and elevate Japan from other countries. Often described and even apotheosised domestically as the saviour of Japanese art, who recognised the need to preserve Japan’s cultural heritage from the threat of rapid modernisation, Okakura is said to have provided not only a framework for the disciplinary field of Japanese art history, but also a canon for the depiction of national art that emphasises the distinct beauties of Japan. Using the actantial model of narrative semiotics developed by A.J. Greimas, this research posits that both Okakura’s earlier achievements in the arts sector in Tokyo and his later publications in English (e.g., The Ideals of the East and The Book of Tea) would not have been possible without Hegelian philosophy and its central concept of the dialectically developing self-consciousness as their adjuvant. It is hoped that the result of this research will contribute to explaining the deep-structured mechanism of aesthetic nationalism in Japan, which originated in Okakura’s narratives and has continued to the present day. |
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| Publications / Publikationen | Katsube, Wakako, 2007. Art History as a Cultural Self-Portrait: Revaluating “the Lectures on Japanese Art History” by Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913), MA Thesis in Language and Society, Graduate School of Language and Society, Hitotsubashi University.Katsube, Wakako, 2002. The Potential of Museums for Promoting Citizenship Learning for Youth: Towards the Making of a Multicultural Japan, MA Thesis in Museum Studies, Department of Museum Studies, University of Leicester.Katsube, Wakako, 2001. ‘Exploration of Museums Studies in England’ in Museum Study Bulletin (March 2001), Meiji University Press, pp. 1-19. | ||||
| Keywords / Suchbegriffe | Okakura Kakuzô, Okakura Tenshin, Japanese art history, aesthetic nationalism, national art, national treasure, Hegelian aesthetics, narrative semiotics, actantial model, A.J. Greimas | ||||
| Project leadership and contacts / Projektleitung und Kontakte |
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| Funding source(s) / Unterstützt durch |
No project-specific funding |
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| In collaboration with / In Zusammenarbeit mit |
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| Duration of Project / Projektdauer | Dec 2008 to Jul 2014 |