Formations of Colonial Modernity in East Asia

by Tani E. Barlow (Editor)

The essays in Formations of Colonial Modernity in East Asia challenge the idea that notions of modernity and colonialism are mere imports from the West, and show how colonial modernity has evolved from and into unique forms throughout Asia. Although the modernity of non-European colonies is as indisputable as the colonial core of European modernity, until recently East Asian scholarship has tried to view Asian colonialism through the paradigm of colonial India (for instance), failing to recognize anti-imperialist nationalist impulses within differing Asian countries and regions.
Demonstrating an impatience with social science models of knowledge, the contributors show that binary categories focused on during the Cold War are no longer central to the project of history writing. By bringing together articles previously published in the journal east asia cultures critique , editor Tani Barlow has demonstrated how scholars construct identity and history, providing cultural critics with new ways to think about these concepts—in the context of Asia and beyond.
Chapters address topics such as the making of imperial subjects in Okinawa, politics and the body social in colonial Hong Kong, and the discourse of decolonization and popular memory in South Korea. This is an invaluable collection for students and scholars of Asian studies, postcolonial studies, and anthropology. Contributors . Charles K. Armstrong, Tani E. Barlow, Fred Y. L. Chiu, Chungmoo Choi, Alan S. Christy, Craig Clunas, James A. Fujii, James L. Hevia, Charles Shiro Inouye, Lydia H. Liu, Miriam Silverberg, Tomiyama Ichiro, Wang Hui

Genres: Japan

464 pages, Paperback

First published March 18, 1997

About the author

Tani E. Barlow is a Professor of History.

Degrees:
Ph.D. History, University of California, Davis (1985),
M.A. History, University of California, Davis (1979),
B.A. History and Chinese language dual degree, San Francisco State University (1975),

Career:
- Professor of history and women studies at the University of Washington.
- Professor of History and director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University.

She is known for her interest in Chinese feminism.

Reviews

[Edwin Pietersma · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a fascinating work that seems to be very much neglected in region studies, history, and anthropology alike. From the introduction, it becomes clear that all works have one theme in common: to engage with highly intellectual invested themes - modernity and colonialism -, and show it is not merely a positively defined unit, but rather a complex field of relationships or threads of material that connect in space and time. This is a grand and difficult assignment, and the many case studies prove so. Given that they were written before the book was published - or, perhaps, even thought about -, it is rather a post-published reading and interpretation of the articles then their actual intention. This is reflected in the diverse topic and standpoints, where some are stronger in my opinion than others. This has also to due to the fact that some articles are strongly theoretical, often forgetting to provide evidence or link their case studies completely to their main argument or fail to provide counter arguments or actually a frame of discussion, making the articles seem disconnected (see for instance Choi, Chiu, and Clunas). However, this should not allow this work to be so disregarded as it is, as it will surely blow your mind about the construction of such assumed concepts, only making you wonder how much it applies to different times and places.