Postcolonial Theory Reconsidered: Discourses of Race, Gender, and Imperialism in the German-Japanese Realm
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Postcolonial Theory Reconsidered: Discourses of Race, Gender, and Imperialism in the German-Japanese Realm by Christin Bohnke A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures University of Toronto © Copyright by Christin Bohnke (2017) Postcolonial Theory Reconsidered: Discourses of Race, Gender, and Imperialism in the German- Japanese Realm Christin Bohnke Doctor of Philosophy Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures University of Toronto 2017 Abstract This study explores the intersections of race and gender as they manifest in film and print media across a century of transnational flows between Germany and Japan. I argue that German-Japanese relations in the twentieth century invite novel re-readings of existing postcolonial theories, resulting in a productive re-evaluation of inherited terms such as ‘hybridity’ and ‘race’. Each chapter of my dissertation is devoted to a particular strand of the cultural fabric woven between Germany and Japan and its consequences for the broader relationship between East Asia and Europe. Chapter two focuses on the German-language magazine East Asia (Ost-Asien) published by the Japanese Tamai Kisak from 1898-1910 in Berlin, on Kitasato Takeshi’s German-language drama Fumio (1900), and on the silent film Bushido (1926). These works negotiate Japan’s complex situation as simultaneously belonging to an Asian and a European cultural realm in often contradictory ways. Chapter three pursues an in-depth analysis of the German-Japanese relationship between 1932 and 1945 via such diverse cultural artifacts as the results of a German-Japanese essay contest held in 1944, German newsreels, and German-Japanese filmic co-productions. My research demonstrates how the cultural co-productions between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan downplayed questions of race and gender in an attempt to forge a shared identity as Soldatenvölker (soldier people). In my fourth and final chapter, I analyze the contemporary work of one Japanese filmmaker and two Japanese authors who migrated from Japan to Germany after the Second World War: Marie ii Miyayama, Yoko Tawada and Hisako Matsubara. I will demonstrate how tourism, commodity culture, as well as notions of transculturalism and an increasing convergence of ‘East’ and ‘West’ are paramount for shaping the German-Japanese discourse in the late 20th and early 21st century. iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my appreciation and gratitude to my advisor Professor Dr. Angelica Fenner for your continued support and guidance throughout these years. Working with you helped me to become a better scholar. You gave me the freedom to pursue my research interests and allowed me to grow as a scholar. I would also like to thank my committee members Professor Dr. Atsuko Sakaki and Professor Dr. John Noyes for your insightful comments, your support, and your encouragement. I am also grateful to Professor Ryozō Madea for inviting me as a fellow to the German Department at Rikkyo University, Tokyo. This thesis would not have been possible without the generous financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, without my Ontario Graduate Scholarship, my Katie Keeler Entrance Award, and without several travel and conference grants from the School of Graduate Studies and the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Toronto. I would like to express my gratitude to the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) who generously supported my research in Tokyo with a fellowship and to the Coalition of Women in German for awarding me the Zantop Travel Award in support of my research in Japan. I would like to thank the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes for awarding me a fellowship at the Kolleg Europa, where I could exchange ideas for this thesis with fellow scholars. Special thanks go to the Japan Foundation in Tokyo, to Yukiko Wachi from the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, Tokyo, and to Valeria Dalle Donne at the Biblioteca Renzo Renzi, Cineteca di Bologna for generously giving me access to their archives. I would also like to thank Marie Miyayama for generously agreeing to be interviewed for this study. Special thanks go to Helena Jünger for her invaluable administrative support. A thesis can be a taxing endeavor and I would not have been able to complete it without my friends who patiently listened to my excitement about obscure German and Japanese writers, helped me through my frustrations, and shared so many meals and so much laughter with me. It is impossible to thank everybody who supported me in these last years, but I would like to thank the people who helped this thesis along with their insightful comments and open ears and who now know much more about German-Japanese literature than they ever wanted to know (in alphabetical order): Yasmin Aly, Antonia Fegeler, Vasuki Shanmuganathan, Anna Stainton and Anna van Weringh. iv I am grateful to my family, especially my parents, who fostered a love for literature in me and who supported me throughout this process with many kind words and parcels of German chocolate. Last but not least I would like to thank my partner Frederic Konkel who – quite literally – came on this journey with me and who made a lot of sacrifices along the way. I am truly grateful to have you in my life. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of Figures in Appendix List of Appendices . 1. Introduction: German - Japanese Exchange and Postcolonial Theory ................................ ............... 1 1.1. - ................................ ................................ ................................ ..... 1 1.1.1 . Germany and Japan A Historical Overview ................................ ................................ ......... 2 1.1.2. The German and the Japanese Empires ................................ ................................ ................. 6 1.2. Germany, Japan, and Postcolonial Theory ................................ ................................ .................... 9 1.2.1. Postcolonial Theory and German Studies ................................ ................................ .............. 9 1.2.2. Postcolonial Theory and Japanese Studies ................................ ................................ .......... 11 1.2.3. When and Where was the Postcolonial? Broadening the Field ................................ ......... 13 1.3. Japanese Colonialism, Hybridity, and Mimicry ................................ ................................ ............ 16 1.3.1. Hybridity as Analytical Concept ................................ ................................ ........................... 16 1.3.2. The Dyadic Structure of Hybridity ................................ ................................ ....................... 17 1. 3.3. Hybridity as a Tool for Resistance Against Colonialism? ................................ ....................... 18 1.4. Triangulated Colonial Relations ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 21 1.5. German - Japanese Pos tcolonial Theory and Race ................................ ................................ ........ 24 1.5.1. The Racial Classification of the Japanese ................................ ................................ ............. 24 1.5.2. Qingdao as Contact Zone of the German an d the Japanese Empire ................................ ..... 27 1.5.3. Japan, Race, and Mimicry ................................ .. 29 1.6. Gender and the German - Japanese Space ................................ ................................ ................... 32 1.7. Overview of the Following Chapters ................................ ................................ ........................... 34 2. Germany and Japan around the Fin - de - Siècle and in the Interwar Years ................................ ...... 38 2.1. Introduction ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ .... 38 2.1.1. Japan in German Literature A Brief Overview ................................ ................................ ......... 42 2.1.2. Tamai Kisak and East Asia Two Novelties in Germany ................................ ............................ 47 vi 2.2. Race and Culture in the Articles of East A sia ................................ ................................ ................................ ................................ ................ 51 2.2.1. ................................ ................................ .......... 52 2.2.2. Background The Racial Classification of the Japanese aroun d 1900 ................................ .. 53 2.2.3. East Asia and the Discussions of Japan and Race ................................ ................................ 55 2.2.4. Discussion of Gender in East Asia ................................ ................................ ........................ 61 2.3. ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 62 2.3.1. Culture and Civilization ................................ ................................ ................................ ....... 62 2.3.2. Q ingdao: Culture and Imperialism ................................ ................................ ....................... 65 2.4. Japanese Theatre in Turn - of - the - Century - Germany