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Rewriting History: Civilization Theory in Contemporary Japan

Rewriting History: Civilization Theory in Contemporary Japan positions I:Z 0 1993 by Duke University Press. Morris-Suzuki Rewriting History tightly around the historian. Few now would feel competent to extend their range much beyond a single continent: many feel happier with a single village. The forefront of history lies, it seems, not in multivolume works on the march of civilization, but in densely written studies of religious mysticism in sixteenth-century Bavaria or cat trials in the Pyrenees. For someone accustomed to this late-twentieth-century tradition, it comes as something of a shock to turn to current debates in Japanese history and be confronted again with that great Victorian topic, Civilization. But there it is. A major panel at the 1991conference of the Social and Economic History Society (Shakai Keizaishi Gakkai)-one of Japan’s foremost academic associations-addressed the topic “The Advocacy of Japanese Civilization’’ (Nihon bunmei no teish6), and in doing so ranged over panoramas of human progress from the stone age onward. This interest in what is known as hi@& bunmeiron (the comparative theory of civilization) is not new-it has been pursued for many years, for example by the social anthropologist Umesao Tadao- but it has acquired a fresh and unexpected prominence in historical debate. Civilization theory is http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png positions asia critique Duke University Press

Rewriting History: Civilization Theory in Contemporary Japan

positions asia critique , Volume 1 (2) – Sep 1, 1993

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Publisher
Duke University Press
Copyright
Copyright 1993 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1067-9847
eISSN
1527-8271
DOI
10.1215/10679847-1-2-526
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

positions I:Z 0 1993 by Duke University Press. Morris-Suzuki Rewriting History tightly around the historian. Few now would feel competent to extend their range much beyond a single continent: many feel happier with a single village. The forefront of history lies, it seems, not in multivolume works on the march of civilization, but in densely written studies of religious mysticism in sixteenth-century Bavaria or cat trials in the Pyrenees. For someone accustomed to this late-twentieth-century tradition, it comes as something of a shock to turn to current debates in Japanese history and be confronted again with that great Victorian topic, Civilization. But there it is. A major panel at the 1991conference of the Social and Economic History Society (Shakai Keizaishi Gakkai)-one of Japan’s foremost academic associations-addressed the topic “The Advocacy of Japanese Civilization’’ (Nihon bunmei no teish6), and in doing so ranged over panoramas of human progress from the stone age onward. This interest in what is known as hi@& bunmeiron (the comparative theory of civilization) is not new-it has been pursued for many years, for example by the social anthropologist Umesao Tadao- but it has acquired a fresh and unexpected prominence in historical debate. Civilization theory is

Journal

positions asia critiqueDuke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 1993

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