Asian Studies Association of Australia

MEMBERS LOGIN
Username:
Password:

ASAA Publications: East Asia Series

ROUTLEDGE PUBLISHERS

The East Asia Series is published for the Asian Studies Association of Australia by Routledge in London. See the Routledge web site East Asia Series for full details.

On this page:

	NEW BOOKS
	PREVIOUS VOLUMES         Books Published by Routledge since 2000         The Chaebol and Labour in Korea         Books Published by Allen & Unwin (Sydney) up to 1991
	How to submit
	Editorial Board
	How to Purchase

 

The East Asia Series welcomes proposals for manuscripts on subjects principally concerned with any part of the East Asian region (China, Japan, North and South Korea and Taiwan). Topics may be contemporary or historical, and may relate to any of the humanities or social sciences. The series seeks in particular to publish manuscripts which, while maintaining high scholarly standards, raise issues of broad intellectual interest and are written in a style which will appeal to a wide readership. Comparative studies, dealing with more than one country of the region, are also welcomed.

Authors are invited to submit a synopsis of about 5-6 pages in length, which should provide the following information: the aims of the manuscript; a synopsis, including chapter headings; the intended readership (is the book mainly designed for an audience of academic researchers, postgraduates, undergraduates or the wider public?); and the main competing publications. The synopsis should also include an academic curriculum vitae and list of publications. Where possible, authors are also encouraged to submit a sample chapter with their synopsis.

A copy of the manuscript proposal should be sent to both of the editors of the series:

Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki
Division of Pacific and Asian History
Research School of Pacific and Asian History
Australian National University
Australia
E-mail: tessa.morris-suzuki@anu.edu.au

Dr Morris Low
School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies
University of Queensland
Brisbane, QLD 4072AUSTRALIA
E-mail: m.low@uq.edu.au

The other members of the editorial board are Professor Colin Mackerras (Griffith University), Associate Professor Sonia Ryang (University of Iowa), Professor Vera Mackie (University of Melbourne), and Professor Geremie Barmé (Australian National University).

 

---

NEW BOOKS

Curtis Anderson Gayle, Women’s History and Local Community in Postwar Japan (December 2009)

This timely look at a neglected corner of Japanese historiography spotlights the decade following the end of World War II, a time in which Japanese society was undergoing the transformation from imperial state to democratic nation. For some working and middle-class women involved in education and labor activism, history-writing became a means to greater voice within the turbulent transition.

Women's History and Local Community in Postwar Japan examines the emergence of women’s history-writing groups in Tokyo, Nagoya and Ehime, using interviews conducted with founding members and analysis of primary documents and publications by each group. It demonstrates how women appropriated history-writing as a radical praxis geared less toward revolution and more toward the articulation of local imaginations, spaces and memories after World War II. By appropriating history as a praxis that did not need revolution for its success, these women used connections established by Marxist historians between history-writing and subjectivity, but did so in ways that broke rank from nationally-referenced renditions of history and memory. Under conditions in which some women saw history as a field of articulation that remained dominated by men, they put into practice their own de-centered versions of history-writing that were to subsequently eclipse and outlive those being offered by Marxist historians.

 

---

PREVIOUS VOLUMES

Technology and the Culture of Progress in Meiji Japan David Wittner November 2007, Routledge, 224pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-43375-4 July 2009, Routledge, 222pp, PB, ISBN 978-0-415-56061-0

In this book David Wittner situates Japan’s Meiji Era experience of technology transfer and industrial modernization within the realm of culture, politics, and symbolism, examining how nineteenth century beliefs in civilization and enlightenment influenced the process of technological choice.

Through case studies of the iron and silk industries, Wittner argues that the Meiji government’s guiding principle was not simply economic development or providing a technical model for private industry as is commonly claimed. Choice of technique was based on the ability of a technological artifact to import Western "civilization" to Japan: Meiji officials’ technological choices were firmly situated within perceptions of authority, modernity, and their varying political agendas. Technological artifacts could also be used as instruments of political legitimization. By late the Meiji Era, the former icons of Western civilization had been transformed into the symbols of Japanese industrial and military might.

A fresh and engaging re-examination of Japanese industrialization within the larger framework of the Meiji Era, this book will appeal to scholars and students of science, technology, and society as well as Japanese history and culture.

• 

 

Japan on Display: Photography and the Emperor Morris Low March 2006, Routledge, 216pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-37148-3

Sixty years on from the end of the Pacific War, Japan on Display examines representations of the Meiji emperor, Mutsuhito (1852-1912) and his grandson the Showa emperor, Hirohito who was regarded as a symbol of the nation, in both war and peacetime. Much of this representation was aided by the phenomenon of photography.

The introduction and development of photography in the nineteenth century coincided with the need to make Hirohito’s grandfather, the young Meiji Emperor, more visible. Photo books and albums became a popular format for presenting seemingly objective images of the monarch, reminding the Japanese of their proximity to the Emperor, and the imperial family. In the twentieth century, these 'national albums’ provided a visual record of wars fought in the name of the Emperor, while also documenting the reconstruction of Tokyo, scientific expeditions, and imperial tours.

Drawing on archival documents, photographs, and sources in both Japanese and English, this book throws new light on the history of twentieth-century Japan and the central role of Hirohito. With Japan’s defeat in the Pacific War, the Emperor was transformed from wartime leader to peace-loving scientist. Japan on Display seeks to understand this reinvention of a more 'human’ Emperor and the role that photography played in the process.

 

Postmodern, Feminist and Postcolonial Currents in Contemporary Japanese Culture: A Reading of Murakami Haruki, Yoshimoto Banana, Yoshimoto Takaaki and Karatani Kojin Fuminobu Murakami July 2005, Routledge, 228pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-35807-1 April 2009, Routledge, 228pp, PB, ISBN 978-0-415-54664-5

Using the Euro-American theoretical framework of postmodernism, feminism and post-colonialism, this book analyses the fictional and critical work of four contemporary Japanese writers; Murakami Haruki, Yoshimoto Banana, Yoshimoto Takaaki and Karatani Kojin. In addition the author reconsiders this Euro-American theory by looking back on it from the perspective of Japanese literary work.

Presenting outstanding analysis of Japanese intellectuals and writers who have received little attention in the West, the book also includes an extensive and comprehensive bibliography making it essential reading for those studying Japanese literature, Japanese studies and Japanese thinkers.

 

Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China Wu Cuncun August 2004, Routledge, 256pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-33474-7

Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China is the richest exploration to date of late imperial Chinese literati interest in male love. Employing primary sources such as miscellanies (including diaries and letters), poetry, fiction and 'flower guides', Wu Cuncun argues that male homoeroticism played a central role in the cultural life of late imperial Chinese literati elites. Countering recent arguments that homosexuality was marginal and disparaged during this period, this book also seeks to trace the relationship of homoeroticism to status and power, arguing that existing paradigms for the study of sexuality, centred on identity and behaviour, must be extended and placed within the larger context of sexual culture. Only with this shift in methodological focus is it possible to approach the distinctive character of homoerotic sensibilities in late imperial China and the fashions through which they were performed. In addition to historical portraits and analysis the book also advances the concept of 'sensibilities' as a method for interpreting the complex range of homoerotic texts produced in late imperial China, recognizing a need to think about sexuality not only in terms of behaviour and identity but also in terms of culture: not necessarily national culture, but particular cultures in which practices and identities are given meaning and evaluated. Such an approach, bringing together historical and textual strategies, allows us to account for the rise in homoeroticism in late imperial China as a significant and far reaching sensibility (fengqi) that in turn acted upon the wider cultural landscape. Wu Cuncun lectures in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at The University of New England, Australia. She was formerly Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Nankai University.

 

Japan and National Anthropology: A CRitique Sonia Ryang May 2004, Routledge, 272pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-40579-9 May 2004, Routledge, 272pp, PB, ISBN 978-0-415-70032-0

Japan and National Anthropology is an empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated study which challenges the conventional view of Japanese studies in general and Anglophone anthropological writings on Japan in particular. Sonia Ryang explores the process by which the post-war anthropology of Japan has come to be dominated by certain conceptual and methodological approaches and exposes the extent to which this process has occluded our view of Japan.
In an attempt to move away from theoretical trends which identify Japanese cultural boundaries with Japan's nation-state boundaries, consequentially portraying the country as racially homogeneous and culturally unique, Ryang examines:

This book will be welcomed by all students of Japanese anthropology and Japanese history. Its historical breadth and criticism of existing approaches provide a fresh and reasoned insight into the development and future of anthropology of Japan. Sonia Ryang is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, USA. She is also the author of North Koreans in Japan.

 

Korea’s Development under Park Chung Hee Kim Hyung-A November 2003, Routledge, 256pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-32329-1

Based on personal interviews with the principal policy-makers of the 1970s, Korea's Development under Park Chung-Hee examines how the president sought to develop South Korea into an independent, autonomous sovereign state both economically and militarily. Kim provides a new narrative in the complex task of exploring the paradoxical nature and effects of Korea's rapid development, which maintains that any judgement of Park must consider his achievements in the socio-economic, cultural and political context in which they took place. Kim examines:

• Park’s abhorrence of Korea’s reliance on the US presence
• Intellectual debate on national reconstruction pre-1961
• The Korean model of state-guided industrialization
• Park's rapid development strategy
• The role of the ruling elite
• The heavy and chemical industrialization of the 1970s
• Park's clandestine nuclear weapons development program

With a great deal of material never before published, students of Korean politics and history at all levels will find this book a stimulating account of South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s. Kim Hyung-A is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia.

 

The Manchurian Crisis and Japanese Society, 1931-33 Sandra Wilson November 2001, Routledge, 264pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-25056-6

This book explores the reactions to the Manchurian crisis of different sections of the state, and of a number of different groups in Japanese society, particularly rural groups, women's organizations and business associations. It thus seeks to avoid a generalized account of public relations to the military and diplomatic events of the early 1930s, offering instead a nuanced account of the shifts in public and popular opinion in this crucial period.

 

Rethinking Identity in Modern Japan: Nationalism as Aesthetics Yumiko Iida December 2001, Routledge, 336pp, HB, ISBN 978-0-415-23521-1

This volume is a major reconsideration of Japanese late modernity and national hegemony which examines the creative and academic works of a number of influential Japanese thinkers. The author situates the process of Japanese knowledge production in the interface between the immediate historical and the wider socio-economic and politico-cultural contexts accompanying the Japanese post-war experience of modernity.
This book will be of great value to anyone interested in the history of contemporary Japanese culture and society.

 

THE CHAEBOL AND LABOUR IN KOREA

 

The Development of Management Strategy in Hyundai

Seung Ho Kwon and Michael O'Donnell

This important new study argues that an historical analysis of the labour-management policies of the Korean family congolomerates, or chaebol, is essential for a complete understanding of the dynamics of South Korean industrial relations. Focusing on the labour-management strategies of the Hyundai Business Group, the book offers a new perspective on this Asian 'tiger' economy.
2000, Illus 18 tables, 22 figures HB: 0-415-22169-2 £55.00

 

BOOKS PUBLISHED BY ALLEN & UNWIN (SYDNEY) UP TO 1991

 

Population and Planning in China

Wang Chi-yeh and Terence H. Hull (editors)

This book offers important insights into the population planning process from the perspectives of Chinese officials and scholars of the State Planning Commission (SPC), and foreign scholars who collaborated with the SPC in carrying out a project on population and development planning.
1991, 311pp ISBN 0 04 442323 3 paperback NOT IN PRINT

 

New God, New Nation: Protestants and Self Reconstruction Nationalism in Korea 1896-1937

Ken Wells

At the close of the nineteenth century the kingdom of Korea became a battleground at the centre of the tripartite rivalry between China, Japan, and Russia, culminating in its official incorporation into the Japanese empire in 1910. It was in the context of this loss of political and cultural autonomy that some Koreans turned to Protestantism and associated ideas of the nation-state as a model for a new Korea.
1991, 222pp ISBN 0 04 442341 1 paperback $24.95
Available from Allen & Unwin, PO Box 8500, St Leonards, NSW 2065 AUSTRALIA
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100, Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218
E-mail: frontdesk@allen-unwin.com.au

 

The Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in the Court of Ming Shizong

Carney Fisher

When he took the Ming throne in 1521, the young emperor Shizong asked his advisers about ceremonial protocol for his deceased father. This initiated a violent conflict that would engulf the entire realm and present a virtually unsolvable conundrum to future Chinese historians. The heat and passion generated during this controversy ended only after Shizong had used the full force of the autocracy of the throne, had beaten to death seventeen of his leading officials, and had alienated a great number of the rest.
1990, 230pp ISBN 0 04 442113 3 paperback NOT IN PRINT

 

Divided Self

Leith Morton

Arishima Takeo led one of the most dramatic lives of any modern Japanese writer. Making use of a revealing diary left by Arishima, Leith Morton pieces together the story of his early years in Japan. Arishima?s linking of behaviour with sexual drives was undoubtedly his outstanding achievement as a writer and presaged much later Japanese writing. His story is tragic not only because of his famous love suicide but also because he illustrates the dilemma in which many Japanese intellectuals found themselves as Japan became increasingly right-wing when their own sympathies tended increasingly to the left.
1988, 237pp ISBN 0 04 378006 7 paperback NOT IN PRINT

 

Eighteenth Century Japan: Culture and Society

C. Andrew Gerstle

The essays in this collection show a fascination with the social context behind the development of aesthetics, drama, language, art and philosophy in pre-industrialised Japan.
1989, 163pp ISBN 0 04 380031 9 paperback NOT IN PRINT

 

China Stands Up: Ending the Western Presence, 1948-1950

Beverley Hooper

This book analyses Chinese policies and actions towards Westerners who remained in China during and immediately after the Communist victory, focusing on the period from 1948 until the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950. The writer assesses the impact of nationalism and socialism on Western businesses, Christian missions, educational institutions, culture and official interests.
1986, 246pp ISBN 0 86861 986 8 paperback NOT IN PRINT

 

Populist Nationalism in Pre-War Japan: A Biography of Nakano Seigo

Leslie Russel Oates

This study explores the political, social and intellectual background to the emergence of nationalism in interwar Japan through an examination of the life of Nakano Seigo (1886-1943). Nakano was in many ways an unusual figure, combining popular oratory and journalism with a long political career which brought him close to the heart of Japan?s power structure.
1985, ISBN 0 86861 111 5 paperback NOT IN PRINT

---

How to purchase the volumes

Titles are available through your bookshop or

Routledge, 11 New Fetter Lane, London, EC4P4EE, England
Visit the Routledge website for ordering information

 

Special Prices for ASAA members

Titles from the series are available to ASAA members at the greatly discounted price of $75 plus postage. To get this discount please send your orders directly Ms Stephanie Rogers at Routledge.