Islands of Discontent: Okinawan Responses to Japanese and American PowerLaura Elizabeth Hein, Mark Selden Exploring contemporary Okinawan culture, politics, and historical memory, this book argues that the long Japanese tradition of defining Okinawa as a subordinate and peripheral part of Japan means that all claims of Okinawan distinctiveness necessarily become part of the larger debate over contemporary identity. The contributors trace the renascence of the debate in the burst of cultural and political expression that has flowered in the past decade, with the rapid growth of local museums and memorials and the huge increase in popularity of distinctive Okinawan music and literature, as well as in political movements targeting both U.S. military bases and Japanese national policy on ecological, developmental, and equity grounds. A key strategy for claiming and shaping Okinawan identity is the mobilization of historical memory of the recent past, particularly of the violent subordination of Okinawan interests to those of the Japanese and American governments in war and occupation. Its intertwining themes of historical memory, nationality, ethnicity, and cultural conflict in contemporary society address central issues in anthropology, sociology, contemporary history, Asian Studies, international relations, cultural studies, and post-colonial studies. Contributions by: Matt Allen, Linda Isako Angst, Asato Eiko, Gerald Figal, Aaron Gerow, Laura Hein, Michael Molasky, Steve Rabson, James E. Roberson, Mark Selden, and Julia Yonetani. |
Contents
Culture Power and Identity in Contemporary Okinawa | 1 |
Wolves at the Back Door Remembering the Kumejima Massacres | 39 |
Waging Peace on Okinawa | 65 |
Memories of Okinawa Life and Times in the Greater Osaka Diaspora | 99 |
The Rape of a Schoolgirl Discourses of Power and Gendered National Identity in Okinawa | 135 |
Medoruma Shun The Writer as Public Intellectual in Okinawa Today | 161 |
Uchina Pop Place and Identity in Contemporary Okinawan Popular Music | 192 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
activists Ainu American antibase Asahi Asia Asian Battle of Okinawa cave Champloose cinema civilians construction contemporary Cornerstone of Peace critical dialect difference discourses economic essays ethnic feminist fiction film forces Gerald Figal Global greater Osaka heiwa Himeyuri Inamine interview issue Japa Japanese army Japanese government Japanese military Japanese soldiers Kayama Kina Shoukichi Koreans Kumejima land Laura Hein literature living Mabuni main island mainland Japanese Medoruma Medoruma Shun musicians Nago Naha narrative nawa nawan official Okinawa Initiative Okinawa Prefectural Okinawan cultural Okinawan identity Okinawan music percent policies political pop music postwar Prefectural Association protest Rabson rape residents reversion Rinken Rinken Band Ryukyu Ryūkyū Kingdom social song story style Taishō Taishō Ward Takamine Takara Teruya tion Tokyo Tomiyama tourist tours Tsuru-Henry U.S. bases U.S. military U.S. military bases U.S.-Japan Security Treaty Uchina pop victim village War Island wartime women writing Yomitan Yu-You