Primitive SelvesKoreana in the Japanese Colonial Gaze, 1910-1945

Abstract

This book examines the complex history of Japanese colonial and postcolonial interactions with Korea, particularly in matters of cultural policy. The book focuses on past and present Japanese fascination with Korean culture as it reassesses colonial anthropology, heritage curation, cultural policy, and Korean performance art in Japanese mass media culture. The book challenges the prevailing view that imperial Japan demonstrated contempt for Koreans through suppression of Korean culture. In the book's analysis, the Japanese preoccupation with Koreana provided the empire with a poignant vision of its own past, now lost—including communal living and social solidarity—which then allowed Japanese to grieve for their former selves. At the same time, the specific objects of Japan's gaze—folk theater, dances, shamanism, music, and material heritage—became emblems of national identity in postcolonial Korea.

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