Historians and scholars of German literature explore the German sociohistorical and aesthetic representations of China and Japan from the imperialist era to contemporary times. They cover Japan and Germany in the shadow of National Socialism; from 1920s leftist collaboration to global capitalism; negotiating identity in multicultural Germany; and trade, travel, and ethnographic narratives. Among specific topics are Japan in interwar German newsreels, collaborations between Chinese and German left-wing activists in the Weimar Republic, the Boxer Rebellion in Gerhard Seyfried's Yellow Wind (2008), Anna May Wong and Weimar cinema: orientalism in postcolonial Germany, hairnet manufacturing in Vysocina and Shandong 1890-0939 as an early globalizing home industry, and emptiness as recurring topos in recent Germany short stories on Japan. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
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With the economic and political rise of East Asia in the second half of the twentieth century, many Western countries have re-evaluated their links to their Eastern counterparts. Thus, in recent years, Asian German Studies has emerged as a promising branch within interdisciplinary German Studies. This collection of essays examines German-language cultural production pertaining to modern China and Japan, and explicitly challenges orientalist notions by proposing a conception of East and West not as opposites, but as complementary elements of global culture, thereby urging a move beyond national paradigms in cultural studies. Essays focus on the mid-century German-Japanese alliance, Chinese-German Leftist collaborations, global capitalism, travel, identity, and cultural hybridity. The authors include historians and scholars of film and literature, and employ a wide array of approaches from postcolonial, globalization, media, and gender studies. The collection sheds new light on a complex and ambivalentset of international relationships, while also testifying to the potential of Asian German Studies.
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