Events
October 2021 Workshop
Prostitutes, Hostesses, and Actresses at the Edge of the Japanese Empire: Fragmenting History
Time: Monday, October 25, 2021, from 9:00AM to 10:30AM (JST)
Place: Online (registration required)
The book talk, comments, and following discussion will be conducted using both English and Japanese.
The registration period for this event has ended.
Analyzing materials from literature and film, this book considers the fates of women who did not or could not buy into the Japanese imperial ideology of “good wives, wise mothers” in support of male empire-building. Although many feminist critics have articulated women’s active roles as dutiful collaborators in the project of empire, their attention has focused principally on male-dominated narratives of empire-building. In contrast, the roles of marginalized women, such as sex workers, women entertainers, hostesses, and hibakusha have rarely been analyzed. This book addresses this intellectual lacuna by closely examining memories, (semi-)autobiographical stories, and newspaper articles, grounded in or inspired by lived experiences not only in Japan, but also in Shanghai, Manchukuo, colonial Korea, and the Pacific.
