Download or read book Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-century Japan written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this study, David L. Howell looks beneath the surface structures of the Japanese state to reveal the mechanism by which markers of polity, status, and civilization came together over the divide of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Howell illustrates how a short roster of malleable, explicitly superficial customs - hairstyle, clothing, and personal names - served to distinguish the "civilized" realm of the Japanese from the "barbarian" realm of the Ainu in the Tokugawa era. Within the core polity, moreover, these same customs distinguished members of different social status groups from one another, such as samurai warriors from commoners, and commoners from outcastes." "In addition to examining the way Japanese concepts of ethnic homogeneity were formed, Howell investigates the Meiji state's construction of entirely new social categories after the imperial restoration, largely from the rubble of early modern ones. This inquiry covers such topics as the translation of feudal occupations into modern livelihoods, the murderous violence against former outcastes, and the attempt to turn the Ainu people of Hokkaido into petty farmers. In the process, the author exposes the many levels of anxiety inherent in the Meiji state's redefinition of status."--Jacket.