[KineJapan] CFP: Capture Japan - Book Under Contract with Bloomsbury

[Marco Bohr]

This is the final Call for Papers for the edited book ‘Capture Japan:
Visual Culture and the Global Imagination from 1952 to the Present’. The
book analyses, deconstructs and challenges representations of Japan in a
variety of different visual media such as cinema, documentary film,
photography, visual art and computer games. The book is now under contract
with Bloomsbury and due to the recent withdrawal of a contributor, we are
now looking for a replacement chapter. We are particularly keen to hear
from potential contributions on *anime, manga, animation, graphic novels or
comics *which are topics that are currently underrepresented in the book.
Additionally, we are also interested how these type of visual media relate
to transnational contexts within East Asia and beyond.

The book comprises of a series of case studies by an international group of
experts in the field which highlight the institutional framework that has
allowed certain types of images of Japan to be promoted. The book points to
a vast network of global institutions, each concerned with a different type
of image of Japan that fits into an ideological, political, cultural or
economic agenda. Internationally, these institutions include film
production companies or art museums and galleries, whereas in Japan they
include local tourist boards, government agencies or computer game
manufacturers. Whilst these institutions have differing interests, this
book identifies common threads in the type of image of Japan that is being
imagined, produced and disseminated by such institutions. The book makes
the argument that these images are visual tropes that feed into a type of
Japan of the global imagination.

The book identifies that the 1952 ‘Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and
Security between Japan and the United States of America’ – commonly known
as Anpo in Japan – marked the beginning of an era or unprecedented peace
and prosperity. Whilst in Japan Anpo created many questions about
sovereignty and political agency, particularly during the amendment of
1960, the treaty has underpinned the global economic axis of the post-war
era between Japan and the west. The book argues that the institutional
support for certain visual tropes of Japan thus feeds into a larger
discourse of maintaining the global economic, political and ideological
order of the post-war era. Japan, and how it is represented in images, is
therefore inextricably linked to its role in maintaining this status quo
since 1952. The book will come out at a crucial time since the re-emergence
of China as the largest economy in the world is poised to affect the global
economic (dis)equilibrium that has dominated much of the last 70 years. The
book investigates whether the visual discourse of Japan in the global
imagination is about to shift into a new era.

The word ‘capture’ in the title of the book recognizes a level of
dominance, even aggression with regards to images and how they feed into a
larger discourse. It is also a play on words on the photographic term to
‘capture’, as well as the notion of a spectacle that is ‘captivating’.
Contributions to this book by a diverse and interdisciplinary group of
scholars are conscious of the way images feed into, construct or subvert
notions about Orientalism (Said) as well as self-exoticising discourses
such as Strategic Essentialism (Spivak). Contributors also considered how
images sought to disrupt, subvert or at least challenge visual tropes about
Japan thus complicating notions about a global imagination. Contributors
might draw from the legacies of Japonisme of the 19th century or the rapid
shifts the way Japan was perceived, and perceived itself, through images
from the Meiji, Taisho or early Showa era, however the historical timespan
for case studies is strictly from 1952 to the present.

This book is already under contract and we are seeking for one final
contribution to the book. Please send a 200 word abstract as well as a 50
word short biography to the editor of the book Dr. Marco Bohr
marco.bohr at ntu.ac.uk <m.bohr at lboro.ac.uk> by the 15th of June 2020 at the
very latest. Since we are working on a tight time frame, late submission
cannot be accepted. Potential contributors should also note the first
deadline of the 6,000 word draft chapter which is the 31st of September
2020. Again, due to the book being under contract this deadline cannot be
extended. Revisions of the chapter will occur in October 2020 with quick
turnarounds expected.

If potential contributors are unsure whether their topic suits the book,
they are welcome to liaise with Dr. Marco Bohr at marco.bohr at ntu.ac.uk
<m.bohr at lboro.ac.uk>

https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/art-design/marco-bohr
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