Media idols and national ‘representation’: Strengthening the national identity in contemporary Japan
Fecha
2014-10
Autores
Mandujo Salazar, Yunuen Ysela
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Editor
Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez
Resumen
From the perspective of the Cultural Studies, building on notions of national identity and
theories of cultural and banal nationalism, through extensive interpretative textual analysis
of two samples of dominant media phenomena and supported by observations and
experiences obtained from fieldwork, this dissertation focuses on the examination of the
discourses produced by Japanese power elites about the national identity, embedded in
contemporary media banal texts inside the producer society. In Chapter 1, the historic context
of Japanese nationalist movements and the construction of the national identity discourses
are reviewed, finding that the hegemonic discourse on Japanese identity has maintained some
essential traits across time. This discussion leads to evaluate the current political and
economic context in which the discourses of interest have developed, resulting in the
promotion of Japanese national culture as a mean to solve the nation’s economic issues. In
Chapters 2 and 3, through the analysis of the sample media phenomena, it is argued that in
Japanese media there is a hegemonic patriotic discourse promoted in banal ways, intended
to strengthen the national identity while lessening the provocative nationalist references
linked to Japanese military past. The dominant discourse inserted in these phenomena is
related to a national representativeness linked to traditional Japanese gender roles disguised
in a contemporary and cosmopolitan outfit. Chapter 4, presents the discussion on the
incongruences found in such discourse regarding the limited definition of what is considered
Japanese and its implications for the relation of Japanese with non-Japanese. In the
conclusion, it is argued that the elite-produced discourse on Japan and Japanese people
appears to be already naturalized in society, acting as a regime of truth on the national identity.
Finally, this study also calls the attention on the potential uses that the elites may try to give
to the patriotic feelings that are being promoted by banal texts, which may signify an open
and hegemonic resurgence of Japanese nationalist stance in the world.
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Palabras clave
Banal nationalism, cultural nationalism, national identity, media culture, Japan, Nacionalismo banal, nacionalismo cultural, identidad nacional, cultura de medios, Japón