• The Karayuki-san of Japan

    Author(s):
    Yalın Akçevin (see profile)
    Date:
    2020
    Subject(s):
    Japan, Civilization, Modern, Women, 1868-1912, Sex
    Item Type:
    Presentation
    Tag(s):
    Women in Meiji Japan, Women and Modernization, Women's Work, Women's Sexuality, Women's Identity, Modernity, Meiji women, Sexuality
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/x86s-rn49
    Abstract:
    This study aims to explore and understand the identities of the karayuki-san who became sex workers across the Pacific Rim in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, arguing that the karayuki-san were an integral part of the process and experience of modernization in Japan. The karayuki-san have been seen as both soldiers of the empire and the bane of its modern existence as a great nation, yet these strands of thinking have been strewn across the discussion about these women and were used in constructing one dimensional discussions about these women. The approach taken in this presentation is to bring together these disparate strands of thinking, which yields both a broad history of the karayuki-san and a multi-dimensional understanding of their identities as women, sex workers, and persons swept by modernity. The resulting analysis finds that the karayuki-san were ascribed a number of imagined identities, which built upon their real identity which lied at the core, and these identities evolved as Japan progressed farther along the road of modernization.
    Notes:
    Please note that this "presentation" was prepared for a graduate course titled "Paths of Modernity in Asia" and was delivered on January 22, 2021. The content has not been edited before uploading and remains as is except for personal information which has been removed. All the accompanying notes can be found on the slides and the presentation itself is fully cited with the bibliography available in full at the end.
    Metadata:
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    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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