Title Translating the West : language and political reason in nineteenth-century Japan / Douglas R. Howland

Published Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, [2002] ©2002

Click on the following:
JSTOR eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xiv, 292 pages) : illustrations Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. The Project of Enlightened Civilization -- 3. Translation Techniques and Language -- 4. Constructing Liberty -- 5. Differentiating Right and Sovereignty -- 6. Representing the People, Imagining Society -- 7. Conclusion Summary In this rich and absorbing analysis of the transformation of political thought in nineteenth-century Japan, Douglas Howland examines the transmission to Japan of key concepts--liberty, rights, sovereignty, and society--from Western Europe and the United States. Because Western political concepts did not translate well into their language, Japanese had to invent terminology to engage Western political thought. This work of westernization served to structure historical agency as Japanese leaders undertook the creation of a modern state. Where scholars have previously treated the introduction of Western political thought to Japan as a simple migration of ideas from one culture to another, Howland undertakes an unprecedented integration of the history of political concepts and the semiotics of translation techniques. He demonstrates that Japanese efforts to translate the West must be understood as problems both of language and action--as the creation and circulation of new concepts and the usage of these new concepts in debates about the programs and policies to be implemented in a westernizing Japan. Translating the West will interest scholars of East Asian studies and translation studies and historians of political thought, liberalism, and modernity Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-279) and index Notes English and Japanese Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Print version record Subject Political science -- Japan -- History -- 19th century Liberalism -- Japan -- History -- 19th century HISTORY -- Asia -- General. Civilization -- Western influences Liberalism Political science Taal. Politiek. SUBJECT Japan -- Civilization -- Western influences. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85069390 Subject Japan Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 0824842723 9780824842727

  Permalink