Japonisme on the Move: Travel, Migration, and Other Movements of People across Places
The Society for the Study of Japonisme is pleased to announce the 2019 edition of its International Symposium, co-organized with the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, and the Ebara Hatakeyama Memorial Foundation. Under the general theme “Japonisme on the Move: Travel, Migration, and Other Movements of People across Places,” the symposium aims to examine the phenomena of Japonisme from a wide range of viewpoints.
With the opening of Japan’s borders in the mid-nineteenth century, diplomats,oyatoi gaikokujin [foreign advisors for the government], merchants and tourists began to visit the country. Describing in their journals and correspondences the cities, customs, craftsmanship and people they encountered during their journeys, these travelers also brought various craft objects home. At the same time, people moved from Japan to Europe and the United States, too, as businessmen, touring performers, students and migrants, each embodying the Other to the Western eyes. How did these intersecting human flows across the globe inform Japonisme? Shifting our focus to movements of people (from those of things, such as art and craft objects) will allow us to discover new and diverse sets of meanings in Japonisme from modern to contemporary periods.
The 2019 edition of the Society for the Study of Japonisme International Symposium seeks to encourage in-depth study and discussion on this Japonisme shaped by travels and movements. We invite ambitious and innovative papers on topics including “tourism,” “study abroad,” “diplomacy,” “trade,” “tours of performers,” “migrants,” “the Other” and “agency.”
Requirements: The Society for the Study of Japonisme membership. Non-members may sign up when submitting their proposals (see the “Join Us” page on our website). Your proposal will be considered once the Board of Directors approves your membership application.
The Society may provide some amount of financial aid to the paper presenters coming from abroad. When you need it, notify us of it at your appliance.
In case you would like to publish your article on the Journal of the Society, Studies in Japonisme, it will be published both in Japanese and in English.