Empire of Hope

The Sentimental Politics of Japanese Decline

Nonfiction, History, Asian, Japan, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Political Science
Cover of the book Empire of Hope by David Leheny, Cornell University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David Leheny ISBN: 9781501729096
Publisher: Cornell University Press Publication: November 15, 2018
Imprint: Cornell University Press Language: English
Author: David Leheny
ISBN: 9781501729096
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication: November 15, 2018
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Language: English

Empire of Hope asks how emotions become meaningful in political life. In a diverse array of cases from recent Japanese history, David Leheny shows how sentimental portrayals of the nation and its global role reflect a durable story of hopefulness about the country's postwar path. From the medical treatment of conjoined Vietnamese children, victims of Agent Orange, the global promotion of Japanese popular culture, a tragic maritime accident involving a US Navy submarine, to the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, this story has shaped the way in which political figures, writers, officials, and observers have depicted what the nation feels.

Expressions of national emotion do several things: they construct the boundaries of the national body, they inform and discipline appropriate expression, and they depoliticize messy problems that threaten to produce divisive questions about winners and losers. Most important, they work because they appear to be natural, simple and expected expressions of how the nation shares feeling, even when they paper over the extraordinary divergence in how the nation's citizens experience each incident. In making its arguments, Empire of Hope challenges how we read the relations between emotion and politics by arguing—unlike those who build from the neuroscientific turn in the social sciences or those developing affect theory in the humanities—that the focus should be on emotional representation rather than on emotion itself.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Empire of Hope asks how emotions become meaningful in political life. In a diverse array of cases from recent Japanese history, David Leheny shows how sentimental portrayals of the nation and its global role reflect a durable story of hopefulness about the country's postwar path. From the medical treatment of conjoined Vietnamese children, victims of Agent Orange, the global promotion of Japanese popular culture, a tragic maritime accident involving a US Navy submarine, to the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, this story has shaped the way in which political figures, writers, officials, and observers have depicted what the nation feels.

Expressions of national emotion do several things: they construct the boundaries of the national body, they inform and discipline appropriate expression, and they depoliticize messy problems that threaten to produce divisive questions about winners and losers. Most important, they work because they appear to be natural, simple and expected expressions of how the nation shares feeling, even when they paper over the extraordinary divergence in how the nation's citizens experience each incident. In making its arguments, Empire of Hope challenges how we read the relations between emotion and politics by arguing—unlike those who build from the neuroscientific turn in the social sciences or those developing affect theory in the humanities—that the focus should be on emotional representation rather than on emotion itself.

More books from Cornell University Press

Cover of the book The Specter of "the People" by David Leheny
Cover of the book The New Masters of Capital by David Leheny
Cover of the book Making All the Difference by David Leheny
Cover of the book Too Few Women at the Top by David Leheny
Cover of the book Summerfolk by David Leheny
Cover of the book Humanitarian Hypocrisy by David Leheny
Cover of the book The Myth of Ethnic War by David Leheny
Cover of the book Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers by David Leheny
Cover of the book Democracy and Displacement in Colombia's Civil War by David Leheny
Cover of the book Militarism in a Global Age by David Leheny
Cover of the book Differential Diagnoses by David Leheny
Cover of the book Clarissa's Ciphers by David Leheny
Cover of the book Fleas, Flies, and Friars by David Leheny
Cover of the book Where Three Worlds Met by David Leheny
Cover of the book The Just City by David Leheny
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy