Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building

Current historiography on the natural world in Meiji Japan (1868-1912) primarily focuses on exploring reconfigurations to the broad concept of “nature,” and demonstrating how these reconfigurations occurred in the sociopolitical context of nation-building of the time. Yet, in doing so, historians of...

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Main Author: Lew, Jean Zhi Jun
Other Authors: Els van Dongen
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174440
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1744402024-04-06T16:58:18Z Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building Lew, Jean Zhi Jun Els van Dongen School of Humanities EVanDongen@ntu.edu.sg Arts and Humanities Current historiography on the natural world in Meiji Japan (1868-1912) primarily focuses on exploring reconfigurations to the broad concept of “nature,” and demonstrating how these reconfigurations occurred in the sociopolitical context of nation-building of the time. Yet, in doing so, historians often neglected material conceptions of nature and how these conceptions were also renegotiated throughout the Meiji period. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the natural world, specifically conceptions of material nature, within discourses on nation-building in Meiji Japan through an analysis of how the natural world was incorporated in the visions of modernity of Meiji ideologues. This paper argues that as Meiji ideologues came face to face with the new realities of the Meiji state, the natural world was employed to articulate as well as shape their visions of modernity, and the relationship between the modern man, the nation, and the natural world to realize said vision. The natural world hence became the site in which possibilities of a modern Japanese nation were imagined and contested in Meiji intellectual and political thought. In demonstrating how Meiji ideologues such as Fukuzawa Yukichi and Shiga Shigetaka renegotiated the natural world within the discursive and broader sociopolitical contexts throughout the Meiji period, this paper therefore aims to complicate the historical and intellectual significance of the natural world in discussions of the nation-building effort of the Meiji period beyond existing historiography on nature and the environment in modern Japan. Bachelor's degree 2024-04-01T07:41:16Z 2024-04-01T07:41:16Z 2024 Final Year Project (FYP) Lew, J. Z. J. (2024). Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building. Final Year Project (FYP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174440 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174440 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Arts and Humanities
spellingShingle Arts and Humanities
Lew, Jean Zhi Jun
Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building
description Current historiography on the natural world in Meiji Japan (1868-1912) primarily focuses on exploring reconfigurations to the broad concept of “nature,” and demonstrating how these reconfigurations occurred in the sociopolitical context of nation-building of the time. Yet, in doing so, historians often neglected material conceptions of nature and how these conceptions were also renegotiated throughout the Meiji period. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the natural world, specifically conceptions of material nature, within discourses on nation-building in Meiji Japan through an analysis of how the natural world was incorporated in the visions of modernity of Meiji ideologues. This paper argues that as Meiji ideologues came face to face with the new realities of the Meiji state, the natural world was employed to articulate as well as shape their visions of modernity, and the relationship between the modern man, the nation, and the natural world to realize said vision. The natural world hence became the site in which possibilities of a modern Japanese nation were imagined and contested in Meiji intellectual and political thought. In demonstrating how Meiji ideologues such as Fukuzawa Yukichi and Shiga Shigetaka renegotiated the natural world within the discursive and broader sociopolitical contexts throughout the Meiji period, this paper therefore aims to complicate the historical and intellectual significance of the natural world in discussions of the nation-building effort of the Meiji period beyond existing historiography on nature and the environment in modern Japan.
author2 Els van Dongen
author_facet Els van Dongen
Lew, Jean Zhi Jun
format Final Year Project
author Lew, Jean Zhi Jun
author_sort Lew, Jean Zhi Jun
title Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building
title_short Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building
title_full Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building
title_fullStr Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building
title_full_unstemmed Nature for the nation: locating the natural world in Meiji discourses on nation-building
title_sort nature for the nation: locating the natural world in meiji discourses on nation-building
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2024
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174440
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