This thesis explores the relationship between censorship of the authoritarian government of early modern Japan and the sharebon and kibyoshi sub-genres of gesaku literature, with reference to M.E....Show moreThis thesis explores the relationship between censorship of the authoritarian government of early modern Japan and the sharebon and kibyoshi sub-genres of gesaku literature, with reference to M.E. Berry's notion of the private public sphere (1998), and compares the situation of these literary sub-genres with the situation of ukiyo-e prints.Show less
This study focuses on the anti-footbinding movement initiated by the Western missionaries in late Qing China. Western missionaries were the first group of people who advocated the abolishment of...Show moreThis study focuses on the anti-footbinding movement initiated by the Western missionaries in late Qing China. Western missionaries were the first group of people who advocated the abolishment of footbinding, and their activities had facilitated the spread of this movement. However, as the intention of western missionary in China was to Christianize the Chinese, did their anti-footbinding movement contribute to the recruitment of more Chinese converts? If not, why? Centering on this research question, the thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the general missionary history in China and the positions of the Catholics and the Protestants on the issue of footbinding. Chapter 2 is a case study on Rev.John Macgowan’s anti-footbinding effort in Amoy. This case shows how missionary handled the anti-footbinding issue in a local area of China and what problems the missionary met during his practice. Chapter 3 is another case study on Young John Allen and the famous newspaper Wanguo gongbao he launched which had great influence in the modern history of China. Through the discussions of anti-footbinding in the newspaper, Allen successfully drew the attention of the Chinese reformers on the anti-footbinding issue. Young’s case signals a transition of the anti-footbinding movement from missionaries to a wider public. This transition led the anti-footbiding movement to a further development in China. However, it also implies the loosening of ties between anti-footbinding movement and the evangelical cause. Chapter 4 is a study of the larger social context of late Qing China which produced much antagonism and few support for the Western missionaries’ anti-footbinding movement, as the Western imperialists’ advancement in China affected the images of missionaries and made people unwilling to associate themselves with Christianity, even if they might support the abolishment of footbinding.Show less
The aim of this MA Thesis is to study and compare domestication and foreignization in the manga translations of scanlation and official publications by analyzing and comparing the translations of...Show moreThe aim of this MA Thesis is to study and compare domestication and foreignization in the manga translations of scanlation and official publications by analyzing and comparing the translations of the verbal and visual text of the original manga. This study is a comparative analysis of three translations of the same source text. The material employed in this study is the first volume of Azumanga Daioh (2000) along with the translated versions of the same volume in English by two English publishers, namely ADV Manga (2003) and Yen Press (2009) and the scanlation by Manga- Basket (2008). The translations have been analyzed using five categories of verbal and visual text, which are culture specific elements, wordplay, overall writing style, onomatopoeia and pictorial elements. By looking at the translation methods used in the five categories I will determine whether and to which degree the translations are foreignized or domesticated.Show less
Although racism and racial issues are not about the color of people’s skin in itself, the symbolic meanings given to color do determine who is affected by acts of discrimination and who is not. But...Show moreAlthough racism and racial issues are not about the color of people’s skin in itself, the symbolic meanings given to color do determine who is affected by acts of discrimination and who is not. But there is more to racism than it simply being about dark skin versus fair. Even among skin tone, variations that exist in terms color across the range of dark to fair, the type of discrimination faced by people differs. On a related yet deceptively different topic skin color is also strongly tied to beauty ideals. The focus for this thesis lies on the Japanese market. The question that is answered is: what does white skin stand for within Japanese society and is this beauty ideal of fair skin directly linked to a desire to emulate white people?Show less
