Comments on: Escaping the Binaries of Meiji Modernity http://www.froginawell.net/japan/2006/09/escaping-the-binaries-of-meiji-modernity/ The Japan History Group Blog Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:08:31 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Alan Baumler http://www.froginawell.net/japan/2006/09/escaping-the-binaries-of-meiji-modernity/comment-page-1/#comment-25250 Alan Baumler Sat, 23 Sep 2006 01:26:27 +0000 http://www.froginawell.net/japan/2006/09/escaping-the-binaries-of-meiji-modernity/#comment-25250 I actually do some of the tradition and modernity stuff. Actually, I’m doing it on Monday, so I guess this is a good time to think about it. Part of it is that I like to give them some idea of the historiography. Part of it is that at least some of the people at the time used language like that, and it helps to explain what it might mean. Maybe most importantly I think it helps to have some idea what you are being syncretic with. Lots of people in Meiji Japan really do seem to have thought they were going from and old Japan to a new one, and while the old tradition/modernity thing does not work to explain what they were thinking it does give you a start. Actually, I find myself doing more tradition and modernity as the textbooks do less of it. One of the annoying things about the newer books is that as they do less and less of the old “Tokugawa society 1-2-3” I have to do more of it to give some structure to things. I actually do some of the tradition and modernity stuff. Actually, I’m doing it on Monday, so I guess this is a good time to think about it. Part of it is that I like to give them some idea of the historiography. Part of it is that at least some of the people at the time used language like that, and it helps to explain what it might mean. Maybe most importantly I think it helps to have some idea what you are being syncretic with. Lots of people in Meiji Japan really do seem to have thought they were going from and old Japan to a new one, and while the old tradition/modernity thing does not work to explain what they were thinking it does give you a start.
Actually, I find myself doing more tradition and modernity as the textbooks do less of it. One of the annoying things about the newer books is that as they do less and less of the old “Tokugawa society 1-2-3” I have to do more of it to give some structure to things.

]]> By: Jonathan Dresner http://www.froginawell.net/japan/2006/09/escaping-the-binaries-of-meiji-modernity/comment-page-1/#comment-24948 Jonathan Dresner Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:27:52 +0000 http://www.froginawell.net/japan/2006/09/escaping-the-binaries-of-meiji-modernity/#comment-24948 I ignore them. Seriously, when I talk about "conservatives" (or liberals, for that matter) I always try to define very carefully what that means at whatever time I'm talking about, and nowhere does it get weirder, I think, than Imperial-era Japan. When I'm talking about culture... well, "syncretic" is my favorite word, all my students will tell you. "Tradition" is a conscious choice (so is change, most of the time), particularly in eras where change is happening quickly, but it's so rarely a pure thing that there's little value in creating dichotomies. I've gotten to the point now that I hardly ever use the term "traditional" without quotation marks (you can hear them in the classroom, actually), and without noting explicitly when the tradition in question dates from. They all have origins, and they all stem from ongoing functional decisions, and when you look at it that way, the issue drops away, at least one layer of it. I ignore them.

Seriously, when I talk about “conservatives” (or liberals, for that matter) I always try to define very carefully what that means at whatever time I’m talking about, and nowhere does it get weirder, I think, than Imperial-era Japan. When I’m talking about culture… well, “syncretic” is my favorite word, all my students will tell you. “Tradition” is a conscious choice (so is change, most of the time), particularly in eras where change is happening quickly, but it’s so rarely a pure thing that there’s little value in creating dichotomies.

I’ve gotten to the point now that I hardly ever use the term “traditional” without quotation marks (you can hear them in the classroom, actually), and without noting explicitly when the tradition in question dates from. They all have origins, and they all stem from ongoing functional decisions, and when you look at it that way, the issue drops away, at least one layer of it.

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