Papers by Christopher Born
The Journal of Asian Studies, Volume 78 / Issue 3, 2019
Robert Tuck’s impressive study of the intersection of politics, poetry, and print media in Japan’... more Robert Tuck’s impressive study of the intersection of politics, poetry, and print media in Japan’s rapidly modernizing Meiji period challenges earlier notions of an emerging national literature. Rather than focus on debates over the role of fiction, the social space of the novel, or influence of European-inflected literary styles within the Tokyo- based literary community, Tuck aims to “offer a close, ground-level account of the inter- action of poetry and print media with a view to providing greater nuance to existing models of the media-driven emergence of modern nationalism and national imagina- tions” (p. xxxv).
What happened when an American missionary in China forsook colonial mission practices as the Japa... more What happened when an American missionary in China forsook colonial mission practices as the Japanese forces approached Hankou (Wuhan), leaving a battered Nanjing in the dust in 1937? A message of peace and holistic ministry led to new cultural understandings as well as safety for over 500 women at risk of rape and torture at the hands of the Japanese coming up the Yangtze river.
Since their introduction to Japan in the Sixth Century, the teachings of Confucius have played an... more Since their introduction to Japan in the Sixth Century, the teachings of Confucius have played an important role in the creation and sustenance of societal values and order. While Japanese society has changed much since the dawn of the postwar era, these same basic principles are still highly influential, but are seen in some surprising forms. Geared primarily at pre-teen and teen-age boys, recent shônen anime, especially Naruto and Bleach, evince Confucian values while encouraging the viewer to identify with and embrace them. While some critics of contemporary culture are quick to point out some of the societal breakdowns and subcultural variances common to the Otaku phenomenon, Confucianism is still alive and well, albeit in reinterpreted forms. Using shônen anime in the classroom to examine traditional values creates a useful device for understanding Japanese popular culture and its connection to larger anthropological and historical themes.
Thesis Chapters by Christopher Born
Between 1875 and 1890, Japanese academics, writers, legal experts, and intellectuals discussed an... more Between 1875 and 1890, Japanese academics, writers, legal experts, and intellectuals discussed and debated a host of new ideas and programs in the rapidly-expanding national media. Of great consequence were the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education and the Meiji Constitution. The first sought to establish a strong nativist basis for a Japanese identity under the aegis of an imperial hegemon. The second sought to create a structure for modern citizenship based on Western notions of law and social contract. These seemingly antithetical documents came to symbolize the problematical status of the individual in Meiji Japan. They would become the touchstone of a larger discussion that concerned the Christian intellectual Uchimura Kanzō (1861-1930), who in 1891 refused to bow before a document bearing the personal signature of Emperor Meiji.
My dissertation positions Uchimura Kanzō as a pivotal figure in an ongoing examination of, and debate regarding, notions of citizenship, national identity, the proper role of writers and intellectuals, and the very notion of subjectivity and selfhood. Uchimura’s traditional values, social idealism, resolute Christian faith, and embrace of Western literary icons such as Dante Alighieri, Thomas Carlyle, and Johann Goethe helped inspire his deeply principled promotion of the inviolability of one’s personal credo and the responsibility of individuals to act for the greater good.
Placing Uchimura in the late-Meiji intellectual and literary context, the dissertation studies three key autobiographical works written by Uchimura in the early 1890s. These are compared to the work of important literary contemporaries, with an eye to the key role of the print media in the discussion and dissemination of ideas concerning the individual, the state, and the construction of a national identity. My interdisciplinary analysis, which incorporated historical, religious, philosophical, and literary approaches, will illuminate the manner in which Uchimura Kanzō’s life and writing both reflected the Meiji context and contributed to Japan’s national discourse at the turn of the twentieth century.
Books by Christopher Born
Art, Architecture, and the Moving Viewer, c. 300-1500 CE, 2022
The Ise Grand Shrine is one of the most sacred religious sites in Japan. Since its inception in t... more The Ise Grand Shrine is one of the most sacred religious sites in Japan. Since its inception in the late 7th century AD, the inner shrine has been a place of power and a key symbol for the origins of Japanese identity. While Ise priests sought to keep the shrine free from polluting Buddhist influences in order to prevent the ire of the sun goddess Amaterasu, Buddhist adherents had other ideas. As they also believed the deity to be a manifestation of the Vairocāna Buddha, they, too, sought physical access to the inner shrine in order to pray and commune with the deity—mostly to no avail. Shut out from the shrine, Buddhists created a mode of imagined pilgrimage by overlaying spiritual imagery (Mandalas) onto the physical space, thereby visualizing sacred moments. But to what end? With an eye on the political changes and spiritual innovation, by tracing who had access to the space in the medieval period—both physical and imagined—this essay examines how the changing physical, yet unchanging spiritual environment of the Ise shrine over time affected the viewer’s reception of and participation in the sacralized space.
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Papers by Christopher Born
Thesis Chapters by Christopher Born
My dissertation positions Uchimura Kanzō as a pivotal figure in an ongoing examination of, and debate regarding, notions of citizenship, national identity, the proper role of writers and intellectuals, and the very notion of subjectivity and selfhood. Uchimura’s traditional values, social idealism, resolute Christian faith, and embrace of Western literary icons such as Dante Alighieri, Thomas Carlyle, and Johann Goethe helped inspire his deeply principled promotion of the inviolability of one’s personal credo and the responsibility of individuals to act for the greater good.
Placing Uchimura in the late-Meiji intellectual and literary context, the dissertation studies three key autobiographical works written by Uchimura in the early 1890s. These are compared to the work of important literary contemporaries, with an eye to the key role of the print media in the discussion and dissemination of ideas concerning the individual, the state, and the construction of a national identity. My interdisciplinary analysis, which incorporated historical, religious, philosophical, and literary approaches, will illuminate the manner in which Uchimura Kanzō’s life and writing both reflected the Meiji context and contributed to Japan’s national discourse at the turn of the twentieth century.
Books by Christopher Born
My dissertation positions Uchimura Kanzō as a pivotal figure in an ongoing examination of, and debate regarding, notions of citizenship, national identity, the proper role of writers and intellectuals, and the very notion of subjectivity and selfhood. Uchimura’s traditional values, social idealism, resolute Christian faith, and embrace of Western literary icons such as Dante Alighieri, Thomas Carlyle, and Johann Goethe helped inspire his deeply principled promotion of the inviolability of one’s personal credo and the responsibility of individuals to act for the greater good.
Placing Uchimura in the late-Meiji intellectual and literary context, the dissertation studies three key autobiographical works written by Uchimura in the early 1890s. These are compared to the work of important literary contemporaries, with an eye to the key role of the print media in the discussion and dissemination of ideas concerning the individual, the state, and the construction of a national identity. My interdisciplinary analysis, which incorporated historical, religious, philosophical, and literary approaches, will illuminate the manner in which Uchimura Kanzō’s life and writing both reflected the Meiji context and contributed to Japan’s national discourse at the turn of the twentieth century.