This book is unique in applying a consumption approach to the study of ethnicity and nationalism, thereby challenging the usual 'top down' approach to nation-formation. Contributors from a variety of disciplines examine the on-going consumption of minority and national cultures by looking at different forms of consumption, including a national lottery, theme parks, museums, cross-cultural handbooks, popular song and audio-visual media. Chapters span diverse parts of Asia '- from Korea, Japan and China to Malaysia and Sri Lanka '- imparting to the volume a rare comparative quality. It should appeal to anyone interested in Asian Studies, as well as in the sociology and anthropology of culture, nationalism and globalisation.
1 Rethinking theories of nationalism: Japan’s nationalism in a marketplace perspective 2 The nation consumed: buying and believing in Sri Lanka 3 Representing nationality in China: refiguring majority/ minority identities 4 Representing aborigines: modelling Taiwan’s ‘mountain culture’ 5 Peoples under glass: a tale of two museums 6 Consuming anthropology: the social sciences and nation-formation in Malaysia, 7 Distant Homelands: nation as place in Japanese popular song 8 Return to Asia?: Japan in Asian audiovisual markets
Biography
Kasaku Yoshino
'A wide-ranging collection of essays an interesting collection of some Asian experiences, rich in exploring varied ethnographic forms. of considerable value' - Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies
'The strength of this new book lies in the variety of approaches and case-studies ... several of these chapters are fascinating.' - School of Oriental & African Studies
