Description

Book Synopsis
A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Language, Nation, Race explores the various language reforms at the onset of Japanese modernity, a time when a national language (kokugo) was produced to standardize Japanese. Faced with the threat of Western colonialism, Meiji intellectuals proposed various reforms to standardize the Japanese language in order to quickly educate the illiterate masses. This book liberates these language reforms from the predetermined category of the nation, for such a notion had yet to exist as a clear telos to which the reforms aspired. Atsuko Ueda draws on, while critically intervening in, the vast scholarship of language reform that engaged with numerous works of postcolonial and cultural studies. She examines the first two decades of the Meiji period, with specific focus on the issue of race, contending that no analysis of imperialism or nationalism is possible without it.

Language Nation Race

    Product form

    A Paperback / softback by Atsuko Ueda

    £27.00

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £30.00 – you save £3.00 (10%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Sat 5 Sep 2026.

    1 in stock

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of Language Nation Race by Atsuko Ueda

      Book details

      Publisher University of California Press
      Published 1 June 2021
      ISBN-13 9780520381711
      978-0520381711
      ISBN-10 0520381718
      Also in:
      Historical and comparative linguistics

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Language, Nation, Race explores the various language reforms at the onset of Japanese modernity, a time when a national language (kokugo) was produced to standardize Japanese. Faced with the threat of Western colonialism, Meiji intellectuals proposed various reforms to standardize the Japanese language in order to quickly educate the illiterate masses. This book liberates these language reforms from the predetermined category of the nation, for such a notion had yet to exist as a clear telos to which the reforms aspired. Atsuko Ueda draws on, while critically intervening in, the vast scholarship of language reform that engaged with numerous works of postcolonial and cultural studies. She examines the first two decades of the Meiji period, with specific focus on the issue of race, contending that no analysis of imperialism or nationalism is possible without it.

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account