Deceiving ‘Primitivism’. Ainu people in 1910s Travelogues
Centeno Martin, Marcos Pablo (2018) Deceiving ‘Primitivism’. Ainu people in 1910s Travelogues. Annals of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University: Linguistics, Literature and Methodology of Teaching 18 (1), pp. 127-144. ISSN 2065–0868.
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CENTENO. DECEIVING PRIMITIVISM. Anale FLLS no. 1 2018. PUBLISHED ARTICLE.pdf - Published Version of Record Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This work assesses the representation of the Ainu people through the early travelogues made in Japan during the 1910s, focusing on those made by Benjamin Brodsky. Considering filmic representation of the Ainu people in relation to their social context, the analysis reveals how these images projected a deceptive ethnicity belonging to a time prior to the moment they were filmed. Filmmakers created an imagery of the “primitive Ainu” aimed at attracting a Western audience by showing an exoticism of a cultural and geographically distant people. These images projected ahistorical views of the Ainu, concealing their adaptation to modern life and assimilation to the Japanese culture and way of life. A critical approach to these captivating images reveals the premeditated construction of Ainu ethnicity and casts doubt on the validity of these moving images as a social witness.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| School: | Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication |
| Depositing User: | Marcos Pablo Centeno Martin |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jun 2019 09:55 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Aug 2023 12:46 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/26613 |
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