Archaeology, Society and Identity in Modern Japan

by Koji Mizoguchi

Overview

This bold and illuminating study examines the role of archaeology in the formation of the modern Japanese nation and explores the processes by which archaeological practice is shaped by national social and intellectual discourse. Leading Japanese archaeologist Koji Mizoguchi argues that an understanding of the past has been a central component in the creation of national identities and modern nation states and that, since its emergence as a distinct academic discipline in the modern era, archaeology has played an important role in shaping that understanding. By examining in parallel the uniquely intense process of modernisation experienced by Japan and the history of Japanese archaeology, Mizoguchi explores the close interrelationship between archaeology, society and modernity, helping to explain why we do archaeology in the way that we do. This book is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the history of archaeology or modern Japan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521849531
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/15/2006
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Archaeology
Pages:	202
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: archaeology in the contemporary world; 2. Modernity and archaeology; 3. Theoretical explication; communication, sociality and the positionality of archaeology; 4. Modernity and archaeology: nation-state, circularity and paradox; 5. Late/high/post-modernity and archaeology: fragmentation, multiculturalism and beyond; 6. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in understanding how archeology constructs and maintains identity in modern and postmodern nation states."
-Jennifer Birch, Dept. of Anthropology, McMaster University, Canadian Journal of Archaeology

"The author's chosen task represents a topic that is clearly of interest to all archaeologists, and I believe that this book is largely successful in developing a coherent and stimulating analysis of the problem...Almost every paragraph of this book...makes you think-about Japan certainly, but also about archaeological theory in general and about the nature of the (post)modern society in which we live."
-Mark J. Hudson, Nishi Kyushu University, Journal of Field Archaeology

“Archaeology, Society and Identity in Modern Japan is probably one of the most in-depth and thought-provoking manuscripts available in English on the connections between archaeology and the modernization of Japan.” —Yoko H. > SHIRAI, Journal of Asian Studies

From the Publisher