Uchi/Soto in Japan: A Global Turn. Ashby, D. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 43(3):256–269, May, 2013.
Uchi/Soto in Japan: A Global Turn [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
This essay presents a method for reconsidering identities linked to place and the rhetoric used to construct them. Drawing from Jane Bachnik's “uchi/soto dynamic” and Kaori Chino's study of Tang-dynasty Chinese art's place in early Japanese regional identity, it introduces a theory of inside-outside positionalities for engaging the meaning-making potential within tropes of inside-outside, foreign-local, and traditional-modern. This theory building is followed by a reading of the “invented tradition” (Hobsbawm) of the Japanese Christmas cake, one of many symbols constituting post-war Japanese identity. The Christmas cake gains its significance simultaneously through overt reference to a supposed foreign origin and from less overt citation of older Japanese traditions—while marked as coming from “outside” local culture, the Christmas cake has strong local meanings specific to Japan, meanings unfamiliar in the cake's supposed place of origin. While this essay focuses on meaning-making in Japan, inside-outside positionalities functions broadly as a comparative methodology for rhetorical study.
@article{ashby_uchi/soto_2013,
	title = {Uchi/{Soto} in {Japan}: {A} {Global} {Turn}},
	volume = {43},
	issn = {0277-3945},
	shorttitle = {Uchi/{Soto} in {Japan}},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1080/02773945.2013.792695},
	doi = {10.1080/02773945.2013.792695},
	abstract = {This essay presents a method for reconsidering identities linked to place and the rhetoric used to construct them. Drawing from Jane Bachnik's “uchi/soto dynamic” and Kaori Chino's study of Tang-dynasty Chinese art's place in early Japanese regional identity, it introduces a theory of inside-outside positionalities for engaging the meaning-making potential within tropes of inside-outside, foreign-local, and traditional-modern. This theory building is followed by a reading of the “invented tradition” (Hobsbawm) of the Japanese Christmas cake, one of many symbols constituting post-war Japanese identity. The Christmas cake gains its significance simultaneously through overt reference to a supposed foreign origin and from less overt citation of older Japanese traditions—while marked as coming from “outside” local culture, the Christmas cake has strong local meanings specific to Japan, meanings unfamiliar in the cake's supposed place of origin. While this essay focuses on meaning-making in Japan, inside-outside positionalities functions broadly as a comparative methodology for rhetorical study.},
	number = {3},
	urldate = {2019-05-10},
	journal = {Rhetoric Society Quarterly},
	author = {Ashby, Dominic},
	month = may,
	year = {2013},
	keywords = {japan, rhetoric, soto, uchi},
	pages = {256--269}
}

Downloads: 0