Civilization and the Body

Organizer: USHIMURA Kei, Professor

　When reflecting on history, one might wonder how people perceived their bodies and how they have maintained or altered the conceptualization of the body in the context of civilization. Contact with the “other” results in change to notions of the body, instanced by the conquistadors’ “discovery” of the new continent and its inhabitants. A focus on Japan can also lead to interesting conclusions on how the Japanese have conceptualized civilization through notions of the body after the opening of their nation in the middle of the nineteenth century, as they encountered the West and modern civilization on an unprecedented scale. This team research project attempts an understanding of the problem through the discourses that emerged in modern Japan on civilization in relation to the body. Also, we plan to find comparisons in examples of how other people conceptualized civilization within the framework of their notions of the body. An understanding thus gained will enable us to locate Japan in a larger context.