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Journal of Design History 1997 10(4):343-354; doi:10.1093/jdh/10.4.343
© 1997 by Design History Society
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Hybridity and the Oriental Orientalism of Mingei Theory

YUKO KIKUCHI

Chelsea College of Art & Design


  Abstract

Orientalism is not a rigid one-way phenomenon projected on to the Orient from the Occident. It is an infectious phenomenon, open to appropriation by ‘others’, at least in the case of modern Japan. This article presents a case study of Mingei (folk crafts) theory created by Yanagi Sôetsu and evaluated in the Occident as an ‘Oriental’ theory for what is deemed to be its greatest merit—‘traditional authenticity’. The intention of this article is firstly to demystify the essential ‘Orientalness’ of Mingei theory by showing its ‘hybrid’ nature and the process of hybridization involved in the course of its formation; and secondly to show the strategic significance of ‘hybridity’ in the context of Japanese cultural nationalism in the dichotomic framework of Orient and Occident.


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