Sovereignty and Authenticity

In this powerful and provocative book, Prasenjit Duara uses the case of Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in northeast China from 1932-1945, to explore how such antinomies as imperialism and nationalism, modernity and tradition, and governmentality and exploitation interacted in the post-World War I period. His study of Manchukuo, which had a population of 40 million and was three times the area of Japan, catalyzes a broader understanding of new global trends that characterized much of the twentieth century. Asking why Manchukuo so desperately sought to appear sovereign, Duara examines the cultural and political resources it mobilized to make claims of sovereignty. He argues that Manchukuo, as a transparently constructed "nation-state," offers a unique historical laboratory for examining the utilization and transformation of circulating global forces mediated by the "East Asian modern." Sovereignty and AUthenticity not only shows how Manchukuo drew technologies of modern nationbuilding from China and Japan, but it provides a window into how some of these techniques and processes were obscured or naturalized in the more successful East Asian nation-states. With its sweepingly original theoretical and comparative perspectives on nationalism and imperialism, this book will be essential reading for all those interested in contemporary history.

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Duara has written a wonderfully crafted, thought-provoking book using a range of disciplines to explore the interplay between nationalism and imperialism, showing how they are historically and functionally interconnected. This important and well-researched work considers several important issues related to 20th-century imperialism in East Asia. Highly recommended. CHOICE An impressive and strongly recommended work of World War II era history. Library Bookwatch A major work that overturns assumptions about nations, empires, and identity. The interdisciplinarity of the book--history, anthropology, literary theory--is breathtaking. -- Rana Mitter, University of Oxford A wholly original work that will make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the development of the nation-state in East Asia in the 20th century. It offers a feast of careful thinking about the linkages between the nation, politics, scholarship, and culture. -- Mark C. Elliott, University of Michigan Sovereignty and Authenticity is a tour de force, covering and illuminating an astonishing amount of ground. By plunging in depth into the detail of Manchukuo, Duara elucidates the universal dilemmas of modernity. -- Gavan McCormack, The Australian National University Duara's book ably explores the complexity of Manchukuo while providing us with a fruitful theoretical framework and useful tools for the broader comparative study of nationalism in the 20th century. American Journal of Sociology This imaginative, rich, suggestive, and immensely erudite book offers much to ponder on the interconnected questions of nationalism and imperialism, sovereignty and authenticity, and the regional and global cultures of modernity. Journal Of Asian Studies An immensely rich and imaginative study of Japanese-controlled Manchuria. It makes an exciting and important contribution to our understanding of the complexity of Manchurian history, Japanese imperialism, and East Asian nationalism. American Historical Review Prasenjit Duara ... offers us a wholly original, path-breaking, and interdisciplinary approach to the geopolitical area of East Asia... [His] book is an embodiment of a new imagination of the East Asian modern. Journal of World History A bold, imaginative, and extraordinarily well-researched study. -- Sheldon Garon, Princeton University

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Prasenjit Duara is professor in the Department of History and professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago.

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Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 Comparative and Historical Perspectives Chapter 1 3 Imperialism and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century Chapter 2 4 Manchukuo: A Historical Overview Part 5 Civilization and Sovereignty Chapter 3 6 Asianinsm and the New Discourse of Civilization Chapter 4 7 Embodying Civilization: Women and the Figure of Tradition within Modernity Part 8 The Authenticity of Spaces Chapter 5 10 Imperial Nationalism and the Frontier Chapter 6 11 Local Worlds: The Politics and Poetics of the Native Place Chapter 12 Conclusion Chapter 13 Glossary of Chinese Terms Chapter 14 Glossary of Japanese Terms

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