My neighbour the Animalien: constructing Japanese national cultural identity from invasive alien animal species discourse in the 21st century
In this study, I analyse the verbal and visual language used in Japanese mass media materials (newspaper pieces and a TV variety show) and state pamphlets to understand why the invasive alien animal as an Other persists despite decades of residency from a cultural angle, rather than ecological. As a...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | Japanese English |
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2021
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| Summary: | In this study, I analyse the verbal and visual language used in Japanese mass media materials (newspaper pieces and a TV variety show) and state pamphlets to understand why the invasive alien animal as an Other persists despite decades of residency from a cultural angle, rather than ecological. As an example of banal nationalism, I examine this discourse for the languages in which 21st century national identity is expressed and constructed in terms of identity coordinates in space-time. With humans using these ‘animaliens’ as ‘space transformers’ and ‘time telescopes’ for self-reflection in their encounters, I find that invasive alien animals are also opportunistically used as props for teaching national cultural symbol literacy and the languages to express membership to the national culture. These languages are folklore, nostalgia and self-responsibility. Folkloric language turns individual self-exploratory fantasy spaces into nationalised exploratory fantasies. Nostalgia and self-responsibility languages build relationships with past and future-communities that serve the present. The alien animals’ Othering persists because it is useful to the majority. This approach to animaliens fills a literature gap where the human cultural coexistence with these animals has been largely ignored in favour of conservation biology. |
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