Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (State & Society in East Asia)

Product Description 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. Review 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 A bold, imaginative, and extraordinarily well-researched study.--Sheldon Garon, Princeton University 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 About the Author 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.