SEMINAR: Asian Studies Seminar Series

This presentation, part of a larger project considering "Asia" (and "Asian Studies") from the edges of the continent, draws upon current ongoing research on cultural and human interactions between Japan and Turkey. The focus of the project is on the ways individual actors, in spaces of everyday life, can embody and articulate discourses that frame state-to-state relations, in this specific instance, Turkey and Japan. These actors encompass a range of individuals situated in the "contact zones" and "contact moments" between the two countries - Japanese students studying in Turkey, Turkish students studying Japanese or interested in Japan, partners and children of Turkish-Japanese marriages/relationships, business executives, researchers with a stake in the relationship, among others. On the surface, the juxtaposing of Turkey and Japan may seem an odd choice of topic, given the geographic distance between the two countries, as well as their (apparently) very different socio-economic and cultural conditions. However, there are in fact areas of historical and socio-economic intersection and commonality between the two, including the ways in which the project of modernity unfolded in both countries. Accordingly, my overall project is situated against these historical and contemporary intertwinings. The specific focus of this presentation, drawing on the narratives of some of my informants, is on the ways in which ways in which individuals, at the micro level of spaces and moments of contact interact with, and indeed imagine, "Japan". This in turn then allows us to re-consider both mainstream and academic conceptualizations of "Asia" and "Asian Studies".