The Politics of Steampunk

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K00457
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: Nanzan University
• Principal Investigator: Tee Ve-Yin 南山大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (10387649)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: steampunk / gothic / Verne / Frankenstein / Morris / mingei / Oppenheimer / Yanagi

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Due to Covid, I had to wait until the academic year of 2022 to conduct the research that required the use of Kaken funding. I basically 1. studied William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement 2. read Japanese sources on the history and practice of metalsmithing (鍛金) 3. attended steampunk festivals, including the largest in Asia (超スチームパーク) and Europe (The Asylum Steampunk) 4. attended local exhibitions on the Arts and Crafts movement 5. selected the visual and literary works to connect with Nozomu Shibata as steampunk artist and metalsmith.
I presented my findings at the 3rd International Colloquium in Contemporary Philosophy and Culture, which took place in Rio de Janeiro from June 8-10, 2023. I also wrote an essay based on these findings, '"Me, an Occasional Metalsmith": Art, Craft and Everyday Life', which Pierpaolo Ascari and Andrea Borsari accepted as a chapter for their book, *Aesthetics of Steampunk*. This will be my main publication for the project.

Free Research Field

文化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

My work on steampunk will not only help define a distinctively Japanese aesthetics, but also put it in conversation with trends in Anglo-American steampunk. I reveal that steampunk as a form of historical revision ranges in expression from meaningful reconciliation to predatory escapism.