THE GLOBALIZATION OF CULTURE AND ASIAN REGIONALISM FOCUSING ON POPULAR YOUTH (SUB)CULTURE

2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 13610208
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 社会学(含社会福祉関係)
• Research Institution: WAKO UNIVERSITY (2002); Kyushu University (2001)
• Principal Investigator: UENO Toshiya WAKO UNIVERSITY, FACULTY OF REPRESENTATIONAL STUDIES, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, 表現学部, 助教授 (60339611)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2002
• Keywords: Regionalism in Asia / Youth culture / Global Subculture / Football and Nationalism / Psychogeography / 'Otaku' culture / 'Anime' and 'Manga' in Asia / Cultural Studies

Research Abstract

This research project, which Prof.Mouri started at Kyushu University and then later Prof. Ueno in Wako university took over as project leader, has developed the 'psychogeographical' field works and theoretical elaborations dealing with the contemporary art and various youth subcultural scenes including football culture, Techno dance culture and myriads of small zines cultures in Asia through some collaborative workshop and symposium with other university in other Asian countries such as Yonsei university. Past 5years, in recent tendencies of Cultural Studies on Globalization and Asian regionalism, the critical discourse against the notion of 'nation state' focusing on the mobilization of popular (sub) cultures into the national has been quite prevailing as a major methodological point of view. Instead, this research project examined with the details and atmospheres of youth subcultural scenes in the conscious level as well as the unconscious process. That is why, this project referred to the seemingly quite wide-spread phenomena such as the World Cup 2002 in Korea and Japan, the consumption of Japanese 'Anime' or 'Manga' culture, the culture of open air techno party scene in Asia and Oceania, the prevailing interest on urbanity in the scene of photography or architecture, the connection between the experimental film making and the pedagogical workshop on native or aboriginal cultures in Philippine and so on.
On this methodological vision, this project could concern with the 'polities' and conflicts inherent in each different cultural scenes, rather than judging on popular subculture in the ideological paradigm. Surely it does not mean that this project merely celebrates the popular subculture in the level of aesthetics, styles and tastes, and also ignores the critical examinations on subcultures. Instead, this project tried to pinpoint to the various struggle and resistance within subcultural scenes in their ideological and political contexts.
The difficulty for those attempts also influenced the methodology and descriptive style of this research project itself.