"Black" images in modern Japanese culture--The History of the visual culture of racial representations

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370182
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Art at large
• Research Institution: Meisei University
• Principal Investigator: KOGO Eriko 明星大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (80454015)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 美術史 / 視覚文化論 / 表象文化論 / 身体 / イメージ論 / 人種イメージ / 黒人 / 芸術諸学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate the racial representations of the “‘black’ images” in visual culture, such as artworks and reproduction media, mainly in modern Japan. In Japan’s “black” representations, emphasis is placed on the differentiation of the visual information of skin color because of little real contact in society. The idea creates images that exist only in fiction, which is associated with exaggeration and stereotypes. “Black” skins in each period are tinged with the transfiguration of the views of race, civilization, and the world, and reflect a shared gaze toward the “others.”

Free Research Field

日本近代美術史　視覚文化論　表象文化論