suggested in the of Aesop. “Asianization” Discussant: Reiko Hirose, Senshu University Session 13: Room 203 Politics and Education in Publishing History Organizer and Chair: Maj Hartmann, KU Leuven From the early Meiji period, education has been closely intertwined with the ministerial bureaucracy and Japan’s nation building process. However, this process was constantly influenced by different non-state actors who commented on, reinforced, reinterpreted, steered, and critically reflected on education in various ways through the media, the publication of readers and textbooks, and the international and transnational exchange of ideas. By analyzing the content and use of educational publications, this panel intends to shed light on a number of these actors, and examine how their engagement with education, as well as their interaction with the involved governmental actors, related to current political developments and changes in administration. The panel offers three case studies from the Meiji and Taishō periods which approach the entanglement of politics and education in publishing history from the perspectives of media studies, cultural history and transnational history. The aim is to reexamine the role that commercial publishers, media and social commentators played as private actors in shaping education and educational policies in modern Japanese history. 1) Ruselle Cardiff University Shōnen’en Juvenile Science and the Japanese Nation: and the Cultivation of Scientific Subjects The emergence of the mass periodical press in the Meiji period provided public intellectuals with a podium from which to engage in public policy. One of the earliest such avenues was children’s magazines, which proliferated from the late 1880s. These were attractive because, although ostensibly targeted at children, they could be used to reach a range of associated audiences, including educators, parents and businesspeople, without attracting too much scrutiny from notoriously strict Meiji censors. Most contributors to children’s magazines were at pains to align themselves with the government’s agenda, but close scrutiny of their
suggested in the “Asianization” of Aesop. Discussant: Reiko Hirose, Senshu University Session 13: Room 203 Politics and Education in Publishing History Organizer and Chair: Maj Hartmann, KU Leuven From the early Meiji period, education has been closely intertwined with the ministerial bureaucracy and Japan’s nation building process. However, this process was constantly influenced by different non-state actors who commented on, reinforced, reinterpreted, steered, and critically reflected on education in various ways through the media, the publication of readers and textbooks, and the international and transnational exchange of ideas. By analyzing the content and use of educational publications, this panel intends to shed light on a number of these actors, and examine how their engagement with education, as well as their interaction with the involved governmental actors, related to current political developments and changes in administration. The panel offers three case studies from the Meiji and Taishō periods which approach the entanglement of politics and education in publishing history from the perspectives of media studies, cultural history and transnational history. The aim is to reexamine the role that commercial publishers, media and social commentators played as private actors in shaping education and educational policies in modern Japanese history. 1) Ruselle Cardiff University Juvenile Science and the Japanese Nation: Shōnen’en and the Cultivation of Scientific Subjects The emergence of the mass periodical press in the Meiji period provided public intellectuals with a podium from which to engage in public policy. One of the earliest such avenues was children’s magazines, which proliferated from the late 1880s. These were attractive because, although ostensibly targeted at children, they could be used to reach a range of associated audiences, including educators, parents and businesspeople, without attracting too much scrutiny from notoriously strict Meiji censors. Most contributors to children’s magazines were at pains to align themselves with the government’s agenda, but close scrutiny of their
ascj-2018-online-abstracts.docx