Gendering Fascism: Visual Propaganda in Wartime Japan

本文从实证和理论两方面探讨了十五年战争（1931-1945）期间日本面向国内外受众的插图杂志的宣传性别美学。宣传杂志对法西斯主义的想象做出了贡献，同时也分享了当时现代主义美学的跨文化轨迹。该项目追溯了前沿摄影宣传杂志的性别和跨文化图像，并将它们与当代欧洲、苏联和美国的模式和同行联系起来。对欧洲法西斯主义的性别化和性化幻想及其介导的视觉建构的理论驱动研究，要求对日本法西斯主义的性别化进行相应的研究。本次调查选取的样本为海外杂志《NIPPON》、《FRONT》、《manshya Gurafu》和国内杂志《Shashin》Shūhō、《Hōdō Shashin》。其中一些具有特别高的发行量和密切的政府关系，而另一些则可以被视为现代宣传方法的先驱。对这些杂志的分析主要围绕着性别、种族、民族、文化和其他区分类别的视觉呈现方式，这些方式被用来“写”一个多方面的、有时是相互矛盾的法西斯“剧本”。借鉴日本和欧洲法西斯主义历史的理论和研究，这种定性媒体分析将a)法西斯主义和现代性，b)宣传和视觉性的关系，与意识形态在视觉上的构建和传播方式联系起来，通过交叉的分化类别（性别、种族、文化）。本项目旨在：1)识别视觉宣传的媒介和传播策略；2)对战争升级过程中的性别表征进行理论化；3)结合法西斯主义、种族、视觉性和性别理论，对研究结果进行交叉讨论。这个项目需要创建一个插图杂志的数字数据库。它是两篇博士论文的基础，这两篇论文描绘了日本战时宣传的印刷媒体景观（Appadurai 2008）。此外，每篇论文提供了一个杂志的深入分析，提取和提炼流行和反复出现的视觉修辞。这些可能包括对“大东亚共荣圈”的性别描述，或者带有法西斯意识形态的文化和科学种族主义。调查人员还将密切关注杂志上的隐蔽性，比如战争宣传中天皇的形象相对缺失。该项目的合作者被邀请为方法和学生研讨会、一次研讨会以及计划的关于“性别法西斯主义”主题的论文集做出贡献。在项目结束时，将策划一个视觉宣传展览，作为社区外展的一种形式。

This empirical and theoretical inquiry probes the gendered aesthetics of propaganda in Japanese illustrated magazines that targeted overseas and domestic audiences during the Fifteen-Year War (1931–1945). Propaganda magazines contributed to the making of a fascist imaginary while also sharing in the transcultural trajectories of modernist aesthetics of the time. This project traces the gendered and transcultural iconographies of cutting-edge photographic propaganda magazines and relates them to their contemporary European, Soviet and US-American models and counterparts. Theory-driven research into the gendered and sexualized fantasies of European fascisms and their mediated visual constructions call for corresponding investigations into the gendering of fascism in the Japanese case. The chosen samples for this investigation are the overseas magazines NIPPON, FRONT and Manshū Gurafu, and the domestic magazines Shashin Shūhō and Hōdō Shashin. Some had particularly high circulation and close government ties while others can be seen as trailblazing modern propaganda methods. The analysis of these magazines revolves around the ways in which visual presentations of gender in particular, but also of race, ethnicity, culture and other categories of differentiation were employed to 'write' a multi-faceted and sometimes contradictory fascist 'script'. Drawing on theories and research both in Japanese and European histories of fascisms, this qualitative media analysis links the relations of a) fascism and modernity, and b) propaganda and visuality, to the ways in which ideologies were visually constructed and transmitted through intersecting categories of differentiation (gender, race, culture).This project aims to:1) identify media and communication strategies in visual propaganda;2) theorize gendered representations in the course of the escalating war; and3) provide an intersectional discussion of the findings in conjunction with theories of fascism, race, visuality and gender. This project entails the creation of a digital database of illustrated magazines. It serves as an anchor for two PhD dissertations that map the print mediascape (Appadurai 2008) of Japanese wartime propaganda. In addition, each dissertation provides an in-depth analysis of one magazine, extracting and distilling the prevalent and recurring visual tropes. These may include gendered depictions of the 'Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere' or cultural and scientific racisms that carry fascist ideologies. Investigators will also pay close attention to the invisibilities produced in magazines, such as the relative visual absence of the Emperor in war propaganda.Co-operators in the project are invited to contribute to methods and student workshops, to one symposium, and to a planned collection of essays on the topic of ‘Gendering Fascism’. Towards the end of the project, an exhibition of visual propaganda will be curated as a form of community outreach.