This thesis is in response to scholarly works on Japanese society and the ideal of the monoethnic race in relation to minorities and immigrants living in contemporary Japan. Race is as much a biological concept as it is a social one, and much of our modern understanding of race was borne out of the scientific and philosophic thought of nineteenth-century Europe and North American. Therefore, I posit that the adoption of western science by Japan effectively translated the Japanese body into a biological construct and blurred the line between science and culture, developing into a racially-based national identity by the time of the Pacific War. The construction of the Japanese body in this manner occurred in three successive translations: (1)the body as an object to be improved upon in order to compete with the West; (2) the body as a racialized object, distinct from all others and (3)the body as an object to be safeguarded from degradation. The discourse among social actors, including scholars, the government, religious leaders, and others, followed along western models of biological determinism and ultimately led to Japan's own indigenous form of eugenics. The catalyst for this process was the "scientizing" of the body. Just as Douglas has theorized that what is acted upon the body reflects larger societal issues, when western science was placed into the framework of the Japanese body it can be discerned that the translation from a traditional form to a scientific one, resulting in a "scientized" body. However, the translation was not wholesale and indigenous concepts of the body, like the family state, merged with biodeterminist conceptions to create a mono-ethnic race in line with Neo-Shintoist ideology. Implications for postwar Japan fall outside the confines of this thesis, but threads from the prewar period do carry over into the present.

Using a multiple social identities framework, this thesis investigates the relations among ethnic identity, national identity, and discrimination in a sample of 181 Chinese immigrant families to Canada. While a large body of research has investigated the relations between ethnic identity and discrimination among ethnic minority young adults, relatively less is known about the role of national identity and how discrimination and identity are related among immigrant populations and in other developmental periods. This study used a sample of immigrant adults and their adolescent children to investigate these relations during the developmental periods of adolescence and middle adulthood. Results indicate that ethnic and national identities are generally positively associated. However, high levels of discrimination were found to dampen this positive relation, indicating that discrimination thwarts bicultural identity attainment. Unique patterns for adolescents and immigrant adult males emerged suggesting that both developmental considerations and sex differences are key in understanding the relations between social identities and discrimination among immigrant individuals. Clinical and policy implications are discussed. / Graduate

This thesis consists of three case studies on Korean nationalism: the ‘Korean Wave,’ the relationship between technology and nationalism marked by the ‘iPhone fever,’ and ‘Hines Ward syndrome.’ The three cases and the scant attention paid to them are symptoms of both the profound changes in and the ascendancy of nationalism in contemporary Korea. Taking Korean nationalism as a discursive formation, not as a pathology or a necessary manifestation of national sovereignty, this study challenges the dominant concept of the Korean nation as a real entity. To examine these pertinent cases is an indispensable element in this study’s attempt to avoid the essentialized and fossilized understanding of the Korean nation and nationalism. By analyzing a wide range of discourses on the cases, this thesis seeks to capture the multilayered appreciation of Korean nationalism. The Korean Wave has been one of the most predominant discourses in which a set of heterogeneous cultural commodities, the Korean Wave, is represented as a demonstration of the Korean nation’s cultural potential. One of the purposes of this thesis is to deconstruct this naturalized link between culture and place. This study also rejects the deep-rooted belief in the relationship between technology and national development. Technology and science in Korea do not inherently belong to the pure realm of Truth. Technology and science have been reproduced and constructed as a driving force for and/or an indicator of national development, not only by the national elites but also by ordinary Koreans. Whereas Hines Ward as a marker of unstable boundaries of the Korean nation appears to pave the way for the elimination of long standing discrimination against mixed-blood (honhyeol) people, the unquestioned links between race and culture as well as place and identity are still prominent even in multiculturalism as an alternative to the label of honhyeol. Based on these findings, this thesis argues, despite the pronouncement of the popular globalization thesis envisioning the death of nations and nationalism, that Korean nationalism continues to exist as a center of everyday discursive practices. / text

Debates on nationalism highlight loyalty and solidarity as the main benefits of a shared national identity, at the same time contrasting nationhood with universalist models of political action. This interdisciplinary thesis attempts to show nationalism as part of a broader project of modernity. In doing so, I defend a comprehensive view of nationhood, which, I argue, accounts for the recent transformation of nationhood, and explains the potential of national identity to open to universal values and norms. First, I put forward my view of nationhood, which defines nations as forms of political experience. I argue that nations have an ability to create a common public world. Second, by investigating the idea of the modern self and its relationship with individual autonomy, this thesis shows that modernity is characterised by a tension between rational autonomy and subjectivisation. This political self, I argue, develops in a bounded political community. Third, I argue that nations provide access to a common world in which everyone is recognised as moral and political agents. The paradoxical nature of the modern self takes advantage of the capacity of nations to be a source of solidarity that transcends national borders.

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For the past thirty years the Malaysian economy has been said to contribute well to the progress of the nations. However, the intensification of global economic activity and the extensive use of ICTs in recent years are challenging government's effort to further develop Malaysian society. The competition posed by the low wage economies such as China and Vietnam have made the government realise the importance of engaging in high-skill and high technology industries. It is hoped this will be the basis of attracting more FDI (foreign direct investment) in order to help the country to compete in a globalised world. Using Vision 2020 as its targeted vision, the government has decided to engage in the use of ICTs and introduce many policies pertaining to it. This thesis is mainly concerned with the study of ICT policy in Malaysia and its consequences for both the economy and society. The investigation focuses on the three dimensions: 'ICTs and economic growth', 'ICTs and inequality' and 'the element of neo-colonialism'. Two approaches are used to achieve the objectives of the study. They are secondary analysis and semi-structured interviews. This thesis is largely dependent on library research and secondary sources such as government official policies and data. Semi-structured interviews are used as a means to support or test some of the arguments and evidence collected throughout the analysis and discussion. For the interviews, three groups of people were identified: policy developers, implementers and evaluators. These people are those involved directly and indirectly with ICT policy establishment and implementation. The findings show that policy pertaining to ICTs in Malaysia contributes to economic growth, but the consequences of this have resulted in greater division within society. Although some of the divisions such as gender and ethnicity are narrowing down, the gap in important areas such as regions and class differences, is becoming wider. The widespread use of ICTs might contribute to the further establishment of democracy in Malaysia, but the increasing number of foreign entities such as FDI and foreign workers, cultural hybridisation and to some extent cultural doniination are contributing to neocolonialism in Malaysia. This has obvious consequences for the government's effort to create a Malaysian national identity. An important finding of this work is that there are contradictions within ICT policy between the effort to develop the economy and society.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Action, agency and protest were notions that seeped through the social and political terrain of 1960s Japan. Opposition to the Vietnam War, disputes in the universities, environmental concerns and anticipation of the US-Japan Security Treaty’s renewal set down for 1970, saw the entire decade engulfed in activism and protest. This thesis explores these sites of activism revealing the disparate character of protest in the 1960s – the often competing tactics and agendas that were manifested within the burgeoning and dynamic cultures of protest. The shifting definitions of protest and the competing ideals that emerged from its various sites of articulation are crucial to our understanding of postwar Japan. Excavating these sites – reading the character of protest and the ideals expressed – exposes the notions of autonomy and activism that underpinned conceptions of the postwar national identity. In the aftermath of the Pacific War intellectuals and activists looked for new forms of political expression, outside the auspices of the state, through which to enact the postwar nation. The identity of postwar Japan was constructed within the spheres of protest and resistance as anti-Vietnam War activists, Beheiren (Betonamu ni Heiwa o! Shimin Rengō), student groups such as Zenkyōtō, and local citizens’ movements negotiated the discursive space of ‘modern Japan.’ Examining the conceptions of political practice and identity that manifested themselves in the protest and resistance of the period, provides insights into the shifting terrain of national identity in the 1960s.

The Republic of China (ROC), also known as Taiwan, has been the haven of the Kuomintang (KMT) since its defeat at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949. Taiwan has long been the subject of control by foreign powers, which has created a unique history for the autonomous region. Historical circumstances have created a space for a distinct Taiwanese culture that has diverged from that of the mainland. This paper examines the role of this newfound culture on civic engagement, specifically regarding the sentiment for separatism or lessened ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). I examine the history of the island by first discussing the evolution of Taiwanese culture over the 20th and 21st centuries. I take a closer look following Taiwan’s democratization, which developed a deeper cultural cleavage that is politically salient. Cultural cleavages have only increased the nationalist sentiment of the Taiwanese people in pushing for greater separation – if not full-fledged independence – from the PRC. The results of my historical analysis argue the relevance of culture theory on the growing divide between Taiwan and China. In addition, this paper provides a perspective the effects of identity politics in Taiwan and its effect on cross-strait relations.

This thesis examines constructions of English Canadian national identity in school readers approved for use in Grades Four to Six in Ontario Public Schools from 1909 to 1970, schoolbooks used throughout English‐speaking Canada during the mid‐twentieth century. While the lavishly illustrated readers comprise collections of prose, poetry and exposition designed to improve reading comprehension, the accompanying Teachers’ Guides reveal the editors’ intentions to reinforce Canadian identity through the creation of a common cultural heritage and values based upon a British settler past. The emerging metanarratives of wilderness and multiculturalism mark the shift from a concertedly British colonial identity in the early twentieth century to a distinctly Canadian identity after World War II. Wilderness is constituted as the site for the construction of this uniquely Canadian identity, not only through brave pioneer ancestors creating homes but also as the location for contemporary adventures and encounters with Aboriginal Others. The readers were children’s first official introduction to Canada, effectively children’s handbooks for Canadian citizenship, modelling their duties and responsibilities as ‘young Canadians.’ Children imagined their nation, not only by taking part in the communal ritual of reading in the classroom but also through virtual tours of Canada, visiting other children ‘from sea to sea’. The thesis establishes school readers as a valuable but neglected resource in discussions of the development of Canadian national identity, revealing largely unresolved tensions between traditional antimodern values and occupations and the realities of twentieth‐century Canada urban industrial society.

The research reported in this thesis explores national identity construction by students in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). A lower secondary school (6-8 grades, 11-14 years) was the site where the research took place. The study was designed to examine the relationship between students’ construction of national identity and their educational experience. The aim was to reveal and examine the sense of national self this age-group of students in Northern Cyprus had, how through their education they were placed in the immediate community and the broader social and geo-political space, and what factors contributed to the process of the construction of their national identification. The study was undertaken using multimedia data collection methods, specifically (1) primary texts; (2) interviews with students, teachers, school managers, textbooks writers and officials from the Ministry of Education; and (3) on-site observation of the school at work and lessons. The analytic framing for enquiry was based on Foucault's programme of investigation of the constitution of the subject, which approached the process of national identity construction as an interplay of the structural environment of schooling and of individuals’ agency, revealed through a set of practices. The study findings indicated that the schooling experience played a distinct role in shaping national identities of students. The school was shown to actively promote the state, the TRNC, where the school was located. The state rituals and state ideology were reproduced through school practices, which modeled prescriptive patterns of state structures but were also seen as ‘school-specific’. Viewed as such, school practices, through which the students were positioned as belonging to their state, reproduced and sustained the social norms practiced in society. The patterns of students’ positioning as belonging to their state reflected conflicting conditions of the existence of the TRNC. Through their schooling experience, the students were positioned as belonging to the same national group. At the same time, the students were shown to be capable of strategizing in making their individual choices of self-positioning in relationship to the world of states and nations. Several interrelated factors contributing to the process of national identity construction were identified as education policies, schooling environment, teachers’ agency and students’ agency. Theorized through Foucault’s analytic concepts of technologies these factors were seen as parts of the same process and were clustered into a diagram mapping the technologies in relation to one another as four interrelated factors.