Love, Marriage and Race: On the Birth of Biopolitics in Modern Japan

• In Event: 126 - Regular Session. Race, Class, and Gender: Domestic and International Intersections

Abstract

In this exploratory study we examine discourses of eugenics in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries Japan, which functioned as the node at which notions such as “romantic love” (Ren'ai), “marriage for love” (Ren'ai-Kekkon), “modern conjugal family” (Katei), and the improvement of “Japanese race” (Nihon Jinshu) crossed and turned into an amalgam, illustrating briefly how the modern “biopower” in Foucaultian sense works. Our primary focuses are on Fukuzawa Yukichi’s argument for monogamous marriages and Ellen Key’s remarks that endorsed love with freedom, which made a big impact on a leading early feminist Hiratsuka Raicho. These prominent figures who struggled to reform sexuality cultures and marriage systems in each own country were at the same time enthusiastic advocates of eugenics. Our concern is on why and how and why it was possible. To answer this question will give us suggestions as to the social meaning of “new eugenics” nowadays.

Author

• Shuichi Kato, Meiji Gakuin University