Do an author’s nationality, ethnicity, and history matter?
Introduction
When reading texts, the authorial intent influence the reader’s interpretations of the text in varying degrees. Depending on the different types of texts the reader is reading, the author’s purpose of writing the text, the degree of knowledge that he/she has, his/her nationality, the historical period in which he/she is living in, their gender, etc., countless circumstances affect the interpretation of the text in some degrees. This essay will focus on what way the author’s nationality, ethnicity, and the historical period in which he/she is living influence the reader’s interpretation of the texts and artworks, especially regarding the historical narratives. The most suitable historical showcase that demonstrates the importance of the author’s nationality and ethnicity in the text is Commodore Mathew Perry’s expedition to Japan that held place from 1853 to 1854. The cultural narrative texts and artworks from both of the United States and Japan sides will be compared to exhibit the importance of the impact that the author’s nationality, ethnicity, and the historical period that he/she is living in have on the text.
Perry expedition
Officially known as Perry Expedition, but coined as “Arrival of the Black Ships” in Japanese, was a significant event in Japanese history that led the country to open up to the world for the first time in 200 years. For the very first time, the four ships led by Commodore Mathew Perry to the outskirts of Edo arrived in Japan with the purpose of opening up a secluded country’s door to the world. According to the MIT professor of Japanese history John W. Dower, for Americans, Perry’s exhibition to Japan was a “momentous step for westward expansion across the Pacific to embrace the exotic “East”. However, for the Japanese, Perry’s warships were traumatic, confounding, fascinating, and ultimately devastating.” (W. Dower, 2008). As stated in Professor Dower’s statement, the different reactions from both parties find their way into the two sides of contrasting historical narrative texts that further contribute to the different interpretations of the historical event.
The Perry expeditions between 1853 and 1854 remark significant moment in the “modern encounter between “East” and “West” (W. Dower, 2008). Through the expedition the Americans found themselves dealing with “Oriental” culture. Oriental culture is a substudy of Orientalism that focuses on studying the Western attitudes towards Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African societies. The expedition was a “face-to-face encounter between a “Western” nation and an unknown “Oriental” society” (Ibid, 12). Therefore, it is crucial to look into the Perry expedition as one of the earliest study cases of Orientalism in modern times. In 1978, Edward Said published his “Orientalism” as critical studies under Orientalism. Said’s book states that “Western imagination to see “Eastern” cultures and people as both alluring and a threat to Western civilization” (Chris 2022). His main attempts were to display the Westerners’ built up “prevalent and hostile images of the Eastern cultures as inferior, stagnant, and degenerate” (Elif Notes 2022).
Visualizing Japan and America
Through the Perry expeditions Americans were studying Japanese and they were mostly capturing the Japanese visually through drawings and illustrations. One of the illustrations that provoked shock among the Americans was the public bathhouse in Shimoda (Illustration 1), in which men, women, and children bathed together. According to the Americans, the mixed bathing was the evidence of Japanese “lewdness and wantonness” (W. Dower 2008, 4–4). This is a very similar response to John Manjiro’s case. A few years earlier to Perry’s expedition, John Manjiro was the first Japanese person to take a train and ride on a steamship who voyaged to America. When he came back from America, he made a “shocking spectacle of American men and women kissing in public” (Ibid, 4–4). Another fascinating comparison of different perspectives between the American and the Japanese is the portrait of Commodore Mathew Perry. There were several versions of Commodore Perry’s portraits in woodblock prints in Japan. In most of the versions, Perry is depicted with reddish hair and blue eyeballs. It is because the Japanese were only familiar with the Dutch people from the West during its strict secluded Tokugawa era, therefore, the only ideal representation of the Westerners was the physical characteristics of the Dutch. Furthermore, during feudal Japan, Westerners were sometimes referred to as “blue-eyed barbarians” which explains why most of Perry’s portraits had blue eyeballs (Ibid, 2–3). In conclusion, the Americans were approaching the Japanese with fascination and curiosity. Thus, they tried to capture Japan from a camera angle as much as possible and compiled an official visual record. On the other hand, the Japanese did not have official visual records but scattered illustrative records from the common artists. Japanese artists mostly “rendered their impressions through forms of expression that differed from the Americans who relied on delineating the visual world” (Ibid, 12).
Conclusion
For the most part, the Perry expedition marked the important event when the Orient society meets the West for the first time in an official setting. The Perry expedition is the ideal example of the author’s nationality, ethnicity, and the historical period he/she is living in effect the readers’ interpretation of the texts and artworks to great degrees which the reality can be distorted especially in the historical setting. Despite the people experiencing one event at the same time, their rendition of it varies due to their nationalistic, ethnical, and historical backgrounds.
Works Cited
““Black Ships & Samurai” by John W. Dower.” MIT Visualizing Cultures, https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/black_ships_and_samurai/pdf/bss_essay.pdf. Accessed 4 June 2022.
Karnadi, Chris. “Horizon Forbidden West perpetuates Orientalist stereotypes.” Polygon, 30 March 2022, https://www.polygon.com/23002044/horizon-forbidden-west-tremortusk-orientalist-tropes. Accessed 7 June 2022.
Said, Edward. “Edward Said Orientalism: Definition, Summary, Analysis & Quotes.” Elif Notes, 8 February 2022, https://elifnotes.com/edward-said-orientalism-definition-summary-analysis-quotes/. Accessed 5 June 2022.
