Nobuko Yamasaki, Assistant Professor, Department of Languages and Literatures, Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Lehigh University speaks about her book titled, Prostitutes, Hostesses, and Actresses at the Edge of the Japanese Empire.

Analyzing materials from literature and film, this book considers the fates of women who did not or could not buy into the Japanese imperial ideology of “good wives, wise mothers” in support of male-empire building. Although many feminist critics have articulated women’s active roles as dutiful collaborators in the project of empire, their attention has focused principally on male-dominated narratives of empire building. In contrast, the roles of marginalized women such as sex workers, women entertainers, and hibakusha have rarely been analyzed. This book addresses this intellectual lacuna by closely examining memories of, (semi-)autobiographical short stories, and newspaper articles, grounded in and inspired by lived experiences not only in Japan but also in Shanghai, Manchukuo, colonial Korea, and the Pacific.

Co-sponsored by the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and the Department of Performing and Media Arts.