1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910822955303321

Autore

Botz-Bornstein Thorsten

Titolo

The cool-kawaii : Afro-Japanese aesthetics and new world modernity / / Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lanham, Md. : , : Lexington Books, , 2011

ISBN

1-283-59952-X

9786613911971

0-7391-4847-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource  (xxviii, 209 pages)

Disciplina

306.0952

Soggetti

Aesthetics

Popular culture - Japan

Japan Civilization American influences

Japan Civilization 21st century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication Page; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1: Cool and Kawaii; 2: New World Modernity; 3: Aspects of Cuteness; 4: Cross Gender Tendencies in Cool and Kawaii; 5: Coolness between Virtue Ethics and Aesthetics; 6: The Temptation of Kitsch; 7: Kitsch in Japan: Tradition and Modernity; 8: Cool and Dandyism: Two Words-One Concept; 9: Dandyism, Consumer Society, and Virtual Reality; Conclusion: A Dialectics of Cool and Kawaii?; Bibliography; Index; About the Author

Sommario/riassunto

The Cool-Kawaii: Afro-Japanese Aesthetics and New World Modernity, by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, analyzes and compares African American cool culture and the Japanese aesthetics of kawaii or cute and characterizes them as expressions set against oppressive homogenizations of a technocratic world. The Cool-Kawaii sheds light on the history and development of both cultures in three main ways: First, both emerge from similar historical conditions; second, both are in search of human dignity and liberation, and finally, both kawaii and African American cool establish a new kind of modernity