In their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, Marxist critics Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno claim that in capitalist societies, art loses its revolutionary potential and becomes part of a culture industry which propagates the exploitive system that produces it. This summer, Laura Oman '07 (New Providence, N.J.) used her Emerson grant to investigate whether and how Japanese and Japanese-American women writers resist this drag toward the culture industry.
Oman based her analysis on a Japanese American text "The Tropic of Orange" by Karen Tei Yamashita (1997), and two Japanese texts, "Out" by Natsuo Kirino (1997) and "Lonely Woman" by Takahashi Takako (1977), all three of which "thematically analyze gender questions within the larger arena of aestheticized consumerism." She also spent six weeks in Japan doing research for this project.
The use of texts by women was not arbitrary. Oman explained that "specifically studying women writers in capitalist societies that have traditionally privileged male authority allowed me to better scrutinize how successfully those invested with less power attempt to resist the exploitative status quo, in this case, overcome oppressive social structures."
Her theory was that minority writers (such as women in Japan or women of foreign ethnic descent in the U.S.) would be more likely to insist upon their identity and "struggle against capitalism's power to inhibit change." Oman described her project as such: "I am employing literary theory and cultural criticism that addresses gender, capitalism, and aesthetic expectations of the differing positions between Japanese authors and Japanese American authors."
Oman is an English major with a minor in Japanese minor, interests which formed the basis for her research this summer. She is a second-time Emerson recipient and spent last summer at Hamilton as a research assistant for Professor Steve Yao, as well as working on her own project on Pound's "Cathay."
She explained that she wanted to do another summer of research because "I wanted to experience doing something I actually wanted to do, on my own schedule and my own terms." Also compelling was the opportunity of traveling to Japan. The result: "this summer my project is more based on my specific interests, so it has been very valuable and fun."
The choice to work abroad is not one that most Hamilton research students take; often the students who do their research outside of the U.S. are those who live outside the states to begin with. Oman, separated from her project advisor, Associate Professor of English Catherine Kodat, explained that "it is a little hard sometimes when you want to be able to talk to someone," but at the same time rewarding.
Working alone "fosters independent work and thinking, so it is a trade-off."
Oman planned to use this summer's work to produce an article for publication in the MELUS (Multi-ethnic literature of the U.S.) journal. She will also use this research as a basis for her senior thesis in English. A Writing Center tutor during the year, Oman hopes to attend graduate school for literature or gender studies.
Her research is funded by the Emerson Foundation Grant Program, which allows students to work closely with a faculty member researching in depth an area of the student's interest.
- Lisbeth Redfield
