Vita
Yuji Nawata, born 1964, operates within both the Japanese and the German scientific landscape. In 1994, he completed his dissertation on Hölderlin at University of Tokyo. His habilitation in cultural studies at the Faculty of Philosophy III at Humboldt University of Berlin followed in 2011 (titled Vergleichende Mediengeschichte. Am Beispiel deutscher und japanischer Literatur vom späten 18. Bis zum späten 20. Jahrhundert). Professor Nawata has worked as a lecturer of German language and literature studies at Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics, Teikyo University in Tokyo, as well as at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and at Chuo University and spent several years (1995-1998 and 2004-2005) doing research on German and Japanese literature at Humboldt University of Berlin. Furthermore, he was a member of several research groups that are supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, namely “Deutsch-japanischer Austausch in Literatur und Kultur", "Literatur und Gedächtnis. Fallstudien zur deutschen Literatur", and "'Human Project' – Die Rekonstruktion der Anthropologie aus der kulturwissenschaftlichen Perspektive" and was also a member of the Japanische Gesellschaft für Germanistik (JGG) from 1993-1995 and 1998-2003, where among other things he organized in cooperation with the DAAD the annual Tateshina-Symposions.
Dated from 2012
Fields of research
Comparative media history, German and Japanese literature from late 18th century to late 20th century; cultural-media science from a Japanese perspective.
IKKM Research Project
Comparative Perspectives for Culture-Media Science
The framework within which research on media philosophy and cultural technologies is carried out in today's Germany is called culture science (Kulturwissenschaft). This framework goes back to Vico and Herder, who tried to take into account, as far as possible, the many different cultures across the world. It seems to me that their comparative perspective is not represented strongly enough in today's culture science in Germany. In my Habilitationsschrift accepted at the Humboldt University Berlin and entitled "Vergleichende Mediengeschichte. Am Beispiel deutscher und japanischer Literatur vom späten 18. bis zum späten 20. Jahrhundert" ("Comparative Media History: A Case Study of German and Japanese Literature from the Late 18th to the Late 20th Century", München: Fink, 2012, in print), I tried to integrate comparative studies and media history to advocate a methodical proposal for culture science.
I would like to develop this perspective at Weimar further by examining the methodical framework of culture-media science (Kultur- und Medienwissenschaft) from a Japanese perspective. The aspects I wish to examine closely are as follows:
How can culture-media science be situated in the context of today's so-called "global history," one that has become less Eurocentric and increasingly "universal" in nature? How are the the cultural histories of Vico and Herder related to this universal history?
Culturel science is based on the European (and not general) separation of the world into nature and culture. How should we redefine research on cultural technologies if this separation is abolished?
Is there something equivalent to German or European culture-media science in Eastern Asia? If so, does it have a comparative perspective? How does European culture-media science relate to that of Eastern Asia, and how does Japanese culture-media science relate to that of Europe? Can they be connected?
I would like to research these aspects theoretically as well as try to find concrete examples.
Publications
Monographs
Vergleichende Mediengeschichte. Am Beispiel deutscher und japanischer Literatur vom späten 18. bis zum späten 20. Jahrhundert. München: Wilhelm Fink (forthcoming in 2012).
Herudârin - arakajime kuzureru 19-seiki kindai. Itô Shizuo ni okeru juyô to no kanren nite. (Hölderlin, das sich im voraus auflösende neunzehnte Jahrhundert. Mit einer Studie zur Hölderlin-Rezeption bei Itô Shizuo.) Tokyo: Nishida shoten, 1996.
Edited Books
Durusu Guryûnbain shishû (Durs Grünbein: Gedichte). Tokyo: Chuo University Press, 2004.
Articles
Doitsu no gendai shisô. Atarashii ‚atarashiki gaku̕’ (Modernes Denken aus Deutschland. Eine neue “Scienza nuova”). In: Chûô daigaku sôritsu 125-shûnen kinen - Doitsu no gengo, bungaku, bunka (Deutsche Sprache, Literatur und Kultur. Festschrift zum 125. Jubiläum der Chuo Universität), 2011, S. 109-127. (in Japanese)
Gengorontekitenkai kara mediarontekitenkai e (Von der linguistischen Wende zur medienwissenschaftlichen Wende). In: Gengo Vol. 28, No. 12, 1999, S. 102-109. republished in: Yorikawa, Jôji (Hg.): Mediaron. Gendai Doitsu ni okeru chi no paradaimu shifuto. Tokyo: Ochanomizushobô, 2007, S. 27-39. (in Japanese)
Kultur-Begriff und Kulturwissenschaft in Japan - gestern und heute. In: Neue Beiträge zur Germanistik Vol. 3, No. 3, 2004, S. 100-110. (in German)
Die Einführung der beweglichen Lettern und die Entstehung der Signifikantenlogik in der japanischen Literatur. Die Medientheorie von Jun Ishikawa. In: Peter Berz, Annette Bitsch and Bernhard Siegert (eds.): FAKtisch. Festschrift für Friedrich Kittler zum 60. Geburtstag. München 2003, S. 41-54. (in German)
Bild per Schrift/ Bild per Bild. Bildlichkeit in der deutschen und japanischen Literatur vor der Epoche technischer Medien. In: Zeitschrift für Germanistik Neue Folge XIII, No. 3, 2003, S. 573-589. (in German)
Anstreichungen in den Büchern Martin Heideggers aus Shirô Muranos Nachlassbibliothek. In: Neue Beiträge zur Germanistik Vol 2, No. 4, 2003, S. 122-124. (in German)
Translations into Japanese
Durs Grünbein: Bleiben. Nummerierte Ausgabe. Düsseldorf, Tôkyô, 2011.
Friedrich Kittler: Vorwort zu: Dichter - Mutter – Kind. In: Gendaishi techô. Vol. 43, No. 9, 2000. S. 60-70. Nachwort des Übersetzers S. 70.