Beyond Alterity

<p> With the economic and political rise of East Asia in the second half of the twentieth century many Western countries have re-evaluated their links to their Eastern counterparts. Thus in recent years Asian German Studies has emerged as a promising branch within interdisciplinary German Studies. This collection of essays examines German-language cultural production pertaining to modern China and Japan and explicitly challenges orientalist notions by proposing a conception of East and West not as opposites but as complementary elements of global culture thereby urging a move beyond national paradigms in cultural studies. Essays focus on the mid-century German-Japanese alliance Chinese-German Leftist collaborations global capitalism travel identity and cultural hybridity. The authors include historians and scholars of film and literature and employ a wide array of approaches from postcolonial globalization media and gender studies. The collection sheds new light on a complex and ambivalentset of international relationships while also testifying to the potential of Asian German Studies.</p>