Spectacular Accumulation : Material Culture, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Samurai Sociability

In __Spectacular Accumulation__, Morgan Pitelka investigates the significance of material culture and sociability in late sixteenth-century Japan, focusing in particular on the career and afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. The story of Ieyasu illustrates the close ties between people, things, and politics and offers us insight into the role of material culture in the shift from medieval to early modern Japan and in shaping our knowledge of history. This innovative and eloquent history of a transitional age in Japan reframes the relationship between culture and politics. Like the collection of __meibutsu__, or "famous objects," exchanging hostages, collecting heads, and commanding massive armies were part of a strategy Pitelka calls "spectacular accumulation," which profoundly affected the creation and character of Japan's early modern polity. Pitelka uses the notion of spectacular accumulation to contextualize the acquisition of "art" within a larger complex of practices aimed at establishing governmental authority, demonstrating military dominance, reifying hierarchy, and advertising wealth. He avoids the artificial distinction between cultural history and political history, arguing that the famed cultural efflorescence of these years was not subsidiary to the landscape of political conflict, but constitutive of it. Employing a wide range of thoroughly researched visual and material evidence, including letters, diaries, historical chronicles, and art, Pitelka links the increasing violence of civil and international war to the increasing importance of samurai social rituals and cultural practices. Moving from the Ashikaga palaces of Kyoto to the tea utensil collections of Ieyasu, from the exchange of military hostages to the gift-giving rituals of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, __Spectacular Accumulation__ traces Japanese military rulers' power plays over famous artworks as well as objectified human bodies.

In this groundbreaking study, Riet Delsing narrates the colonization of the Pacific island of Rapa Nui and its indigenous inhabitants. The annexation of the island by Chile, in the heydays of world imperialism, places the small Latin American country in a unique position in the history of global colonialism. The analysis of this ongoing colonization process constitutes a "missing link" in Pacific Islands studies and facilitates future comparisons with other colonial adventures in the Pacific by the United States (Hawai‘i, American Samoa), France (Tahiti), and New Zealand (Maori and Cook Islands).

The first part surveys the history of the Chile-Rapa Nui relationship from its beginning in the 1880s until the present. Delsing delineates the Rapanui people's agency along with their cultural logic, showing their resilience and will to remain Rapanui - indigenous Pacific islanders rather than an ethnic minority forcefully integrated into the Chilean nation-state. In the second part, the author describes the Rapanui's contemporary emphasis on the revitalization of their language, traditional concepts about land tenure, a unique corpus of material and performative culture, renewed contact with other Pacific island cultures, and creative acts of resistance against Chilean colonialism. Emergent in her analysis is the effect of Rapa Nui's vibrant tourist industry - commodification of Rapanui difference is creating the possibility to loosen economic and political ties with Chile.

Drawing on statements of several Rapanui, she concludes that over the past few decades they have acquired a different kind of interpretive power, based on which they are making choices that serve them as a people on the road to cultural and political self-determination. Contemporary Rapa Nui is thus a modern, articulated place, marked by spirited identity politics that show the resilience and adaptability of the indigenous people who inhabit this island.

In Spectacular Accumulation, Morgan Pitelka Investigates The Significance Of Material Culture And Sociability In Late Sixteenth-century Japan, Focusing In Particular On The Career And Afterlife Of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), The Founder Of The Tokugawa Shogunate. The Story Of Ieyasu Illustrates The Close Ties Between People, Things, And Politics And Offers Us Insight Into The Role Of Material Culture In The Shift From Medieval To Early Modern Japan And In Shaping Our Knowledge Of History--jacket. Famous Objects : Treasures, Trophies, And Warrior Power -- Grand Spectacle : Material Culture And Contingency -- The Politics Of Sociability : Gift Giving And Ritual Performance -- Lordly Sport : Raptors, Falconry, And The Control Of Land -- Severed Heads And Salvaged Swords : The Material Culture Of War -- Apotheosis : Ieyasu's Early Modern And Modern Afterlives. Morgan Pitelka. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 201-216) And Index. This title investigates the significance of material culture and sociability in late 16th-century Japan, focusing in particular on the career and afterlife of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. The story of Ieyasu illustrates the close ties between people, things, and politics and offers insight into the role of material culture in the shift from medieval to early modern Japan Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue CHAPTER ONE. Famous Objects CHAPTER TWO. Grand Spectacle CHAPTER THREE. The Politics of Sociability CHAPTER FOUR. Lordly Sport CHAPTER FIVE. Severed Heads and Salvaged Swords CHAPTER SIX. Apotheosis Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index