resistance

nationality

American

occupation / innovator as

anthropologist

innovator in the field of

East Asian studies

Japan studies

is real only when it decisively alters colonial or capitalistic state policies. Much that we call 'resistance' is merely a safety valve and contributes to a false-consciousness, giving peasants temporary relief and thus obscuring the extent of their powerlessness and exploitation.

Although Christine White never says explicitly what constitutes resistance, we infer from what she says it is not, and from her examples, that her criteria are more limiting than those of others. She seems to distinguish 'resistance' in quotes from real resistance, at least in a colonial or capitalistic system. Real resistance decisively alters colonial or capitalistic state policies or contributes to transforming the system, not just delaying the advance of exploitative policies of, say, the state and landlords. Similarly, 'resistance' is only a safety valve and contributes to a false-consciousness, giving peasants temporary relief and thus obscuring the extent of their powerlessness and exploitation.

Christine Yano

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Christine Yano