Language, Nation, Race is an exceptional book. It not only provides a cogent interpretation of Meiji-era linguistic and literary reform movements, but it also productively challenges the current scholarly consensus regarding the meaning of these movements. On top of that, Ueda makes an entirely original and convincing argument about the relevance of ‘whiteness’ to the understanding of linguistic, aesthetic, and cultural values within these movements.
––James Reichert, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University A remarkable accomplishment, bound to have a lasting impact in the field of Japan Studies and beyond. Ueda’s compelling reading of Meiji period literary and linguistic debates opens new avenues for a philosophical questioning of phoneticism and its significance to the formation of the geopolitical categories of ‘West’ and ‘non-West.’––Pedro Erber, author of Breaching the Frame: The Rise of Contemporary Art in Brazil and Japan