Noting Traces of theory from East to West -- and back again

The Cornell Chronicle interviewed Naoki Sakai, professor of Asian studies and of comparative literature, who is senior editor of a new multilingual journal of cultural theory and translation titled Traces. Associate editors of the journal include Cornell faculty members Brett de Bary (Asian studies) and J. Victor Koschmann (history) and graduate student Yukiko Hanawa; included among the members of the journal's advisory collective are Cornell faculty members Benedict Anderson (government), Timothy Murray (English) and James Siegel (anthropology).

Naoki Sakai, professor of Asian studies and of comparative literature, displays his new multilingual journal of cultural theory, Traces, in his Rockefeller Hall office. Charles Harrington/University Photography

How long have you been at Cornell, and what attracted you to this place?

I have been here since 1987. In 1997 I was invited to join the Department of Comparative Literature, so I now belong to both the Department of Asian Studies and the Department of Comparative Literature. Before I came to Ithaca I was familiar with work done by some faculty members in the humanities at Cornell. I thought that Cornell scholars in English, comparative literature and history were doing theoretically very innovative things, and naturally I was very curious about their research. In many respects, I thought Cornell was one of the leading centers in the humanities in general. I also liked the generally open atmosphere that some faculty members managed to create in the studies of Asia. I felt I would be able to conduct the sorts of study that called into question the old assumptions underlying what were referred to as area studies and would seek different and critical approaches to Asia and other regions in the world.

When did you develop the idea for the journal Traces?

The idea of Traces as a multilingual journal was born in 1996 out of casual discussion with friends of mine, Pheng Cheah and Thomas LaMarre, who happened to be in Ithaca then and are now members of the Traces editorial collective. The following year, we wrote the original prospectus together and, based upon that, I began to discuss the idea with my friends in other countries such as Taiwan, Britain, Korea, China, Australia, Japan and Germany whenever I was invited to those countries for conferences and lectures. To tell you the truth, I was surprised that many of my friends thought very highly of the project and volunteered to help me create a new journal in languages other than English. ... Currently Traces is published in four languages, Korean, Chinese, English and Japanese. Currently we are negotiating with publishers in Europe for the German and French versions. Of course, Traces is not a journal exclusively for Asian readers or about Asia.

What void in the dissemination of theoretical writing does Traces fill?

American publishing houses [were not] among those who were immediately interested in the idea of Traces. As a matter of fact, it was rather hard to persuade American publishers that a periodical like Traces was necessary. This observation serves as a good instance to illustrate the void that Traces is supposed to fill in the dissemination of theoretical writing. Customarily, most of the academic publishing companies in the United States do not include the translation into English of works in languages other than Western European languages, mainly French and German, in their business of theoretical writing publication. American academic publishers are interested in translating classics or contemporary literature of those languages from Asia, Africa and Latin America into English, but they normally do not regard them as literature of a theoretical nature. I believe this is because the prevailing view of the global circulation of information makes a hierarchical distinction between flows of factual data from peripheral cultures to metropolitan centers and flows of theory from "the West" to "the rest of the world." Theory is supposed to flow from "the West" to "the rest of the world." So, in due course, publishers in this country do not expect some important theoretical insight to come from "the rest of the world." And, usually, they talk of "the West" and the United States almost interchangeably. ...

Until three or four decades ago, we used to encounter such a statement as "modern technology and scientific spirit were inherently European," but nowadays one scarcely associates modern scientific rationality exclusively with Europe. We no longer presume that mathematics, which was once viewed as the spiritual essence of the European civilization, is the exclusive property of European people. European heritages, which may well have started in Europe, are increasingly dissociated from people of European ethnic origins, and are criticized, evaluated and developed by people in "the rest of the world."

Thus, the prevailing view of the distribution of theory and culture is increasingly becoming obsolete in contemporary globalization. Its definition of theory is inadequate in view of the academic conversation going on between various locations in the world, particularly around Pacific Asia. Traces is expected to fill the void created by this old view of theory. ... So we will publish comparative cultural theoretical research that addresses a multilingual audience engaged in disciplines such as philosophy, gender studies, intellectual history, anthropology, social history, sociology, aesthetics, literature, art history, cultural studies, women's studies, political economy, history of sciences, linguistics and economic and labor history.

Have you collaborated with others at Cornell on this project?

Yes, I have worked with my colleagues at Cornell for Traces. I was helped tremendously by J. Victor Koschmann, Brett de Bary and many others, both faculty and graduate students, inside and outside Cornell. At Cornell our project could not have survived without support from our friends in a wide variety of departments and programs: Asian studies, history, comparative literature, English, Romance languages, anthropology, German studies, government, and so forth, not to mention the dean's office in the College of Arts and Sciences, the East Asia Program and the Society for the Humanities.