Pain and the Body Politic: Taiko Players Talk about Blisters and More
Deborah Wong
Chapter from the book: Wong, D. 2019. Louder and Faster: Pain, Joy, and the Body Politic in Asian American Taiko.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Wong, D. 2019. Louder and Faster: Pain, Joy, and the Body Politic in Asian American Taiko.
This chapter addresses how and why North American taiko players value pain as part of taiko praxis. The author describes her experiences of hearing loss, blisters, bruises, and muscle aches. The relationships between pain, pleasure, power, and post-incarceration trauma are explored in detail. The disciplined Japanese body is explored in dynamic contrast to the inexpert and disorderly North American body. A transcription and audio recording of an extended interview with two Asian American women players offers a close look at their attitudes toward taiko and pain. The author argues that taiko painfully puts back together the Japanese American body that was disarticulated by the WW2 incarceration.
Wong, D. 2019. Pain and the Body Politic: Taiko Players Talk about Blisters and More. In: Wong, D, Louder and Faster. California: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.71.g
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Published on Sept. 10, 2019